Saint Louis Ballet
Saint Louis Ballet offers audiences drama and passion onstage, says artistic director Gen Horiuchi. Before his arrival, those elements characterized the company offstage; its rocky 32-year history was one of fiscal instability, cancelled programs and a high rate of dancer turnover that stifled its evolution.
“When I first joined the company in 1996, the city really knew nothing about us,” says veteran company dancer Tanya Strautmann. “You’d say, ‘I dance with Saint Louis Ballet,’ and people would say, ‘We have a ballet company?’ Since Gen’s arrival, there has been a 180-degree turnaround.”
Horiuchi, a former principal with New York City Ballet, started guesting with SLB in 1997 and in 1999 took over leadership from longtime director Antoni Zalewski, who had been with the company since it was known as Missouri Concert Ballet (the name changed in 1982).
Under Horiuchi, SLB has found financial stability and increased its visibility in Saint Louis by concentrating on performing at home instead of touring.
Horiuchi says he modeled his approach to revitalization after George Balanchine: build up the company’s school to aid in its support. He also credits lessons he learned from his former boss Peter Martins. “From Peter I learned not to be intimated by the business aspects of running a dance company,” says Horiuchi.
SLB is housed in a new 6,000-square-foot facility with three studios and offices in a shopping plaza. The company currently offers three programs a season (a fourth is in the works for the 2006-07 season) and 26 weeks of work for its dancers. That means that most of SLB’s 13-member ensemble work other jobs to support themselves. It is a necessity that Horiuchi admits has been the cause of frequent scheduling challenges during rehearsal periods. The small size also means that company members are called upon to dance multiple roles in each production.
“With dancing so much, we have been pretty lucky as far as injuries go,” says dancer Elliot Geolat. “Gen is strict about a proper work ethic but is reasonable about not working us too hard.”
Horiuchi says when he first took over SLB, he wanted the company’s repertoire to be all Balanchine and Robbins, but quickly realized that the city wasn’t ready for all neoclassical works. “To appreciate neoclassical and contemporary ballet works you need to know the classics first,” says Horiuchi. “I am still introducing full-length classics such as Swan Lake and Giselle into our diverse repertoire.”
For many of its new offerings, SLB turns to resident choreographer Francis Patrelle and Horiuchi, but Horiuchi is open to bringing in new choreographers and has ambitions to present the masterworks of ballet.
In the future, the artistic director says he hopes to increase SLB’s near million-dollar budget, add more productions and grow the dancer roster to 25.
“We would love to perform in Chicago or New York if the opportunity presented itself, but before we tour again, I need to make sure we are up to national standards,” says Horiuchi. “One bad tour can kill a company’s reputation.”
Steve Sucato is a dancer turned writer/critic based in Erie, PA. He writes regularly for several newspapers.
