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pen. I was riding the lovely wave of theend of my career and endeavouring tolearn something new,” he remindedhimself.

McKenzie is a modest man. Heresisted the tempting impulse tolaunch himself straight into provinghimself as a worthy director and artist.Instead, he took the first six months, ashe described it, “to observe”.

Once he felt he had a solidgrounding in the way the companyworked, he decided to focus on consol-idating and turning the artistic direc-tion around.

“I was trying to define my artisticvision in that first decade, it was some-thing that was formed by growing upwatching and being part of the ABT.”He then set about eradicating the many“sins of omission” as he described them,whereby the classic ballets were beingforgotten from the year’s schedule.

The impression I started to get bythis stage of the interview was thatMcKenzie certainly isn’t that broodingartist who can never quite articulate histhoughts and aspirations; he is a real-ist. He could get things done.

McKenzie had learned quickly, heknew how to “schedule the schedules”,as he put it. His focus was very muchmore about doing what he had to inorder to make the ABT amongst theforemost companies in the USA.

“It’s about creating a sense of bal-ance between the absurd ways of anartistic institution and a business,” hetold me. There it was, the reason theABT was so successful and the reasonhe got the job – he knew exactly whatthe ABT needed.

“It was hard, everybody’s hungry,sometimes you literally don’t knowwhere your next meal’s coming from.Really, it was a case of priorities, every-thing is important but one just has tobe very tenacious and very patient.Companies with an artistic vision haveto run like a business. One has to bevery far reaching. You’ve got to planholistically.”

McKenzie’s focused attitude - hisreluctance to trim off the fat, in favourfor prioritizing and reshaping - meantthat the ABT didn’t lose its characterbut became a rounded entity. It didwhat it had to do to survive.

However, McKenzie still worries,even after 18 years. He knows it’s a dif-ficult, shaky industry and he keepsworking:

“When people came up to me atthe 60th anniversary of the ABT andasked me, ‘What do you want now from

the ABT?’, I’d say that I’d like to knowwhere it’s going to be in 60 years,” hesays.

Despite his evident talent for busi-ness, it is undeniable that McKenzie isindeed an artist and a fervent lover ofthe ballet. He knows what the companyembodies and he continues to see itsimportance as an institution for ballet,not just a corporation and an educa-tional facility.

“You’ve got to remember, its notthe American development theatre orthe American education theatre, it’s theAmerican ballet theatre.”

But he also understands where hispassion lies in the world. He knows

Sam Lawson talks to KevinMcKenzie, Artistic Director of theAmerican Ballet Theatre, about bal-let, its success and the part heplayed in creating such a prestigiousinstitution.

whole aim and angle of my piecechanged completely in those 45 min-utes.

As I sat listening to a man at adesk in New York City, I realised that Iwas receiving much more than I hadbargained for. I had wanted a broodingartist, a passionate and self-indulgentvisionary to tell me what he believed in,how his dark and ethereal momentaryobsessions were translated into dance,and for him to tell me that this was theonly true medium of expression. Butthe man I was patched through to did-n’t sound like a reminiscent creative.The man was passionate, for sure, buthe sounded like a businessman. Andthat, I’ve come to see, is precisely thepoint.

Although the ABT was somewhatrespected internationally whenMcKenzie was appointed ArtisticDirector in 1992, those involved in thecompany still believed it had unfilledpotential.

“The chairman let me know thathe had put me to the last of the list [ofinterviewees] due to my youth, but theABT was in such bad shape at time thateveryone qualified didn’t want to touchwith a barge pole,” he says.

“I thought it was way too big.” For McKenzie, the job was indeed

a huge one. By 1992, he had decided that it

was time for his tour as a succesfulprinciple dancer for the ABT to come toan end. He planned to return to theplace he had trained as a dancer - theWashington School of Ballet under histutor, the pioneering Mary Day.

