Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles, acting executive director of Ballet B.C., says the departure of the company's artistic director John Alleyne has not put its 2009-2010 season in jeopardy.

"We're actually in pretty good shape in planning the season," said Wilhelm-Boyles in a phone call with the Straight. "We're not ready to announce it yet because we're still in negotiation for some of the elements."

In April, Wilhelm-Boyles told the Straight the company had hoped to take a performance hiatus in the first half of the season. Now, he said, those plans have been altered, although there will still be down time built into the schedule.

"What we were wanting to do was provide a significant amount of time for the company to develop exciting work. Now, we are preserving that, so at one point in the season there will be a long period of time when the company will not be visible in public--not as a whole company, anyway. There might still be small-scale work in progress. But all of that will be part of a creation process which will result in a world premiere late in the season."

Wilhelm-Boyles would not confirm details of the season's productions, but other reports suggest Ballet B.C. is working on a collaborative project with the National Ballet for the end of September, and a presentation of the Nutcracker for the Christmas season.

Wilhelm-Boyles said that in the meantime, the search was on for an interim artistic director, with a number of candidates in mind.

"We're anxious to make sure that people do not feel, 'Uh-oh, the artistic director's gone, the company's going down the tube,' because that's not the case," he said, noting that several names from across the country are being considered. "We're not sure, necessarily, any or all of the people on the list will, in the end, want to do this as an interim position. But all of the names on the list are people who are really well qualified."

Alleyne's departure is the latest in a string of challenges faced by the company in recent months. In November, it laid off all its artistic and administrative staff, and in January narrowly escaped bankruptcy when creditors accepted a repayment plan. It then rehired its artistic staff, including Alleyne, on a six-month contract.

Alleyne himself is Ballet B.C.'s largest creditor, owed $142,671, plus a separate claim of $113. Under the terms of the refinancing proposal, which will give secured creditors the first $500 they’re owed, plus 25 cents on every additional dollar, he is to receive approximately $36,000. Ballet B.C. has not revealed whether Alleyne will also receive a severance package.

Alleyne, a native of Barbados who trained at the National Ballet School, joined Ballet B.C. in 1992, after serving as the National Ballet of Canada's resident choreographer. As of Thursday (June 4), he was still listed on the Ballet B.C. website as its artistic director.