The task of reporting the news has, for better or for worse, spread far beyond standard media. From Michael Jackson’s death to yesterday’s headlines, sharing the news is now the work of an online global community. Phones, computers and gadgets are propagating information in real time and the internet is overloaded with individual opinions on everything. This is one of the factors affecting traditional dance criticism, often said to be an endangered species. Performance discussions now happen in real time: in forums, on Facebook, via text messages; they are blogged or tweeted about within a few hours of taking place.

While it is clear readers are no longer sitting and waiting for printed media in order to form a view, the rise of dance in web 2.0 does not correlate with decline of interest in traditional reviews. A professional write-up is still valued for its educational value and for the additional insights it may bring. Many are wonderful to read. In the UK eminent FT dance critic Clement Crisp produces reviews that are practically works of literature. In the US, many of Alastair Macaulay’s pieces dig deep into symbolism and meaning. As he said in this recent interview for Ballet.co Magazine: “There are so many ways to look at dance…So I’m always trying to stretch myself – to find more things to see and more ways of looking…I think what I’m learning from them will actually give me more to see in the forms of dance with which I’m better acquainted”.

iPad versus Newspaper. Photo: Brian Brooks ©

Traditional Dance Criticism vs. Online Media

By distancing themselves from what goes on backstage (and because they do not have to act as publishers on top of writing reviews) traditional dance critics are better able to keep standards of objectivity as compared to bloggers. In effect, some argue that only critics that are held at arm’s length from the field they write about can really be objective. Others think closer involvement leads to a better understanding and sensitivity towards the art form. Dance blogger Tonya Plank made very interesting points on this topic in her notes about this recent panel on the state of dance criticism.

Though traditional dance criticism still has the power to generate debate and to engage the reader, it continues to face a battle for survival. And it’s ironical that online media, while putting pressure on the printed business model, makes it possible for traditional criticism to go viral and reach a broader readership – think of how many reviews are shared and linked to everyday. In the same way dance companies are embracing new media to attract audiences dance journalists will also need to embrace new technologies and ways of communicating. Perhaps critics should pay closer attention to the online dance community in order to better serve their reader’s interests (an increasing number of critics are turning to Twitter). Media and journalism are changing and dance criticism has to evolve accordingly.

A review needs to become part of a bigger conversation where the critic becomes its moderator, its leading voice. This has been suggested across many fields in the arts as we embrace the age of “curation”. In this model dance reviews have the potential to become interactive, the critic would manage and select information coming from both traditional and independent media. For instance, who would not find a review that explains obscure terms / jargon (think words like rubato, legato, fouetté rond de jambe en tournant, etc.) or that includes illustrative videos extremely useful?

Contemporary Dance Criticism

More recently a number of professional dance critics have started to explore these avenues. One example is Ismene Brown, former dance critic of The Telegraph, who now heads The Arts Desk, an independent arts e-magazine. Freed from the constraints of 400-word reviews Brown and her colleagues write features and publish on-the-night reviews, often including video examples. In the US critics Roslyn Sulcas, Tobi Tobias and Apollinaire Scherr favor blogging and addressing audience queries to provide audiences with a richer, all-round experience. At The Guardian, Sanjoy Roy links to YouTube videos and other online media in his outreach series Step-by-step guide to dance.

Left to right: Ismene Brown & The Arts Desk, Apollinaire Scherr's Foot in Mouth and Sanjoy Roy's Step-by-step guide to dance

If this is the future of dance criticism, will it still possible to find dance pages in a newspaper? The answer is a “complex yes”. While the arrival of such new technologies as the iPad will increasingly drive media consumers to non-print content, it is clear that web 2.0 makes it easier for keen audiences worldwide to educate themselves and feed off good content. Consider that just over five months ago, Washington Post dance critic Sarah Kaufman won the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism. And in a Q&A with Post readers she was positive that dance criticism still has a place in the newspaper: “newspapers cover news. Art is news”.  Mark her words and stay tuned.

Join the conversation: use the comment form below and let us know how you like to keep up with dance (and the arts in general) in the web 2.0 age.

In addition to boosting their presence on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, leading ballet companies have also taken to blogging regularly. Company blogs have radically changed the face of communication within the arts sector. Before them organisations were more dependent on regular media/art pages to pick up on their stories but now they publish their own content, sharing news and features directly with audiences and developing their own “internet voices”.

Hoping to recruit new ballet goers and engage the public, official company blogs focus on what happens behind ballet curtains. Some also leverage off their insider knowledge to give readers real and timely “scoops”. In this way they can make up for lack of impartiality (they are after all representing a company, so don’t expect critical reviews there) and even compete with conventional, more established arts and dance publications.

In this post which follows our recent list of 5 very cool blogs you should read we pick some of our favorite ballet company blogs. We like them for their high editorial quality and original content:

Behind Ballet – The official blog of Australian Ballet

From “ask Colin” (advice to aspiring dancers) to “Legends of ballet”, from ballet crossed over with fashion to mini features, this blog has a fantastic editorial team and regular features including interviews and competitions. Their high-end concept and structure are an example to online dance publications.

