DENVER — It’s hard to put a price on a lifetime of work.
“You really can’t because it means so much in memory and it means so much in just effort,” said Paul Noel Fiorino, founder of Ballet Arts Theater in Denver.
“Here’s grandpa’s cane from Peter and the Wolf which we hope to reconstruct this summer,” Fiorino said.
The prop closet and storage of the Ballet Arts Theater is a treasure trove, a time capsule of costumes, sets and memories.
“Here we have tons of video tape,” Fiorino said pointing out boxes of VHS tapes from past performances.
Fiorino says after hanging on for 30 years, it might be time to hang it up.
“We’ve had the ability to be here in the Golden Triangle, but now we have to move,” Fiorino said. “It’s terribly sad, but I’ve been fighting it all my life.”
The building the nonprofit says it has occupied since 1993 will soon be redeveloped, like so many other properties in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood, which is zoned for new construction up to 20 stories.
“The Berger’s (the building owner's) have supported us over the years, but it’s just time for us to go now,” Fiorino said.
He’s now hoping someone from the community is interested in purchasing the theater company and moving it.
“I’m 67 and on the twilight of things,” Fiorino said. “But we also need folks to realize that we need a place to go. And we need – maybe a resurrection of some artist that wants their own company.”
If you’d like to help Ballet Arts Theater move, which it must do before next Monday, April 4, you can do so by reaching out to Contact7@thedenverchannel.com.
