Maxine Mahon of California Ballet: December’s Artist of the Month

California Ballet founder/director Maxine Mahon in her dancing days. (Photo courtesy of California Ballet)

As the founder/director of San Diego-based California Ballet, Maxine Mahon is the ultimate performing arts survivor, a model of resilience and staying power, no matter what the obstacles.

“Nothing will keep her down,” says John Stubbs, the company’s music director and conductor. “Even when there’s bad news, she’ll say – ‘I’ve seen much worse.’ For her to keep the company alive for over 40 years is an amazing accomplishment.”

Now in its 42^nd season, California Ballet is the area’s oldest ballet company.  In addition to 27 dancers plus six apprentices, the organization has a school with about 500 students (down from a pre-recession high of 800) in three locations (Kearny Mesa, Pacific Beach and La Mesa). It also has costume and scenery shops in Santee and Chula Vista, and the loyal support of staff, volunteers and board members. The projected 2009-10 budget is approximately $1.1 million.

During the summer, the company made its European debut in Munich, Germany, with performances that prompted foot-stomping enthusiasm. Yet in terms of sustained popularity, nothing tops the troupe’s annual production of “The Nutcracker.” This year’s version boasts a cast of 160, including youngsters ages four to 14 as well as accomplished guest stars. Though Mahon admits “I’m not the world’s greatest choreographer,” her colorful and often imaginative “Nutcracker” has become a beloved local tradition, entertaining generation after generation.

Her pride in the company is evident as she shows a visitor around the company’s bustling Kearny Mesa headquarters. On a recent afternoon, ballerinas rehearsed the graceful “Waltz of the Flowers” and children scampered between practice sessions.

Command central is Mahon’s office, a cozy hub filled with everything from notebooks and schedules to autographed photos of dancers and a computer. Hanging on the door were lovely blue-and-white costumes for “The Nutcracker’s” dancing Snowflakes, with new sparkles that she glued on herself.

Resting her right foot on a chair (she fell and broke her ankle in January, which required surgery), the company’s 68-year-old boss was, by turns, thoughtful, funny and feisty as she spoke about her life and career.

Valerie Scher: You have outlasted many other founders of arts organizations. How do you do it? What’s your secret?

Maxine Mahon:  Probably a little bit of it is the natural pioneer spirit in my family. I was born with it. You decide you’re going to do [something] and you do it. You don’t give up. The other thing is that I’ve always been loyal to my artistic point of view. I always believed that San Diego would like a classical ballet company. My ambition was to provide the city of San Diego with a glimpse of all the classics and do it with the best quality I could give them.

How would you describe what you do?

The buck stops here. I make sure that I oversee every department. And I train people to go into those departments, like the ticket manager, box office manager, production manager, wardrobe…I [also] set the year’s schedule so everybody knows what’s supposed to happen. The minute I see that something is not getting done, I jump in. Costumes? I still jump in and conduct the first costume fitting. Costumes are extremely complicated.

In San Diego, and around the country, arts organizations are struggling with the economic situation. How has it affected California Ballet?

Last year, it hit everybody at Christmas time. Come January, everything stopped dead in the water. We had to cancel “Coppelia” at the Civic Theatre. We had an emergency fundraising thing – we took in about $30,000 — and covered the slack.

Have you ever had doubts that the company would survive?

It was just a bump in the road. Ballet companies struggle 365 days out of the year so what’s new? You get a little behind on all the bills and we say, “You know, you guys, you’ve been with us for years. Don’t lose faith in us now!” (Laughs.) The other thing that has helped us survive is that I’ve been able to sniff out good people: Dancers that have been loyal, staff that I’ve had 20-30 years. I’ve really been fortunate.

Two years ago, California Ballet presented 14 “Nutcracker” performances — four at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts and 10 with the San Diego Symphony at downtown’s Civic Theatre. This year, from December 5-22, there will be only nine performances of the full production (three in Poway, six at the Civic) plus a program of excerpts in Chula Vista. Why?

Costs are rising and I’m trying to control the expenses. And if you see that ticket sales have contracted a little bit, you want to do fewer shows.  We push it as hard as can and then we live with what we make.

California Ballet's high-flying production of "The Nutcracker." (Photo courtesy of California Ballet)

California Ballet’s production is so endearing. Yet it’s getting older.

I want so bad to do a new one, with new sets and costumes. You couldn’t replace a production like we have for less than about $1.5 million. About 10 years ago, I developed a plan for a new “Nutcracker.” But I couldn’t get any real strong participation to help me do it. So every year we make some new costumes because the old ones are shredding. Parts of the sets have been repaired, or replaced. But some of the tops of the backdrops are rotting. The audience doesn’t see things like that. Even if we got new costumes and scenery, I wouldn’t change the philosophy behind it, including having so many kids in the first act.

