Ronald Bates
Encyclopedia
Ronald Bates was production stage manager for New York City Ballet
where he began working in 1957. He studied scenic design at Los Angeles City College after serving in the Navy. He worked as a stage manager while still in college and after two years of doing so in California came to New York and worked in that capacity on operas production for Lincoln Kirstein, City Ballet's co-founder.
After working at the Stratford, Connecticut, Mozart and Shakespeare Festivals, and for the NBC
Opera Company in New York City, he joined NYCB at Kirstein's invitation and remained as production stage manager for over 20 years. His duties as included planning and executing the technical aspects of staging the ballets at the New York State Theater, of which he was also technical director. He was also for the transportation of lights and scenery and for the production of ballets at the company's summer home in Saratoga Springs
and on tour, both stateside and overseas.
Mr. Bates was resident lighting designer for City ballet and a close collaborator with founding balletmaster (and co-founder) George Balanchine
and co-founding balletmaster Jerome Robbins
. He was an authority on dance floors and stage floor construction and renovated the Palm Beach Auditorium for the Palm Beach Festival. He travelled internationally to direct technical production and reproduce his lighting designs for NYCB dances staged by other companies, especially at the Zurich Ballet where former NYCB principal dancer Patricia Neary was artistic director.
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
where he began working in 1957. He studied scenic design at Los Angeles City College after serving in the Navy. He worked as a stage manager while still in college and after two years of doing so in California came to New York and worked in that capacity on operas production for Lincoln Kirstein, City Ballet's co-founder.
After working at the Stratford, Connecticut, Mozart and Shakespeare Festivals, and for the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Opera Company in New York City, he joined NYCB at Kirstein's invitation and remained as production stage manager for over 20 years. His duties as included planning and executing the technical aspects of staging the ballets at the New York State Theater, of which he was also technical director. He was also for the transportation of lights and scenery and for the production of ballets at the company's summer home in Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is an amphitheater in Saratoga Springs, New York, which presents summer festivals of all kinds of music , dance, and opera, as well as a Wine & Food Festival...
and on tour, both stateside and overseas.
Mr. Bates was resident lighting designer for City ballet and a close collaborator with founding balletmaster (and co-founder) George Balanchine
George Balanchine
George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...
and co-founding balletmaster Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...
. He was an authority on dance floors and stage floor construction and renovated the Palm Beach Auditorium for the Palm Beach Festival. He travelled internationally to direct technical production and reproduce his lighting designs for NYCB dances staged by other companies, especially at the Zurich Ballet where former NYCB principal dancer Patricia Neary was artistic director.