TULSA BALLET ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT 2018|2019 Cover Photo: Eric Sall and Rodrigo Hermesmeyer in Pentaptych. Contents From the Artistic Director ........................... 3 2018|2019 Season ............................................4 Season Highlights ...........................................6 Company ............................................................8 Center for Dance Education ......................12 Education and Outreach .............................13 Icons and Idols ................................................16 By the Numbers ..............................................17 2019 European Tour ......................................18 Mission Statement Integrated Campaign .................................. 20 To serve as an essential asset Donor Recognition .......................................22 of our region through exciting internationally-acclaimed artistic Financial Snapshot .......................................26 excellence and exemplary education and outreach. Board of Directors ........................................27 Staff ....................................................................27 We commit to: • Preserve the tradition of classical ballet • Promote the appreciation of contemporary dance • Create works of superior and enduring quality • Educate through exceptional dance training, performances and outreach programs Vision Statement To be an innovative leader, powerful partner and global cultural 1212 East 45th Place South representative of a community in Tulsa, Oklahoma 74105 which the performing arts are valued and promoted as an indispensable (918) 749-6030 resource. www.tulsaballet.org FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR... Dear Friends, Fancy Free, showing off the guys of our company… and a couple of girls too. What about Remember Our The 2018|2019 Song, the first work three-time Tony award winning season has been choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler created for one for the history a ballet company? I would say just as good as his books, one filled choreography in the Broadway show Hamilton… with firsts, packed with extraordinary The cherry on the cake of the 2018-19 season success, jammed was the completion of Tulsa Ballet’s Defining the with amazing Future Integrated Campaign. As we mature as responses both an organization, it’s imperative that we focus on from local audiences building self-sustaining systems within our business and international model that will allow us to serve our community for audiences, and decades to come. The initiatives included in this one that can pack campaign incorporated a new dance academy, the a pocket book Hardesty Center for Dance Education, the creation with tremendous and/or acquisition of four major full-length works, the reviews. doubling of our endowment, the strengthening of our New Works fund and many other initiatives that will The season started in Studio K, featuring the first be defining the future of Tulsa Ballet way beyond our major collaboration between Philbrook Museum lifetimes. of Art and Tulsa Ballet. Thanks to the visionary leadership of my colleague and friend Scott Stulen, We had a tremendous administrative team, working we premiered Pentaptych, a work with new music tirelessly behind the scenes, that made sure the by famed pop musician Ryan Lott and brand new season went off without a glitch, while the artistic choreography by Ma Cong. In the process we also team painstakingly ensured the product on stage created 12 paintings by nationally recognized artist looked marvelous and flawless. I am so happy we all Eric Sall, and we enjoyed the first scenic design by shared the joy and excitement of this momentous great architect and friend of the Ballet Bob Schaefer. year, one that moved us and entertained us, one that On we went to Dracula, which filled the Chapman Hall broke new grounds while celebrating the glory of the to the brim! Our annual The Nutcracker rose to be the past, and definitely one that we will all remember for highest selling in the history of Tulsa Ballet, while The years to come. Sleeping Beauty again packed the Chapman house all the way to the balcony. The 2019|2020 Season will be my 25th with Tulsa Ballet, and I couldn’t be more proud of what we have What to say about Tchaikovsky: The Man Behind the accomplished, thanks to our generous supporters, Music? Marvelous choreography by Ma Cong, rich in fans and volunteers. texture and content, fantastic score by Oliver Peter Graber, remarkable visuals by Tracy Grant Lord, all leading to an astounding success! This is Tulsa Ballet’s first entirely new, commissioned full evening show. What followed was another first, our very first three- country international tour. We visited Italy, Spain and Switzerland, nearly selling out large houses in Seville and