Adam Sklute Announces Retirement After 20 Years
Dear Friends,
After nineteen years as Artistic Director of Ballet West, I have decided that next year – our 2026-27 season and my 20th anniversary, will be my final one with the company.
I come to this decision at a time when Ballet West is both artistically and financially strong and solid. Renowned around the world as one of America’s top ten ballet companies with an Academy ranked as one of the largest destination schools in the United States, I feel that the time is right for me to move on and for Ballet West and me to begin our next chapters.
When I was hired as Artistic Director of Ballet West in March of 2007, this company was in a challenging chapter of its existence. Ticket sales were down and supporters were backing out, so much so that the company was cancelling programing and only performing The Nutcracker, a Winter Full-Length, and a Spring Mixed Bill. No new works had been created on the company in nine years and dancers were departing. The Ballet West Academy had fewer than 150 students, and the Board was considering closing it down. Moreover, plans for new facilities to house the entire organization were at a standstill.
I was no stranger to the struggles of a major ballet company. I had spent 23 years with The Joffrey Ballet, beginning as a dancer in New York where I was one of the last two personally hired by Robert Joffrey before he passed away. I spent ten seasons dancing with the company until 1995 when The Joffrey was forced to close its doors. But, thanks to some generous donors, it was able to relocate and start anew. We did something that no other ballet company had ever done before, we moved from one city to another, changing our home base from New York to Chicago. During this move, the company’s entire infrastructure had to be rebuilt. I became part of the team that established The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and every step of the way, I learned how to run a ballet company. I grew as a teacher, I learned to run rehearsals, I developed my skills in programming, I educated our new marketing and development departments about The Joffrey Ballet and indeed the entire art form, I built relationships with donors, learned how to fundraise, and represent the company to the community. Between 1995 and 2007, I rose from dancer to Associate Artistic Director. So, when I received the offer to become Ballet West’s Artistic Director in early 2007, I was ready to take on the challenges that lay ahead.
The Ballet West Board of Directors charged me with three directives:
- Strengthen the caliber and quality of the dancers and production.
- Increase the National and International recognition of Ballet West.
- Build The Ballet West Academy in size, scope, and prominence.
Of course, these directives cost money, so we needed to increase our operating budget in order to sustain this new, expanded vision of Ballet West. The best way for us to build the budget was to restore the spirit and pride in this organization. Changing the mindset from “can’t do” to “can do.”
I have always been an optimist at heart, and I never questioned that this rebirth and in turn, the future growth of the company would be possible. But you can’t have a future without a legacy and what makes Ballet West so unique among the American ballet companies is the vision of our founder Willam Christensen and his production of The Nutcracker, the first full-length production in the United States. In fact, America would not have the holiday tradition of The Nutcracker without Mr. C. But when I arrived, there was an attitude that the classics (including The Nutcracker) were a necessary evil while newer more experimental works were not for the general public. My job was to make every performance an event!
Right away I started the Innovations program to foster the creation of new works. Innovations featured three original works by company dancers that were book-ended by two new works by more established choreographers. This allowed the audience to see the development of a new creation, while giving the dancers a way to measure their work against those of a more renowned choreographer. This broke down the wall between performer and audience, engaging everyone in the process. The program grew and morphed into two different platforms; The Choreographic Festival which brought Ballet West together with companies large and small from around the globe to share our stage; and Works from Within, focused exclusively on the works of Ballet West dancers. Between these programs and our main-stage performances, Ballet West has produced more new creations in the past 19 years than in its entire prior history and a number of Ballet West dancers have now produced works for companies around America and the world; one even winning a Princess Grace Award for Choreography.
Along with championing new plotless works, I also expanded our repertoire of full-length story ballets. Storytelling and spectacle are important to me, so I updated well-known classics such as Swan Lake, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, and took a chance by introducing our community to story ballets never before seen in Utah, including Onegin, Dracula, Jekyll & Hyde, Madame Butterfly, and more.
