Money Managers

For some ABT members, guesting finances 16 weeks of layoff. “But I’m not doing it for the money,” says Herrera, invited to perform at the Kremlin this spring. “They weren’t offering me that much, but I really wanted to go. You think dance and you think Russia.” ABT’s schedule conflicted and the company couldn’t release her. Japan, however, pays well: “The Japanese have a lot of money. [ABT principal] Vladimir Malakhov has big fans and his own group of dancers there.”

Herrera handles contracts herself, with help from her father, a lawyer. “The artistic decisions are mine.” He doesn’t take too big a cut? “Oh, no!” she says, laughing.

Durante started dancing at seven. At 17 she joined the Royal, taking a sabbatical after a decade with the company: “It’s very enjoyable to portray a role and sometimes frightening to face up to yourself.” People approach her for performances; manager David Watson negotiates: “He’s a great help. Someone I can ring up and get advice.”

On May 29 she performs Giselle with ABT’s José Manuel Carreño. “I love dancing with him,” she recalls from guesting in Japan. Why is Japan attractive to guest artists? “Everybody loves ballet there. The atmosphere is wonderful-you feel very concentrated. Tokyo is a fun place to be. All the karaoke nights…”

“I earn money project-to-project in Salzburg, but once you make the connections it becomes like a steady job,” says Zutic. “Sometimes there is so much to do you have to choose,” because Austria’s dancer market isn’t as saturated as New York’s. Born in Slovenia, Zutic “started training really hard at 18,” subsidized by the Slovenian government. “I had to have recommendation letters, the best notes in school,” in order to get $6500 each year plus school fees with the stipulation that she “return to Slovenia for the same number of years I received scholarship, four years.” She graduated from Salzburg’s Experimental Academy of Dance, run by former Cunningham dancer Susan Quinn. What about her commitment? “I wrote to Slovenia saying there was no work for me as a modern dancer, and the government understood.” Why visit New York? “The atmosphere is more competitive. You have to work much harder. You really go for it.”

Guesting advantages? “Everybody treats you like a guest. They make sure you are comfortable, that you have plenty of rehearsal. You make more money as a guest than you do with your own company.” Drawbacks? “One very bad experience, and actually he got fired.”

French, vice president for corporate contributions at Philip Morris, says “well over a hundred dance organizations a year” receive PM help, making it the art form’s largest corporate supporter in America-Terpsichore’s venture capitalist. “The backbone of support is for general operating: We come in early and give to a spectrum of the most vital companies. Once a company is on our roster for general operating support, they also can get in-kind support.” What’s in it for PM? “Companies tour to our plant communities. We hope to be known as a good corporate citizen. We pride ourselves on being an innovative, risk-taking funder, and that’s who we support.” Example: “Before it was officially the Next Wave Festival, we were giving BAM funding for the series. When it became the festival, we gave major funding….BAM’s Next Wave represents that notion of innovation and taking risks. The pairing is very appropriate. A very good match.”

In French’s 18 years with PM, the budget for dance has grown. Grants range from $5000 and under to six-figure sums that allow larger organizations-Ailey, Joffrey, ABT-to tour to Brazil, Egypt, Japan. “We do a lot of grant making for new, young talent. When there’s a buzz, we are quick to notice….Ten, 11 years ago, the first time David Parsons performed with his new company it was obvious there was real talent there, and we said ëApply.”‘

PM’s New Works Fund, an international initiative, gave $1 million plus to 31 U.S. dance companies in 1997.

BAM’s annual Next Wave is “a global performing arts festival.” Its $3 million 1998 budget, “50 percent box office and 50 percent from subsidy, contributions: individuals, corporations, foundations, government”-bought imports from France, Germany, and India. Since 1983, “international representation of dance companies and individual artists has always informed its profile,” in part due to retiring executive producer Harvey Lichtenstein’s background as a dancer. “Americans are at a disadvantage; they don’t have the kind of funding that European communities with a heritage of a lot of governmental support have,” Melillo observes. He selects artists, then negotiates “a fee plus expenses, hotel, per diem, transportation, freight.” He must see artists live. BAM pays expenses. “I travel a lot.” Last year he went to Peru. This month he’ll scout Buenos Aires “to represent Spanish- and
Portuguese-speaking cultures at BAM during the 2000-2001 season….That’s an exclusive.”