With a heavy heart, resident company of Overture Center, Madison Ballet, announced its cancellation of shows for the rest of the season due to financial issues.
While it was hard for the 34-year-old ballet company to once again cancel its shows, Overture Center spokesman Rob Chappell promised that it's not going to be the end for Madison Ballet.
"We wish Madison Ballet the best," Chappell said. "They're still a resident company, and they'll be back next season."
With its 15-dancer-strong ensemble the ballet company's General Manager Gretchen Bourg also assured avid fans that if anything, this recent financial strife will only make their organization better.
"We've been through much worse frankly, and we've come out ahead," she explained. "I know that we will come out a stronger organization."
The show cancellation was "gut-wrenching," according to Scott Knapp, vice president of the Madison Ballet board of directors.
"The intent is to set the stage for a successful 2016-17 season. Madison Ballet is not going away," Knapp added.
"I don't know if it's going to be as large or as diverse as we intended to have this year, nevertheless, it will be a full season."
"It will be something that we hope will meet the demand for the art form itself here in Madison in a big way."
Madison Ballet was supposed to perform its production "Spring Rep I" this year, but due to the unfortunate circumstances, it was forced to cancel all of its remaining shows this season. It includes the sequel "Spring Rep II," together with its supposed Missouri tour for the show "Dracula."
A full-scale "Peter Pan" performance expected on March 19-20 was also canceled.
While ticket holders were offered a full refund, the management humbly asked to instead donate the cost of the tickets to the organization.
Struggling to remain afloat, this is the second time for the long-running ballet company to announce its cancellation of shows due to financial related problems.
Best known for its "The Nutcracker" annual production, with its December 10 performance topping ticket sales history, Madison Ballet has failed to reach its target revenue and fell short by $10,000.
And despite the management's efforts to avoid show cancellations, its current position simply did not make it possible.
"The board quite responsibly said that would not put us in a good position for the fall," Bourg explained. "We tried so many scenarios - so many. And it came down to what would make the biggest impact. And ultimately we felt it was better to make a difficult decision for the short term and be a better organization in the long term.
"Could we have plodded through? Sure," Bourg said. "But next season probably would not look like anything that Madison Ballet does. And we didn't want to get to that point."
This is truly sad news for the industry, but many are hopeful that Madison Ballet will once again stand on its feet and perform amazingly on stage.
