Message from LBT Artistic Director Kelly Lannin

Dear Patrons and Supporters of LBT,

In a time where the Arts is in severe financial crisis mode, we at LakeCities Ballet Theatre are looking to the future with hope! We have prepared a different type of season with a much more conservative budget so that we can keep dance alive in our community and FOR our community! Like many companies, our season came to an abrupt halt right before we presented our Season Finale which featured a Balanchine work and a World Premiere by up and coming choreographer, Adrian Aguirre. Our dancers proved their dedication by continuing to take class and rehearse on Zoom. When the time came for our local theater to re-open in August, our dancers were ready and we successfully presented our concert on August 10th to a very limited audience and with the support of the Balanchine Trust who granted us permission to move forward with “Serenade.” The beauty of this work and all our dances was much needed by the dancers and the lucky few audience members who experienced it. It proved that in the midst of our chaotic Covid world, the beauty of dance can bring much needed peace and hope! 

Moving into our 2020-21 Season, we are still unsure about our financial future because of drastic cuts in our grant monies and the reality that we will not be able to count on our usual box office revenue that makes it possible for us to produce our performances. But we do know that we are not willing to give up. I believe our Board of Directors has a wonderful plan in place to include the filming of our popular “Le Ballet de Dracula” production as well as two live performances with limited seating. We also have turned our 30th Anniversary production of “The Nutcracker” into 2 smaller productions to include “The Nutcracker Suite” and “The Nutty Nutcracker.” We cannot have a cast of nearly 200 as we usually do so two different productions will allow us to provide more parts for our local children who look forward to this beloved ballet tradition each year. We have also decided to bring back our production of “Cinderella” for the Spring because it is also a ballet that can incorporate local children. We believe it is important to include as many children in our productions as possible because having something like dance in their lives is even more important right now because it does bring peace and hope! 

As always, I am so proud and humbled to be part of this amazing and dedicated company. I hope you will join us this season and if you can support us in anyway possible, either financially or as a volunteer, you will help us forge ahead through this pandemic and continue to make the world a more beautiful place through the Arts! 

With Gratitude, 

Kelly Lannin, Artistic Director