Here’s how 2 Charlotte performing arts groups survived over a year out of the spotlight
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Fall Arts stories 2021
The Observer’s annual Fall Arts Guide checks out how people in diverse arts and culture groups weathered COVID, and what they are looking forward to next.
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“Intermission is over.”
So reads the website for Opera Carolina announcing its fall and spring performances. That’s also the message from leaders of two of Charlotte’s oldest performing arts companies as they turn on the stage lights and dust off their dancing shoes ahead of their first full seasons since the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020.
The financial challenges of the pandemic impacted numerous Charlotte businesses, from big banks to local restaurants. Among the hardest hit were performing arts companies, which rely on in-person shows and packed theaters to turn a profit.
But Opera Carolina and Charlotte Ballet, two troupes that have been performing for Charlotte audiences for decades, managed to stay afloat through the shutdowns.
The Observer caught up with leaders of each company to discuss the challenges of the past year and what their plans are for performing this fall and beyond.
A belated ballet birthday
Charlotte Ballet shut down in March 2020 on what was supposed to be its opening night performance of “Sleeping Beauty: A Fairy-Tailored Classic,” the amended Tchaikovsky classic set to serve as the finale of its 49th season.
By the following Monday, Executive Director Doug Singleton gathered the company in the lobby of the ballet’s two-story building on N. Tryon Street. He told members of the administration team to pack their computers and prepare for the studios and offices to close.
The next week he held an emergency meeting with the ballet’s board of directors to develop a contingency plan.
“It was no longer about performance to budget,” Singleton said. “It was about: How much cash do you have in the bank?”
The board started putting together a plan that would help the company muddle through to winter 2020, when the annual performance of the “Nutcracker” would provide a boost.
But by late April 2020, Singleton knew that goal was unrealistic. Now, the dance troupe and attached academy would need to find a way to make it to Nutcracker 2021.
The ballet launched an initial fundraising campaign, raising $650,000 in a month to help sustain the organization. That “Resilience Fund” totaled $1 million by October 2020, Singleton said.
The organization also was helped by government stimulus funds, he said, including federal PPP loans and a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, funds distributed by the Small Business Administration to businesses that closed during the pandemic.
“That is what’s keeping us afloat now” Singleton said of the grant.
Without a steady revenue source, the company furloughed or laid off about 60% of its 95 full- and part-time employees during the pandemic, Singleton said. But by this month, he said, most of the furloughed employees were back to work.
Young students in the ballet’s academy have had to take dance classes over Zoom in the past year so the company could adhere to capacity limits and social distancing requirements for its pre-professional dancers.
Dancers are still required to wear face coverings in Charlotte Ballet studios, sometimes training or rehearsing for hours at a time without removing their masks. The ballet also has mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for all staff members.
The company is set to launch its 2021-22 season in October, beginning with a belated celebration of its 50th anniversary. “Yes, it’s true, we’re lying about our age,” Singleton joked.
So far, ticket sales have been strong — including for the annual production of the “Nutcracker,” which the ballet is relying on for a much-needed revenue boost later in the year. And while the rise in COVID-19 cases is concerning, Singleton said he’s hopeful that dancers will return to the stage next month.
“I’m looking forward to feeling that energy. As the doors open, as the audience comes in, as you walk across the stage just before the curtain (rises),“ he said. “You can sense that, and we haven’t had it in a long time.”
Fortissimo, in a face covering
Opera Carolina was able to weather pandemic closures more steadily thanks to corporate sponsorships, said Artistic Director James Meena.
The company wrapped up its 2020 season a week before the initial COVID-19 outbreak triggered widespread shutdowns, and didn’t return to the stage last season. But contributions from sponsors held steady throughout the pandemic, with some companies even increasing their support.
Additional aid came from the Foundation for the Carolinas, which worked with Mecklenburg County and the city of Charlotte to fund local arts organizations during the pandemic.
“That was a huge lifeline,” Meena said.
Thanks to that support, the company got through the pandemic without laying off a single performer or staffer, he said, and was able to actually increase performers’ pay.
Unable to perform onstage last year, Opera Carolina tried other ways of reaching an audience, including building a “virtual opera house” that got about 35,000 viewers and putting on free shows in front yards around Charlotte. “We’ve had fun with it,” Meena said.
The company is now preparing for its 2021-22 season, with new safety policies in place: performers take weekly COVID-19 tests, and during rehearsals every cast member sings through their mask.
“It is bizarre,” Meena said. The company will continue to wear face coverings until the beginning of dress rehearsals.
In such a challenging time for the arts, Meena said he’s grateful that his organization emerged relatively unscathed.
“If you had asked me in June of last year was the opera going to make it, my honest answer would have been ‘I don’t know.’ ” he said. Now, the company is entering its new season “in very good shape.”
Opera Carolina makes its return to the stage Sept. 16 with “I Dream,” a musical drama that recounts the early days of the civil rights movement.
It will certainly look different from previous performances. Tickets will be digital, there’ll be socially distanced seating in the mezzanine, and audience members, per the policy at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, will have to don masks with their black tie ensembles.
But it beats another year out of the spotlight. Even in rehearsal, Meena feels the company is regaining a bit of the magic it lost.
“Everybody was elated… That to me is one of the most gratifying things. It’s exhilarating and fulfilling,” he said. “I hope the audience feels the same way, masks and all”
How to see the shows
The Charlotte Ballet will kick off its belated 50th anniversary celebration Oct. 7-9 at the Belk Theater. Pieces include “The Rite of Spring,” “Ibsens’s House” and a new work set to music by Phillip Glass. You can also get tickets to the company’s Nutcracker, which opens Dec. 3. For details, go to charlotteballet.org.
Opening night of Opera Carolina’s “I Dream” is set for Sept. 16 at the Belk Theater. You can buy tickets on operacarolina.org.
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 6:32 AM.
