Charleston Ballet Theatre
Charleston, South Carolina is home to the grandeur of old Southern architecture, the annual Spoleto Festival USA—and the less-known Charleston Ballet Theatre.
Founded in 1967 as the Charleston Civic Ballet by Artistic Director Don Cantwell, CBT grew out of his desire to start a professional ballet company with his wife, Patricia, a former principal dancer with Savannah Ballet. In 1987, the Cantwells, along with CBT resident choreographer Jill Eathorne Bahr, formed CBT.
Since then, the company has grown significantly and has doubled its size and audience attendance despite extensive losses in 1989’s Hurricane Hugo and a lack of corporate presence in its community. “Unlike most other ballet companies our size, our company sees very little corporate support,” says Patricia. “Much of our $1.2 million annual budget comes from private donors.”
Today the company resides in a 100,000-square-foot facility with three studios, one of which can be converted into a 300-seat black box theater. With its weather-related problems in the past, CBT has turned its attention toward programming for an ever more sophisticated Charleston dance audience.
“Spoleto is here, and Charleston audiences require a new and interesting look,” says Bahr. “We have audiences that see a lot of dance and really know contemporary and classical styles. Our company has had to become quite eclectic in its ability to move from one dance style to the next.”
In an effort to feed the wide-ranging tastes of its audience, CBT has cultivated a repertoire that encompasses American masterworks (Balanchine and Tharp), new works by up-and-coming choreographers, Bahr’s choreography and classical full-lengths.
“This four-part meld makes us who we are,” says Bahr.
CBT mounts a different production about every three weeks, so the company’s dancers not only need to be highly versatile, they need to be able to work fast, says company ballet master and principal dancer Stephen Gabriel.
“Doing only four or five productions a year is not going to cut it for our audiences,” says Gabriel. “The dancers here are really smart and pick up choreography very quickly. When we look for dancers, we look for maturity, athleticism and a keen sense of artistry.”
CBT’s busy home performance schedule includes nearly 30 performances annually at Spoleto USA’s sister festival, Piccolo Spoleto, plus several with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and regular tours of the South and East Coast. In addition, every three years, the company holds its national Fountainhead Choreography Competition, which offers up-and-coming choreographers from across the United States a chance to work with CBT’s dancers.
With its ability to adapt and evolve, CBT is well on its way to meeting the underlying goal of its founders in making the company one of the finest in the Southeast.
Steve Sucato is a dancer turned writer/critic based in Erie, PA. He writes regularly for several newspapers.
