BALLET GETS SEXY
Arifa Akbar, The Independent – United Kingdom
Published: Jul 06, 2007
A chisel-jawed man stares steadily at the camera, a gentle pout
forming on his lips.
And if the erotic charge of the image has eluded the viewer, the
strap-line running alongside it rams the point home.
It reads: "Meet Ed. Fact: When he’s dancing, pound for pound, he’s
stronger than a rhino. Superheroes really do wear tights."
Ed is not a Chippendale or Hollywood’s latest heartthrob. He is
Edward Watson, the principal dancer at the Royal Ballet and his
close-up appears on the cover of the Royal Opera House’s autumn
season programme at Covent Garden. It will soon appear in a series
of newspaper advertisements and on London Underground posters.
While the bold image may be prompting the keen interest of Mr
Watson’s female following, it has caused some consternation among
ballet aficionados who see it as a cheap marketing ploy to pull in
new audiences.
Mary Clarke, the editor of the Dancing Times, deemed such treatment
of a serious artist as "tacky". "I think it’s appalling and tacky. It
cheapens the image of the company and it’s not what they are all
about," she said.
The ROH said its reasons for launching an advertising campaign that
is "up close and personal" is not only to celebrate the physicality
of its performers but to challenge people’s perceptions of ballet
dancers as distant figures in tutus.
Caroline Bailey, the director of marketing at the ROH, said it had
evolved from an advertising campaign three years ago, which featured
12 performers beautifully photographed in their home countries,
which included Mexico, China, Cuba and Armenia.
This time round, she wanted to deliver something that audiences could
connect to on a more emotional level, and decided on featuring Mr
Watson gazing directly at the camera.
"We wanted to show him as a human being but also to say that he was
extraordinary. And he is a fabulous looking man so it’s not hard to
get a good photo of him. It’s all in the eyes. He is looking directly
at you and it is so captivating that you can’t get away," she said. Ms
Bailey dismissed the notion that this kind marketing was designed to
sex up its performers in hope luring greater audiences without regard.
"I have an imperative to sell seats but a bigger imperative to have the
right image for the or-ganisation and to change people’s perceptions
so they realise that we are not intimidating but engaging and very
welcoming. Anyone who loves the Royal Ballet knows we need an audience
of the future," she said.
The image is the first of four to be launched over the coming year,
including the young opera singer Marina Poplavskaya, the ROH’s musical
director, Antonio Pappano, and the Royal Ballet’s principle dancer
Marianela NAAez.
Mr Watson, 31, from Dartford, Kent, who has modelled in various
magazines in the past, including a 10-page feature in GQ and Harper’s
and Queen, yesterday told The Independent that he had never regarded
himself as a "pin-up". He was happy with the advert and said he found
it witty and innovative.
"It’s a bit cheeky but I don’t really take myself very seriously
and I don’t think it was that sexy. I did-n’t feel cheap or dirty
doing it. It’s not saying ‘come and see the ballet’ with images of
tuttu’s. You can see the person so it becomes much more human, which
I really like," he said. Mr Watson nevertheless revealed he received
considerable fan mail from women who admired his talents.
The dancer joined The Royal Ballet in December 1994 and was promoted
to "first artist" in 1997. His career trajectory since then has been
a steady climb to the top.
Yet he is not known so much for sex appeal, but for his astonishingly
flexible body – performing the splits standing on one leg with far
more grace than the average male ballet dancer.
Watson is the first to admit that his red hair, delicate skin and
fine limbs perhaps do not qualify him as a regular ballet pin-up.
Growing up, he regarded himself as something of a "ginger freak",
he said.
An industry source said it was "surprising" that he was singled out
for such marketing. This is not the first time the classical arts
have introduced sex appeal in the marketing of its artists’ works.
The violinist Vanessa Mae was famously pictured in a sexy dress,
playing her instrument in the sea with waves lapping around her
figure. The image was a hit and became a turning point after which a
crop of "sexy" performers were born in her wake, with the operatic
male quartet Il Divo being the most recent. The group consists
of unnervingly good-looking singers who have been packaged into a
pop-opera fusion act by Simon Cowell.
Similarly, the English National Opera’s original campaign in 1989,
which drew on the sexiness of its performers and behind-the-scenes
operatives, was seen as highly effective as it energised audience
figures and revitalised the company.
But Tony Hall, the chief executive of the ROH, said this was most
definitively not the Royal Ballet’s "Vanessa Mae moment".
"We are not going down a Vanessa Mae road. It’s not what we are about.
People who come to us a lot know how superb he is. People who do not
come here might think ‘how amazing, he is stronger than a rhino’,"
he said.