“I wanted to invest myself in newchoreography and I knew my future asa performer was waning. Originally Ihad wanted to choreograph for MaryDay: it’s what I had expected to hap-

Ballet isn’t for everyone. In a worldcharacterised by haste and impa-tience, the ballet’s hazy nuances

and its deftly disguised meaningssometimes pass us by. Beyond this,there has always been a stigmaattached to it; the feeling that it’s for anolder audience, an audience that is ableto afford and appreciate the luxury oftime. It just doesn’t appeal to many ofus, and for most it is not and will neverbe a part of our lives.

Be that as it may, we must note thecontinuation and success of such aniche market. In particular, theAmerican Ballet Theatre (ABT) doesmore than just merely exist. Nowadays,its home - the Metropolitan OperaHouse, part of the famous LincolnCentre in New York City - is alwaysbustling and busy from the beginningto the end of the season. People flockfrom all continents to indulge in thespectacle that the talented principledancers offer up. The ABT really iseverywhere, its tour taking it across theworld.

This was not always so. From itsfoundation in 1937, the almost com-pletely privately funded company hasoften struggled. Indeed, twice in its his-tory the company has almost ceased toexist.

There has, however, been a changein its fortune over the last 18 years. Theastounding popularity and continuallygrowing success of such an institutioncan be attributed greatly to the changesthat have taken place within the com-pany since the early 1990s. It is nocoincidence that this corresponds withthe introduction of the current ArtisticDirector, Kevin McKenzie.

My interview with McKenzie inmany ways went terribly. I got nothinglike what I had expected. In fact, the

that it’s not a widely popular thing andhe treats it so.

“One can’t please everyone, ours isa subjective entity. For instance, I cansay that I don’t necessarily like that car,but I have to say it’s well built,” heexplains to me.

It is this understanding whichMcKenzie uses to keep the ballet going.He has a vision for what the balletneeds to do next. “Everyone has anattention span of three minutes nowa-days,” he explains.

“The classics are always the stan-dard of measure, but one has to createnew works to target the younger audi-ence … they must develop an opinionand grow up with it.”

I went on to ask McKenzie whatthe ABT wished to give its audience. Itwas at this point that I saw why he wasArtistic Director rather than FinancialDirector. The man so adores his art andhis job. His sentences were flowing, heassumed you knew what he was talkingabout. Of course you did, but notbecause you were on his level, youcould just hear it in his voice.

“What makes the company uniqueis in the three words of its title.American - it’s not meant in a patrioticway, but because it’s an Americanexperiment. It’s so peculiar in its ener-gy, and this comes from the exchange ofthe many different styles of training.Ballet is our language, but all of thishappens in the theatre,” he notes.

“This is where the audience is soimportant. We want to open up anexperience that is truly unique in thisworld and you only get there by spend-ing time … there is a process that youhave to go through.”

“I mean, everyone wants to go onvacation to Aruba but to get there youtravel eight hours on a plane. It is theprocess.”

“And what people need to realise isthat it’s sometimes the process thatmakes it what it is. Getting there is partof the fun. The theatre is there toinvolve you. It’s there to time travel.”

Kevin McKenzie loves and knowshis art. You get the feeling talking tohim that he wants to grow old with it,just as he grew up with it - in what hedescribes as “a bit of a Billy Elliot story.”He knows what it needs, and he contin-ues to nurture his art through themedium of the American BalletTheatre.

Change to him is an exciting andbeautiful prospect. He understands theimportance of the classics but is alsowilling to twist them in such a way that

they become more accessible to theyouth.

“Everything is a reaction to thetime in which it lives; art is. The ABTwill remain consistent, founded as avery eclectic repository of art and a cre-ator of art. We are going to have rein-vent ourselves as the world around uschanges,” he says with a clearly dis-cernible tone of excitement in his voice.

He knows his audience now just aswell as he did as a dancer. “The reasonthey keep coming?” he questions. “Ithink it’s to create that expectation. It’sakin to being in love. They believe us,they believe in what we are presentingto them and they believe in us.” M

The business-man behindthe ballet

“The reason the audiences keep coming?It’s akin to being in love. They believe us,they believe in what we are presenting tothem and they believe in us.”