Ballet’s new director a man on a mission

At age 20, John Krasno fell in love with a ballerina who introduced him to the colorful and evocative world of ballet. Their relationship didn’t work out, but he became hooked on ballet. After spending the following year seeing as many ballet performances as he could, Krasno persuaded an actor friend to take him to a ballet class. 
 

"I ended up taking ballet class for 10 years,” said Krasno, the newly named executive director of Oklahoma City Ballet. "I was awful, but I had a great time doing it. Through that, I also figured out how to start and fund a ballet company and school. Ultimately, I went on to other pursuits, but I continued to love the art form.”

Krasno worked for a Santa Monica accounting firm that specialized in the entertainment industry and subsequently worked for Panavision. As supervisor for that company’s Hollywood division, Krasno became successful overseeing international projects. Hoping to find a way to reconnect with his passion for dance, Krasno began looking for companies interested in hiring. That pursuit led him to Oklahoma City.

 

"I’ve worked with lots of artistic directors in theater and dance, but I really bonded with (artistic director) Robert Mills when they brought me out here to interview,” Krasno said. "He’s influential in the world of dance, he knows what needs to be done here and how to do it. He’s also one of the sanest directors I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”

Krasno suggests there are three audiences for ballet: seniors who have the time and resources to attend, people who want to see family-oriented productions such as "The Nutcracker,” and those who have an interest in contemporary dance. He has no doubts that the Oklahoma City Ballet can meet those needs.

"We have two missions,” Krasno said. "One is to create performances here that will appeal to each of those audiences. We’d like to develop a core audience that is interested and appreciative of the art form, but we also want to create ballet for the 21st century.

"The second is to establish a small company of dancers who can tour regionally and nationally with works that presenters might want to take a chance on. I think we have the opportunity to become a powerful emissary for Oklahoma City.”

Krasno hopes to achieve those goals through continued education and awareness. He’d like to see Oklahoma City Ballet become more involved with public school systems and universities while continuing to explore ways of collaborating with the area’s arts organizations.

"You build an audience through exposure and the understanding that ballet is not an esoteric, elitist art form,” Krasno said. "To do that, you have to present something that’s interesting, approachable and worthwhile for people to look at. I didn’t grow up with ballet, modern art and great literature, but I grew to love them by being exposed to them.

"Anyone interested in making a bit of an effort can discover something beautiful, fascinating, even inspirational. With ‘Giselle’ in February and a program called ‘Three by Three’ in April, people will have a fantastic opportunity to see the romantic and beautiful alongside three world premieres that will be choreographed by masters of contemporary dance — including our own Robert Mills. What’s so lovely about this situation is that we’re doing all that with homegrown dancers.”

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