NEW YORK — Alice McDermott sat in her seat at the New York City Ballet on a recent Friday night, excited to see her first ballet performance. The 31-year-old Manhattan resident who works in recruiting was having a fun girls’ night out with three friends she met at work, starting with dinner.
“They told me I would love ballet,” says McDermott, who was also excited to realize she already knew one of the night’s performers, Tiler Peck, through the dancer’s popular Instagram feed. “They said you can put on a pretty dress and just immerse yourself in another world, while marveling at what the human body can achieve.”
It seems they were right: At the end of the night, McDermott, a new fan, went home and watched a ballet documentary.
Maybe you could call it “Ballet and the City”? Whatever the term for McDermott’s evening of ballet with friends, the setting would certainly be music to the ears of the company – which celebrates its 75th anniversary with fanfare this year – and especially to its artistic leaders of the past five years, Jonathan Stafford and Wendy Whelan.
The two, both former dancers in the famous troupe founded by George Balanchine, have made it their primary goal to attract a younger audience to ensure the long-term health of the company – and, more broadly, to protect the vitality of a centuries-old art. form.
It seems to be working. While some initiatives have been in place for longer, the last five years have seen a marked shift, according to numbers provided to the Associated Press: In 2023, 53% of ticket buyers were under 50 and people in their 30s constituted the group. largest age segment in decade. Five years earlier, in 2018, 41% of ticket buyers were under 50 and people in their 60s made up the largest age segment.
Now, longtime ballet followers note that on a busy Friday night you can look down from the first ring of the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center and not simply see, well, a sea of gray.
An important factor in attracting young people, especially those under 30, has been affordable prices. There are also evenings aimed at young professionals, including post-show receptions. And there have been collaborations with visual or musical artists with young followings – like musician Solange, who in 2022 was commissioned to compose a ballet by 23-year-old choreographer Gianna Reisen.
The collaboration with Solange was a significant moment, Whelan and Stafford said in a recent interview, looking back on the past five years as the tap of dancers’ feet echoed across the ceiling above Stafford’s office.
“Every show was sold out,” noted Whelan. “It was a little nugget, but it was memorable.”
Perhaps even more important was the fact, says Stafford, that around 70% of those ticket buyers were new to the company – contributing to “a generation of young professionals in the city who are now in our theater every night”.
Katherine Brown, the ballet’s executive director, said the company took a look at the theater and greatly reduced the price of some seats — and saw them full. She also highlighted the 30 for 30 program, where members under 30 can buy any seat in the house for $30. “This thing just exploded,” says Brown, from about 1,800 members in the last full season before the forced shutdown. by the pandemic, to about 14,000 now.
The “sheer economics” of a night of ballet can’t be discounted, especially for young people, says Wendy Perron, a longtime dance writer and former editor of Dance Magazine. “When I was in New York in the 70s and 80s, I just couldn’t afford to go to the ballet,” she says.
Also not to be discounted: the effect of social media in promoting dancers as people with personality.
“We have a crop of dancers that are really exciting but also relatable and approachable, and through social media, audiences can connect with them in a way they couldn’t when we danced,” says Stafford, who retired from dancing in 2014.
Consider Peck, one of the company’s most popular dancers (and a rising choreographer), whose Instagram feed reached McDermott before she even saw her dance. Peck provides her half a million followers with short, punchy videos on everything from her 10 favorite dance roles to how she applies makeup on stage. Videos of her often feature her on-stage and off-stage partner, rising principal dancer Roman Mejia.
It’s all very different from a time when – like Odette in “Swan Lake” – ballerinas were mysterious and, above all, silent.
Social media – whether used by the company or through the dancers’ own feeds – can also answer questions. If you watched a performance of “The Nutcracker” a few seasons ago, you may have wondered why dancer Mira Nadon, as the Sugarplum Fairy, suddenly disappeared from the stage at a key moment. The answer later appeared on her Instagram: her pointe shoe had slipped.
“See, you can get all your answers on Instagram now,” jokes Whelan, who also has an active feed.
A few months ago, Whelan, a beloved former NYCB director who also retired in 2014, received a congratulatory message from Stafford in the morning – it had been exactly five years since the two took the helm following a turbulent period when #MeToo allegations sparked scandal.
Historically, the company was led by one man – Balanchine until 1983, then Peter Martins. This time, the board tried something new: a duet. Stafford was already acting chief and Whelan had applied for the position.
“They put us in a room and closed the door, and we were like – ‘Hi?’” Whelan says. “They were like, find out! And we did. Stafford, the artistic director, serves as a bridge between the creative and business sides. Whelan, associate artistic director, focuses on the delicate task of programming.
Insiders describe a different climate than the days when an outsized, all-powerful personality ruled from above. For one, the duo says they have instituted annual evaluation conversations with each dancer.
Diversity — ballet is slowly changing but is still predominantly white — is also a priority, they say, and that includes diversifying “the pipeline,” meaning students at the affiliated School of American Ballet.
Recently, the company announced its first two black dancers to dance Dewdrop, the second most important female role in “Nutcracker”: India Bradley and guest artist Alexandra Hutchinson of Dance Theater of Harlem. A Black Sugarplum Fairy is yet to come. The company says 26% of its dancers identify as people of color, while 10 years ago that number was 13%. Stafford and Whelan have commissioned 12 ballets from black choreographers in the past six years, he says.
“We know where the gaps are and we take that seriously,” says Whelan.
She and Stafford say they’re also paying more attention to well-being, whether it’s physical training to avoid injuries, healthy diets or more candid discussion about mental health.
As for the company’s financial health, it’s strong, Brown says, four years after the pandemic cost it tens of millions in losses. The budget for 2024 is about $102 million, compared to $88 million in 2019. Viewership capacity has exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
As for new fan McDermott, she’s planning more visits, along with her friends.
“I think we have a new tradition between the four of us,” she says. “We’re definitely going to make this a thing.”
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
