Miami Heat Star Dwyane Wade, NBA MVP LeBron James and former Mets player and twelve time Major League All Star baseball player Mike Piazza share a very public presence with Ballet. The Miami City Ballet to be exact. A very creative and innovative arts organization that fears no boundaries as it reaches beyond its presumed audience to a greater humanity.
I first heard about the campaign Ballet and Basketball while listening to WBUR/ National Public Radio’s Only a Game and was impressed by a quote from the Miami Ballet’s artistic director, Lourdes Lopez, who said “Ballet and basketball are both about grace under pressure and the pursuit of perfection.” No Miami City Ballet dancer stands alone just as HEAT players can’t win alone. It requires team work—and that’s Miami! We are talking about tremendous pride in the place we call home and being the best together.”
Check out these photos from WBUR’s photostream
Now that’s great recognition of shared values! How much better could other communities be when organizational leadership recognizes that collaboration and shared vision will yield far greater enthusiasm and results than fighting over an ever shrinking pool of available dollars; that reaching out beyond the comfort zone can yield new ambassadors and fans and funding. Truly, the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. And by the way, that oft repeated quote originated with Aristotle.
Hats off to the forward thinking folks in Miami.