Dear Pina, is Cancelled!
Sadly, Dear Pina, 2013 will not happen, mostly due to lack of fund$. Creating a performance of this scale requires a considerable amount of money, as all dancers get paid for their time, both rehearsal and performance. Last year, we met our budget of $112,000 and paid out stipends to dancers and collaborating artists totaling $90,000. This year, the budget was halved but so was the time allotted to raise it.
Never before have I had to halt, cancel, “pull the plug” on a project that I started. But on Monday night, May 6th, it became crystal clear, and I began the process of unraveling the components. All Tuesday and Wednesday, I was on the phone with the ensemble. Two weeks prior, I had warned them that the funding picture was looking bleak, so many were prepared. Even so, our sorrow at not working together again was palpable. Everyone was excited about rehearsing so intensely – every day for 10 days prior to performance – expanding our knowledge of one another and deepening our skills at being present, which was the emotional center of Dear Pina,.
Many say that the initial presentation in 2012 was whole, marvelous, the best they have ever seen. And it was marvelous and deeply satisfying, exciting, challenging, stimulating, phenomenal and superb. But it was not finished. From the responses that flooded in after June 2012, I felt encouraged to take this rare opportunity and complete what I had started, as I knew that each dance, each scene, each performer needed more attention and I was drawn to spend the time on Dear Pina, rather than move on to a new project.
As I unravel the particulars of Dear Pina, 2013 and learn the lessons to be had, I practice the art of letting go and know that we came together as a community of artists and supporters in a way I’ve never experienced before. Positive things will come from this, I am certain. If you have thoughts about Dear Pina, and the cancellation that you’d like to air, please go to the new dialogue page at my website, or you can write me at PO Box 8, Chelsea VT 05038.