n DISCOURSE
this next generation of female choreogra-
phers coming up is going to have a lot more
opportunity than I did, and that is great.
We [also] talk about the lack of diversity
on our stages — if the only people doing
these jobs are the ones who don’t have to
make a living doing it, everyone is going
to look a certain way. So if we want to talk
about diversity we have to talk about a liv-
ing wage for artists.
What do today’s ballet audiences want,
and how does your approach fit?
I think all performing arts are dealing with
this right now. We currently as a society
have access to so much media, so cheaply,
if you’re going to convince people to leave
their house and their Netflix and their glass
of wine and they’re in their pajamas [to]
come out to see a show, you have to be able
to offer an entire experience. For “Beer and
Ballet” we had Ruhstaller pouring beer, and
you get to come in and have your beer and
watch these dancers from literally like 7
feet away [in the front row]. We’re also look-
ing to expand the arch of engagement, so
when you come to see the ballet, you’re not
just here for two hours and not thinking of
us before and after. We want to be able to
send you videos and different interviews
with the choreographers, sneak peeks [of]
rehearsal.
We’re also starting to do a lot of Second
Saturday stuff, where we invite people to
come in and watch a little bit of our process.
… I think people are looking for different
access points, different ways to understand
ballet, different ways to experience ballet. I
think for some people ballet feels like you
need a secret handshake to understand it.
Or they saw a ballet once and didn’t get it.
So if you can offer the access points, some-
times you see the lightbulb go off.
How do you balance being inventive
and embracing change with pleasing
longtime patrons?
I did a new “Nutcracker” this year, which
was so much fun. Me being a middle-aged
woman in America, there were things
that were very important for me to say in
“Nutcracker” that were potentially “non-
traditional.” For example, there’s a point
in the party scene when the music is very
sweet, it’s like a lullaby, and very often you
see all the girls rocking the dolls that they
just received, and a cacophony happens,
and all the boys come through and make
a ruckus and disrupt everything. It was
very important to me that both girls and
boys make a ruckus, because sometimes
girls are loud [laughs]. Especially if you’re
going to do this ballet that is the most per-
formed ballet in the United States and that
a lot of children are seeing, that they’re not
seeing stereotypical gender roles of kids,
and not all the girls are sweet and all the
“boys will be boys.” I’m going to say 95
percent of the audience didn’t even notice.
… There is [also] a moment when Marie
has been attacked by the mice, and the
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