Best ballet masters taking a bow

Remember that time the Sacramento Ballet forgot 30 years of its history in a press release? In March, the ballet's board of directors caught plenty of Facebook flak after publicly updating its search for a new artistic director. The announcement summed up the company's history, but it also omitted the names and achievements of its two longtime co-artistic directors, Ron Cunningham and Carinne Binda.

They did finally update the presser to include the couple following fallout from the ballet’s supporters, but the offstage drama surrounding the transition (on many sides) had already exposed a rift between the artistic and administrative sides of the company. The pair also said prior that they’d never wanted to leave.

It’s September now, and the company has found its new artistic director, a former Sacramento Ballet principal dancer named Amy Seiwert, whom Cunningham endorsed.

Cunningham and Binda will stage their last season opening this month, and the ballet hopes to finally celebrate the pair’s history with the company. Here’s an abridged rundown of that legacy, also with omissions (to fit print space):

Before they married, Cunningham and Binda met at the Boston Ballet. Binda got her start there, fresh out of high school and having grown up in a dance studio. (Her mother was a ballet instructor.) Cunningham discovered dance through “religious conversion” in college. Less than a semester away from his marketing and advertising degree, he dropped out after seeing Rudolf Nureyev perform in Chicago. It was the late 1950s, the Russian dance legend had just defected from the Soviet Union, and in the United States, ballet still largely centered around women.

“The guy had this animal magnetism that no one has ever equaled,” Cunningham says. “Most of the male dancers just held the ballerina up. He kind of changed the climate so that it could be about both [men and women].”

They spent 13 years at the Boston Ballet, Binda working as an assistant to another legend, the French dancer Violette Verdy, and eventually as the ballet mistress for—yes—Nureyev, where she was responsible for refining the choreography. Cunningham worked as a principal dancer and then a resident choreographer there.

Some years and few companies later, the pair had two kids, Christopher and Alexandra (pictured on the cover). They moved to Sacramento shortly after having Alexandra, who’s currently a principal dancer at Sac Ballet.

What originally enticed Cunningham westward was a clean slate with a company that had recently gone pro. Barbara and Deane Crockett founded the Sacramento Ballet in 1954. Over the next three decades, Barbara Crockett built what started as a student-based dance studio into a professional company. She retired in 1986. Cunningham became the artistic director in 1988, and Binda joined him in 1991. They hired around six professional dancers, and there were already a dozen talented students.

The rest would be up to them, or as much as the budget would allow. The Sacramento Ballet has always had modest coffers when compared to similar-sized companies in the country, but Cunningham says they’ve been able to outperform them in scope and quality. In 30 years, he’s staged around 50 of his ballets. His proudest work is his version of The Nutcracker, which is unique in that it employs as many as 500 kids in the ensemble. He also directed it for 10 years while in Boston, so he’s put on the show for at least four decades. If you do the math, that’s thousands of children, and working with them is where Cunningham says he’s found the most joy.

“When I’m going through the Raley’s checkout stand,” he says, “and the checkout girl says, ’Mr. Cunningham, do you remember me? I was a reindeer in 2003.’ That’s inspiring.”

As for Binda, Cunningham says she’s the best ballet mistress in the country. Because of her chops, Sac ballet can perform a large number of works by the late George Ballanchine, which can only be staged with permission from the Ballanchine Trust. Binda also grew the ballet school to its current form, which teaches around 400 students.

At the end of the season, the pair will be given the honorary title of Artistic Directors Emeritus. Beyond that, they have no clear plans. Cunningham says he may freelance or do some work with the Sacramento Ballet. A new original ballet isn’t off the table. They don’t fish, and golfing isn’t an option either.

“No, [we’re] not going to open up a bed-and-breakfast and raise rabbits,” he says.

2420 N Street, Suite 100; www.sacballet.org.