Lugano, coming back with accolades from critics in every single country we visited. That brings us up to the last program of the season, one that again showed off the talent, accomplishment and versatility of our company. Who Cares?, one of Marcello Angelini the most difficult pieces of dance George Balanchine ever choreographed, showing off the ladies of our George Kaiser Family Foundation company, and one gentleman…and Jerome Robbins’ Artistic Director Annual Impact Report 3 2018|2019 SEASON Creations in Studio K September 14-23, 2018 Studio K WORLD PREMIERE Parhelia Choreography by Jennifer Archibald Second to Last Choreography by Alejandro Cerrudo WORLD PREMIERE Pentaptych Choreography by Ma Cong Photo: The Artists of Tulsa Ballet in Parhelia. Dracula October 26-28, 2018 Tulsa PAC Choreography by Ben Stevenson “It retains its ability to startle, surprise, and even shock.” James D. Watts Jr. for Tulsa World Photo: Jessica Payne and Arman Zazyan in Dracula. The Nutcracker December 8-23, 2018 Tulsa PAC Choreography by Marcello Angelini “Splendor and magic it has in good supply, even for those who have witnessed every iteration of this ballet.” James D. Watts Jr. for Tulsa World Photo: Jonnathan Ramirez and Madalina Stoica in The Nutcracker. 4 Tulsa Ballet 2018|2019 SEASON The Sleeping Beauty February 22-24, 2019 Tulsa PAC Choreography by Marcello Angelini, after Marius Petipa “Tulsa Ballet’s production was proof yet again that this city is home to one of the country’s top ballet companies.” James D. Watts Jr. for Tulsa World Photo: Na Eun Kim and Hyonjun Rhee in The Sleeping Beauty. WORLD PREMIERE Tchaikovsky: The Man Behind The Music March 29-31, 2019 Tulsa PAC Choreography by Ma Cong “It is, simply, a triumph.” James D. Watts Jr. for Tulsa World Photo: Arman Zazyan and the Artists of Tulsa Ballet in Tchaikovsky. Signature Series: From Ballet to Broadway May 9-12, 2019 Lorton Performance Center Fancy Free Choreography by Jerome Robbins Who Cares? Choreography by George Balanchine WORLD PREMIERE Remember Our Song Choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler Photo: The Artists of Tulsa Ballet in Remember Our Song. Annual Impact Report 5 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS Photo: Chandler Proctor and Jaimi Cullen at Philbrook Museum of Art. Tulsa Ballet collaborated with Philbrook Museum of Art for the first time This season saw the first-ever collaboration between Philbrook Museum of Art and Tulsa Ballet. The project featured four artists—composer and musician Ryan Lott, visual artist and painter Eric Sall, costume designer Emma Kingsbury, and Resident Choreographer Ma Cong—all of whom came together to create a thrilling piece of performance art. The piece, titled Pentaptych, featured Sall on stage alongside the Tulsa Ballet dancers. Each performance began with a blank canvas as its focus. With the first note of the piece, one of the Tulsa Ballet dancers would strike the canvas with a brush of color, and from that Sall would create a new painting in real time during the performance. The collaboration culminated in an outdoor presentation of the piece in the Philbrook Gardens on September 29, 2018. “This joint project is an artistic and cultural endeavor, one that is pushing the boundaries of our respective arts. We are entering uncharted territory but we promised you, on day one, that we would pursue excellence in the art you are allowing us to create. This collaboration is a fulfillment of that promise. Thank you for supporting Tulsa Ballet and Philbrook Museum of Art in this exciting collaboration.” Marcello Angelini, Artistic Director 6 Tulsa Ballet SEASON HIGHLIGHTS Tulsa Ballet presented Tchaikovsky, a feature-length, world-premiere ballet. In the Spring of 2019, Tulsa Ballet presented a feature-length, world- premiere ballet, titled Tchaikovsky: The Man Behind the Music. While Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky composed music for some of the most prolific ballets ever, including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, the story of his personal life has gone mostly untold. His homosexuality was long kept a secret, and what is known about his death is still mired by gossip and speculation to this day. The production Photo: The Artists of Tulsa Ballet in Tchaikovsky. featured a stellar creative team, including composer Oliver Peter Graber (Dorothy and the Prince of Oz), Russian historian Daniela Kolic, New Zealand’s top designer Tracy Grant Lord, Resident Choreographer Ma Cong and Artistic Director Marcello Angelini. Andy Blankenbuehler created his first-ever piece for a ballet company for Tulsa Ballet Andy Blankenbuehler, three-time Tony Award winning choreographer of Bandstand, In the Heights, and Hamilton, created his first-ever piece for a ballet company for Tulsa Ballet. The piece, titled Remember Our Song, had its world premiere in May