Tax payers should not have to subsidize bad ballet companies

A few years ago I decided to see the Oakland Ballet's Nutcracker Suite, which I have attended off and on for 35 years. Oh Gawd. This particular performance was awful, just dreadful. Strained and shabby and uninspired. The theater was less than 1/4 full. They had guest dancers from the Dance Theater of Harlem, presumably a sop to the Black community but totally unnecessary, as there were no Blacks in the audience(there never are.) The director of the Oakland ballet is a Black woman and is trying to drum up interest from the Black community, which is not going to happen on a traditional ballet performance schedule. There are very few civic minded Whites left in Oakland who would actually be interested in seeing such a poorly managed company perform. You tend to feel used. Spending good money only to be appalled by the lack of talent and direction, does not a Happy Holiday make.

So, I was not surprised to hear that the Nutcracker that year was horribly undersold. The company was in the hole and going under fast. I would not care to see a repeat of the sad performance I had seen that year. Then I heard the director was looking for donors to save the company. I secretly hoped that the funds would not be forthcoming. Any business must be expected to run at a profit. If no one in Oakland is interested in Ballet any more and you can't even keep the audience you have, you do not deserve to keep your jobs. The dancers must leave this failing company and find and compete for jobs in successful companies. The tax payers do not owe these people a living in the profession they choose. If you are ballet dancer who no one cares to watch you dance, its time to hang up your toe shoes. Oakland Ballet sends me the fliers for the Nutcracker every year and I throw them in the trash.