OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) The Oakland Ballet has been forced to
cancel this coming weekend's performances because of slow ticket
sales.
Competing performances by Russia's Kirov Ballet in Berkeley and
Smuin Ballet in San Francisco were affecting ticket sales for the
weekend shows, said Tony Caparelli, the ballet's chief operating
and financial officer. The Oakland company was projected to lose
$50,000 at a time when finances are tight, he said.
``We didn't feel like the company was in a position to gamble
its limited resources on a program competing with a lot of visiting
companies,'' said Caparelli, who announced the cancellations last
Friday.
The three weekend performances would have cost the ballet
$94,000, Caparelli said.
The ballet's $1.7 million annual budget is funded half through
ticket sales, about 60 percent of which come from 1,500
subscribers, and half through donations.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)