Atlanta Ballet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1929 by Dorothy Alexander as the Dorothy Alexander Concert Group, which later became the Atlanta Civic Ballet and, in 1967, the Atlanta Ballet.
Alexander guided her dance company for more than three decades before hand picking her successor, Robert Barnett. John McFall followed Barnett.
Today, Atlanta Ballet is one of the nation’s premier professional ballet companies, recognized for the artistry of dancers and innovative programming. However, financial woes caused the Ballet to dismiss their orchestra in favor of using recorded music in 2006. Susan Elliot of AJC.com reported, "... artistic director John McFall and the production staff would use several different recordings to cover the entire "Nutcracker" score ... to avoid paying performance royalties to any one record label." [1]
The lockout of the musicians by the Atlanta Ballet Management has been somehwat upsetting to fans. One patron, upon encountering the picketing musicians during the Ballet's lockout of the musicians, commented, "If I weren't meeting my mother-in-law for the show, I'd either leave, or get out there and protest with them." [2]
