As ballet companies around the world start to reveal their plans for upcoming seasons, it’s time for us to get philosophical again. As many of you know, we started The Ballet Bag back in 2009 (if you are curious, you can still read our very first blog) because we were becoming increasingly engaged with, and curious about this unique art form. As a result, we embarked on several ballet adventures: seeing new artists emerge from the wings of the Prix de Lausanne, connecting with audiences via social media, speaking to people who had much to contribute to the debate on whether ballet has a future.
Seven years on, what still makes us tick? We’re still here. True, we might not post as often, and we might not review as often (in part due to the fact that we are watching fewer shows these days), but we are still regularly engaging with our readers on social media. This has remained a constant from day one. These days, we are amazed to see Instagram overtaking Twitter as a social channel for ballet. Granted, Twitter still remains relevant, but it now has serious competition. An example? During World Ballet Day 2015, the most interesting conversations were happening in the YouTube chatboxes, and not on Twitter. Our own Facebook community, which used to be relatively quiet, has become much more active in the last couple of years, and it’s a joy to be able to share so many amazing dance images – and here goes a huge shout out and thank you to the super talented Alice Pennefather! – to around 255,000 “likers” every week. We love that page, we hope you do too.
Back to the art form itself, we’re still following it with interest. We may not watch shows as frequently, but we’re there rooting for our favorites (you know who they are!) and on that note, bring on this week’s premiere of She Said at ENB, and the revival of Winter’s Tale at the Royal Ballet. We are looking forward to both.
Now it’s over to you: we would love to hear what you think. What still keeps you going, dance-wise?
Please answer the survey below and you will be automatically added to our draw. We have a DVD of the fabulous documentary Ballet 422 and five Ballet Bag silkscreens circa 2010 to give away.
Feel free to leave additional feedback and/or suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover in the comments box.
Thanks for your support!
