Lack of financial support endangers future of Ballet Independiente
Mexico City — The Ballet Independiente could close after 51 years due to financial problems.
“We are now in a stage of retirement, pause and rest and we are going to talk with National Institute of Fine Arts authorities about the possibility of having the support to continue with a great season, or to talk about finishing our work,” said Magnolia Flores, general director of the company. Flores and her late husband, Raúl Flores Canelo, founded the “Independent Ballet.”
After the dance company was denied a “Mexico en escena” scholarship, awarded by the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (Fonca), it has been in a financial tailspin.
“We do not have the financial support necessary to sustain the dancers, that’s why we are paused. It would be very unfortunate to close the company, but these things happen in Mexico,” Flores said.
She plans to speak with top officials with National Institute of Fine Arts to state her case.
“I am open to all possibilities,” she said.
The Ballet Independiente is considered in league with the National Ballet of Mexico and the Ballet Teatro del Espacio. But the dance company’s headquarters, in Mexico City’s Historic Center, was damaged in the Sept. 19 earthquake. That precipitated the crisis Flores faces today.
For now, both the school and the company are closed, but the offices are open.
Source: El Universal