I also saw an opportunity to create the Family Classics Series to bridge the space between The Nutcracker and Ballet West's more adult repertoire by giving children and their families ballet stories they can connect with. Shorter in length and guided by live narration, these productions make the art form accessible to all. Since 2022, we have expanded the series into both English and Spanish versions to serve our broader community, while also creating a dedicated performance vehicle for Ballet West II and our Academy students.
In 2012, Ballet West was selected by BBC International to star in the reality TV show Breaking Pointe, that was then syndicated on the CW network in the U.S. and around the world. Doing reality television had its challenges and I was criticized by some for “dumbing down ballet.’’ Nevertheless, it thrust Ballet West and the entire artform of ballet into the mainstream as it never had before, so my response to these naysayers was, “We did not do Breaking Pointe for the thousands of people who know and love ballet, we did it for the millions who know nothing about ballet.” Years later we also produced In the Balance – Ballet for a Lost Year, an on-line, nine-part mini-series produced by Sundance award-winning producers about the extreme challenges of presenting live ballet during a worldwide pandemic.
In 2013, we finally completed fund raising and designs for our new facilities – The Jesse Eccles Quinney Ballet Centre, connected to the historic Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theater. Two years later, we moved into this new home with six state-of-the-art studios and space for our dancers, students, and all aspects of the organization. For the first time in the history of Ballet West, the entire company was under one roof.
In 2017, thanks to the George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, I was able to oversee the design and production of new sets and costumes for Mr. C’s The Nutcracker. These were the first new sets and costumes done in over 30 years. Then, in 2024, The Nutcracker was named a Living Historic Landmark by the Utah state legislature, making it the only one of its kind in the world.
Today, with four campuses across the region, our Academy has over 900 students, making it the fourth largest ballet school in the U.S Academy leadership is comprised of renowned faculty that I have developed from within or brought to our organization from around the world. The Frederick Quinney Lawson Academy has also become the primary feeder to the Company. Since I began the Academy Trainee program in 2010, nearly 75% of our company is comprised of dancers who have gone through the program, some even growing up from little children to leading Ballet West artists, and other students who did not join Ballet West are now members of ballet and dance companies across the globe, carrying with them the Ballet West name and brand.
Our Summer Intensives and affiliate programs are some of the most sought after in the country and during the pandemic, we were the only major American ballet academy to hold a full in-person summer intensive with over 300 students and zero illnesses. In 2024, another longtime dream of mine came to fruition when we were able to acquire housing for our students and Ballet West II. Our Education and Outreach Program currently serves over 152,000 children and adults across the Intermountain Region, making it the largest ballet education/outreach program in the United States and possibly the world.
In just under 20 years, Ballet West’s operating budget has nearly tripled, placing us sustainably in the top ten American ballet companies. Our company has many more Utah native dancers than when I began, and we celebrate a kaleidoscope of artists from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. We currently present seven home productions a season and the number of company artists and work weeks offered them has grown substantially since I arrived. We have bucked national trends as our subscription base has increased dramatically since 2007. I have expanded our repertoire and introduced Ballet West audiences to some of the world’s most renowned choreographers past and present. The company has toured repeatedly to more major American venues than it ever had before, thus increasing our national and international recognition.
But this growth has only come to fruition because of the brilliance and hard work of our entire organization. Indeed, the success of the company is thanks to these creative people who saw what I was doing and knew how to improve and expand upon it. It has been my honor to go on this journey with these fantastic artists and professionals. I know that as Ballet West moves into the future, it will be because of their care and stewardship. I believe a good leader knows when to step aside and let new ideas flow and now Ballet West is poised to grow to even greater heights!
I love Ballet West with my heart and soul, and I am honored to have helped it grow. I will always be available as a resource, if needed. For my future, I hope to be able to take what I have done for Ballet West and “Pay it Forward.” I want to help directors and companies identify and capitalize on their own individual uniqueness. I hope to be a resource for all ballet and dance companies to succeed.
Next season, I am excited to celebrate my 20th anniversary with all of you and I will continue to give 1000% of myself to the company.
I cannot thank you all enough for your ongoing support, and commitment to Ballet West!
With Love and Eternal Gratitude,
Adam Sklute
The William Christensen Artistic Director Chair
Sponsored by Peggy Bergmann