There is an interesting thread in this subforum regarding ballet in popular culture. What I want to discuss is exposing new people to ballet. It is no surprise that many people's ideas of what ballet is or what dancers are like, is based upon the skewed perspective of commercials or movies which are designed to sell product or make an interesting story. As someone relatively new to ballet, even I continue to be amazed at the scope of the artform from humorous "The Concert" to the dark "The Cage", by Jerome Robbins. From the fast paced and energetic "Seven Greek Dances" to the slower and enchanting "Afternoon of a Faun" (can you tell I'm a Robbin's fan). It is my honest belief that if many people were to see real ballet, they would be impressed and their opinions would change. I took my brother-in-law and younger brother to their first performance, Oregon Ballet Theatre's "Bolero", and not only did it defy their expectations, but they loved it as well.
The trouble I have found though, is that unless an outside force occurs to knock them from their routines, so to speak, most people are less inclined to try things new. My brother-in-law and brother may have gone their entire lives without seeing a performance, because it is simply not something that is part of their horizon at least until now. Advertising alone doesn't seem to be effective, because (again from personal experience), people will gloss over those things which they have predetermined do not apply to them. I give you two examples: One, is that I lived in Portland for almost 3 years and don't ever recall seeing a ballet ad in the newspaper, even for Nutcracker, yet I read the newspaper quite regularly. When I first discovered ballet, on the internet of all places, I didn't even know there was a local company and had to do a Google search. Second, I noticed that when I drive around with my friend who is an auto-mechanic, he notices and points out every single autoparts store and I couldn't even tell you a single one we passed on our trip, simply because I don't "see" them. They become part of the background noise.
So how do we get people to "see" ballet? Not by putting ads in the newspaper and waiting for people to show up. From my, certainly very limited experience, I don't think that is very effective. Instead, why not be proactive and bring ballet to the people? Be that outside force knocks people from their routines and intrudes into their lives in some unexpected way. Don't let media companies write the dialogue for you in popular culture. Grab life by the reins.
There are a group of dancers who have inspired me by doing just that, called "Uprising", lead by OBT Soloist Candace Bouchard. They are still in their infancy and exploring ideas, such as teaming up with local musicians and performing in traditionally non-dance venues. The aim being that people who come for the bands end up seeing ballet (and vice versa). I still think there is a lot of unexplored potential here, but I think they are on the right track. I hope and wish that other dancers around the world would be inspired to do something similar. In fact, I'm sure there already are and I am interested in hearing about other groups, what they have done in the past, and what has been successful or failed. I'm also interested in hearing your opinions on the idea in general.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a fan, volunteer, and supporter of many local dance organizations in my local community, including "Uprising" and Oregon Ballet Theatre. This isn't just about one company though or one group of dancers though, but about the art of ballet in general, breaking many misconceptions caused by popular culture, sharing the joy of dance with new people, and hopefully keep enough fresh fans and supporters flowing into the community to help keep it financially and creatively healthy for many generations to come.
Here is a link to "Uprising", but again, I want to hear about other organizations, successes, and your thoughts.
http://www.obt.org/uprising/
