The Information Superhighway has added a few more lanes and shoulders in the last little while ” but not all that long ago, it resembled little more than the pockmarked off-ramp that leads to your mother-in-law’s.
E-mail was a mere gleam in the postmaster general’s eye, and “web pages” had become a term of art for four-color circulars that hawked the latest in dry-weather footwear for ducks.
Steven Wistrich remembers those days better than most. The year was 1992, and Wistrich’s fledgling City Ballet of San Diego had just debuted with a piece at San Diego City College about ice skaters in winter. The Pacific Beach-based troupe was overwhelmingly a student company then, and it wouldn’t install its board of directors or attain its nonprofit status for a couple of years.
But as artistic director Wistrich prepares for the launch of his classical-based group’s 15th anniversary season at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre Saturday, Nov. 3, and Sunday, Nov. 4, he cites its exponential progress in discerning local tastes and attracting dancers from all over the world.
He also gives a nod to the wholesale technological advances that have blurred artistic distinctions and yielded more intense consumer demand.
The program is called “Ballet on Fire” and features a 25-member troupe performing the Igor Stravinsky-scored Firebird and Stravinsky suites, pas de deux from “Flames of Paris” and “Spartacus” and a George Balanchine piece called “Who Cares?”
The moods range from light to tempestuous to quirky to contemplative ” and Wistrich justifies the choices amid a decade and a half’s demographics.
“When we first started,” he explained, “we were more interested in what we wanted to do. Now, we’ve learned our way around what audiences want. We don’t just see older people. We see younger and middle-aged groups. And we’ve learned that the names of ballets that people know tend to draw the largest crowds. There are other people that appreciate less familiar works and find that more exciting. We try to reach out to everybody.”
“Everybody” can mean a preponderance of people that 15 years ago wouldn’t have set foot in a theater ” hence the connection to today’s technology boom.
“I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that many choreographers are willing to take risks,” Wistrich said. “They’re doing much more interesting works. They’re using multimedia more. They’re using digital media and other tools and becoming much more creative. I think we’ve had to adjust to what audiences really want now. Choreographers are coming up with new ideas and not settling for the norm.”
And unlike 15 years ago, such approaches play directly into many dance companies’ bottom lines.
“If we applied to a foundation today,” Wistrich explained, “and said we want to do this beautiful classical ballet with 16 girls in beautiful tutus and an incredible set, we’d be turned down flat. [Grantors] are looking for more dances that tell a story about different ethnicities, a story more appropriate to your region, a story that hasn’t been done before ” something that has a deeper meaning and will make us say we have to come up with ideas that people will fund. That’s part of it as well.”
Even so, that approach is no guarantee of success. Dance is hardly the premiere performing art in the public mind ” accordingly, Wistrich said, the fine line between prominence and obscurity is often drawn by outside influences.
“Dance,” Wistrich said, “is a hard sell in San Diego. There’s no question about it. It’s never been the most popular performing art. It’s always had to fight for its survival. But it’s becoming more accepted. People”¦ at the heads of the companies are willing to work very hard, and they’re fortunate if they get financial support. Sometimes, two or three families can make all the [fiscal] difference in wanting to see dance happen. It’s happened to a lot of companies in the United States in terms of ballet.”
So there’s always hope, a facet Wistrich has banked on to help drive his company for the last 14 years. As season 15 approaches, that hope has yielded possibilities that once had no basis in fact “” especially not on a computer screen.
The Kroc Theatre is located at 6611 University Ave. and hosts the program Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $29 to $49, with $10 off for students, seniors and military, and are available by calling (858) 272-8663 or at www.cityballet.org.