Struggling Ballet in South Africa be Madeline Ibarra

South African Mzansi Ballet is a professional ballet company based in Johannesburg. The company consists of beautiful dancers from both classical and contemporary backgrounds. In recent years, the company has been struggling to make ends meet. The ballet company has not received government funding for 12 years now. Directors of the company say that running is with little financial support is almost impossible. They say that it is not just about the dancers, its about payments, fees, and bills that make it so difficult. To try and get aid in their struggle, the company joined up with Harvard Business School students who were visiting South Africa  as part of their Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development program. Over the time of their partnership, the Harvard students researched way to improve the marketing of ballet. One of the researching students said,"It's not about tutus or the shoes or whatever; it's this special feeling that you feel when you go see the performance; it's about the music, it's about the whole new world that you see on stage and that's exactly what you're selling. It's just the feeling that you get at the theater, so that's exactly your product." Company directors say that it takes about $2 million to run a ballet company a year, and one third of that cost is covered by ticket sales and the other two thirds are from local donations from supporters. The students later concluded that the best way to increase attendance and sale for the ballet would be to travel to the people, because many can not find the areas where they perform.
I think that it is sweet that college kids are helping a falling company in Africa. The support of the arts is slowly falling, and I hope that soon it will pick up again. This is a great example of what two completely different groups of people can do for each other. I hope that very soon, the company will go on tour and maybe one day I can see them thanks to the help of the Harvard students.

source:http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/04/world/africa/ballet-harvard-south-africa/index.html


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