No Legroom for NYC Dancers

City Center’s ever-changing renovation plans are beginning to negatively affect New York’s dance institutions. Because of the center’s ongoing changes, the American Ballet Theatre has been forced to alter its fall 2009 schedule, planning performances at Avery Fisher Hall and in Mexico. Unfortunately, Avery Fisher Hall is generally unsuitable for dance, as it lacks wings and a pit. Ballet Theatre has therefore commissioned choreographers to create a performance designed especially for the space. The fall 2008 three-week season at City Center will go on as planned.

City Center’s original plans to close for the 2007-2008 season and renovate in conjunction with Carnegie Hall changed after the partnership fell through. After receiving word early this year that the center would close in April 2009 and that the Ballet Theatre could not perform there that fall, executive director of Ballet Theatre, Rachel S. Moore, planned the Avery Fisher and Mexico performances. When City Center again changed its plans, pushing the closing back to December 2009, it was too late for the American Ballet Theatre to change its plans.

The renovations are causing hardships for other companies as well: The Paul Taylor Dance Company is attempting to find another theater in Manhattan for its spring 2010 season, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is faced with finding a new space for that same year.

It is likely that dance organizations will be pleased with City Center’s completed renovations, but the center’s current wavering on closing dates is only leading to sore dancers across New York. -Kaitlin Krumeich

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