What influenced your choreography for “The Nutcracker”?

When I started, many people [in San Diego] didn’t know what “The Nutcracker” was. We had no films, no videos, and very few people had seen a production. So in the scene where the nuts get cracked, my methodology was to inform the public about what a nutcracker is. I also wanted to do something a little more visual with the snow scene. So I invented the reindeer and sleigh. Now my “Nutcracker” is sort of old-fashioned because everybody does so much technical stuff.  I don’t have any money for that. I’d like to upgrade [the production] and think of a new way to make the Christmas tree grow.

Read more:

Deven P. Brawley: November’s Artist of the Month

October’s Artist of the Month: Conductor Jahja Ling

California Ballet’s repertoire also includes “Coppelia,” “Giselle,” and “Sleeping Beauty.” Does that make it easier to recruit new dancers?

Dancers like classical companies. I can’t get over it. We get requests and videos from dancers. I say “Why? We’re just a little company in San Diego.” And they say “because your repertoire is fabulous.”

How did your background prepare you for running the company?

One reason things may have worked pretty well for us is that I have a college degree. I lot of ballet dancers don’t. I went to San Diego State and majored in social science with a minor in history and English. I grew up at Starlight Opera and watched productions being built from bottom to top. By the time I was 18 I had danced in 25 musicals.

When did you know you wanted to devote your life to dance?

There was never a [specific] decision to do that. I just never gave up dance. My mother was a dancer. (Flora Jennings Small, San Diego’s pioneering ballerina, died last month at age 96.) My father said: “You have to go to college because a truck could roll over your foot.” When I graduated from college, I got a job – I was a juvenile probation office in the county. I had to put kids in foster homes or go find ‘em. And sometimes pull kids out of brothels…When I went back East to dance, I had several offers and took the one with [founder/director Frederic Franklin and]  the National Ballet. So I danced in Washington D.C. and traveled all over the United States on tours.

How did California Ballet start?

I had talked so much about San Diego that several dancers came and visited during summer vacation. We threw a show together at San Diego State, in 1968. That was the first performance. Mr. Franklin came and helped me. We lost so much money – about $16,000 – that Bob [Mahon's husband at the time, now deceased] said: “Well, you better open a ballet school. We gotta pay this money back.” So my sister and a couple of dancers jumped in our cars and we all taught ballet classes at local churches. The second year we did much better – we only lost $8,000.  You get on the merry-go-round and it starts going so fast you can’t get off.

Maxine Mahon. (Courtesy photo)

What do you do to relax? Do have hobbies? Favorite TV shows?

I do have a lifetime hobby — tropical fish. I raise some pretty incredible guppies. And I love gardening. Another passion is politics. TV shows? I really love “The Golden Girls” and English mysteries. I like the History Channel. But I don’t watch “So You Think You Can Dance” and all that kind of stuff. I don’t need any more dance.

If just one of your wishes could be granted, which one would it be?

That I will find someone who can carry on the company. It won’t be my daughter (Clarissa Palhegyi, program director of the California Ballet School, and mother of Mahon’s two grandsons, Aubrey, 13, and Lane, 10).  She has great talents but she does not want to take over the company. I have been working kind of quietly for three years on a transfer of leadership. I’ve been trying to figure out how to extricate myself. I think that the way it will work is that I’m going to be hiring a part-time business manager and teach [that person] to take over that part of the administration so that I don’t have to do contracts and legal stuff. Because whatever health and time I have left, I’d rather have it [devoted to what's] artistic. I want the company to become a community company. Not Maxine’s ballet company. I never wanted that. But everybody kind of thinks of it that way.  I just wanted a ballet company for the city. I’d like the institution to continue. That’s the one dream I have.

Event info

What: California Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker”

When and where: 7 p.m. on December 5 (excerpts), presented by San Diego Performing Arts at Mater Dei High School, 1615 Mater Dei Drive, Chula Vista; full production at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on December 12 and 1 p.m. on December 13 at Poway Center for the Performing Arts, 15498 Espola Rd., Poway; full production, accompanied by the San Diego Symphony, at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on December 19, 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on December 20, and 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on December 22 at the San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., in downtown San Diego

Tickets/information: (858) 560-6741 or (619) 570-1100; www.californiaballet.org or www.sandiegoperformingarts.org (for the December 5 performance).

Valerie Scher is the SDNN Arts & Entertainment editor. You can reach her at valerie.scher(at)sdnn.com; follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/vscher

Tags: California Ballet, California Ballet School, Civic Theatre, Clarissa Palhegyi, Frederic Franklin, John Stubbs, Mater Dei High School, Maxine Mahon, National Ballet, Poway Center for the Performing Arts, San Diego Performing Arts, San Diego Symphony, SDNN, The Nutcracker

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