50 million kronor is a staggering sum. What motivates Mats Hallvarsson, former business journalist and founder of a financial communications group, to donate it to young dancers? "Gratitude" is his explanation in a press release.
This is an overwhelmingly superior art form, he says now and tells how it began.
He was a correspondent for Svenska Dagbladet in London when he was told to go and see a performance.
It happened to be "Swan Lake" with Rudolf Nurejev and Margot Fonteyn. I was completely captivated, ballet is an art form that appeals to so many senses.
Shared interest
The long-standing and deep interest in dance was shared by him and his wife Enrica Hallvarsson. The money will now be managed by Enrica and Mats Hallvarsson's association for young dancers, whose returns will go to the Royal Ballet's initiative according to a five-year agreement.
If we are satisfied with each other, we will extend the agreement. The gift from me to the association has no other purpose than that the returns will go to the Opera's initiative for young dancers.
The Royal Ballet can now start its own education for newly graduated dancers. Seven young dancers will receive extra coaching and opportunities for artistic development for a year starting this autumn. When the Opera Ballet had over 80 employees instead of today's 70, the opportunities for such things were somewhat greater.
- Today, everyone has to deliver from day one. It's tougher and higher competition. We have 1,400 applicants every year for maybe four, five or six places, says deputy ballet chief Mikael Jönsson.
The goal is to start a special youth company with ten to twelve dancers, which would also tour, emphasizes Mikael Jönsson, and Mats Hallvarsson adds:
We want to try to influence young people in general to become more interested in dance.
"Starting to become stingy"
Are there no drawbacks to financing the initiative with private funds only? Shouldn't the state take responsibility?
Your questions are my questions, says Mats Hallvarsson and notes that private donations in Sweden go to research rather than culture.
The signs one sees and hears from our politicians are perhaps that they are starting to become more stingy with the flow to culture. We may be heading towards some kind of paradigm shift where private donors will have to support culture more than they have done before.