We like: Flashback, a Legendary Pair

In an article tracing the history of international ballet dancers visiting Australia, published in The Age in 1964, Geoffrey Hutton described Nureyev and Fonteyn as: “… probably the most highly priced dancers in the world; Fonteyn the pride of the British ballet who has queened it for a generation; Nureyev the sensational young male dancer from the Leningrad Kirov who has brought a new sense of excitement into the Western ballet.”

Open Studio 455 – The official blog of San Francisco Ballet

In a similar way to Behind Ballet, Open Studio 455 provides regular features ranging from interviews to news and reports on community projects. They have an impressive roster of guest writers: principal dancers, members of the staff, directors. Their “picture of the week” series showcases the excellent work of resident photographer Erik Tomasson.

We like: I Did It! Davit Karapetyan proposes to his partner Vanessa Zahorian onstage

At the end of our Romeo & Juliet performance Saturday night, Vanessa and I stood on stage for our bows. The ushers brought her flowers and handed me a microphone; Vanessa looked at me in shock! Luckily, everything was planned very well. Right before the bows, I had gone out for water and someone handed me the ring, which I placed in my poison case. The ushers brought Vanessa flowers and handed me a microphone; she looked perplexed!

Birmingham Royal Ballet – Touring Blog

BRB are a touring company so the blog’s main focus is to show us what happens on the road: plenty of funny or “real world” anecdotes from every angle: dancers, technical crew, creative team. They also have great spotlight features to highlight their season repertoire and superb videos documenting rehearsals and the process of creating new work.

We like: Dusty Button Interview

Q: Is there any one item in your bag that you can’t tour without?

A: Oh, my iPod! Yes! I don’t think I could live without my iPod, even more so than my cell phone. I just love music. When you wake up and you have a great song on and are strutting down the street in the morning it’s amazing, it can make or break your day! Sometimes I take my speakers for when we’re back at our digs between shows, or a lot of the time you can just run it through the TV speakers. I’m the flat DJ for sure!

Miami City Ballet Blog

This blog reminds us of The Winger in places. It has a fresh and vibrant voice, with plenty of guest posts where dancers participate, writing and posting pictures in a “dear diary” format. They also have features on teachers and the transition from school into professional dancing; great for aspiring ballet dancers. Lots of interesting videos too.

We like: Our First Ladies

The May issue of W Magazine includes a photo spread by famed fashion photographer Bruce Weber called “First Ladies,” which features Miami City Ballet dancers and School students!  This “portfolio of inspirational women” includes a breathtaking shot of Jeanette and Patricia Delgado in flowing dresses by Valentino and Burberry, along with photos of fashion icon Iris Apfel, Haitian human-rights leader Marleine Bastien, among others.

The Tokyo Ballet

Yes the Tokyo Ballet’s blog is in Japanese but you can always follow what’s happening via google translate. Or you can focus instead on their excellent images. With great use of photography to show what happens in between performances, this blog reminds us of how ballet is first and foremost a visual art.

We like: Second Week of Rehearsals (Soloist Yuko Tanaka reports on rehearsals ahead of their European tour).

For many people here it will be the first time to go overseas. Although there is plenty of anxiety, I am really looking forward to this experience… Given the 11-hour long rehearsals, the girls decided to lower the tension by wearing pink practice clothes. Pink done, here we come!

Also worth adding to your RSS readers

• Footnotes: The official blog of Boston Ballet
• J Pointe: The official blog of Joffrey Ballet
  
• City Brights: SF Ballet master Ricardo Bustamante’s blog
  

Ballet companies, choreographers, dancers, writers and bloggers are realising the importance of educating and engaging with audiences via social media to promote ballet as an art form. Through the rich and diverse ballet content on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and blogs we now have exposure to ballet events around the globe as if we were “virtually there”.

Can web 2.0 and social media help bring ballet back into the mainstream? It’s too early to tell and trends like these might, as Elitedance notes, “die off or morph into another trend like all trends do”. But at present it’s never been easier to educate oneself and to follow what is happening in the dance world. The offshoot of this wealth of content is information overload and, in some cases, poor quality so we recommend you choose your ballet fix wisely.

Pick your Social Media Poison

Visual  Feast:

• YouTube, Vimeo, Yahoo! Video

Use if: you want to see extracts of performances, interviews, historical ballet footage

Skip if: you don’t want to put up with the latest heated debates on hyperextensions, sickled feet and general balletic nitpicking

While YouTube and such other video services as Vimeo and Yahoo!Video are the most direct way to experience the art away from the stage, they are also very problematic given the copyright issues they raise. Read our take on the YouTube & Ballet debate here.

Blah Blah Blah:

• Twitter

Use if: you like the thought of a news channel that reports on ballet and dance all day long

Skip if: you fear information overload

If YouTube is the best way to visually experience ballet on the internet, Twitter is certainly one of the easiest, most effective and non-intrusive channels to keep up with ballet trends.

Twitter is a microblogging service that allows users to post 140-character messages. When one elects to follow users who post about topics of interest, their updates will be streamed directly like an RSS feed. You can reply (@), retweet (RT) to your own followers and/or privately message (DM) users. Communities are created by sharing news, links of interest, asking questions.

Unlike Facebook you don’t need to become “friends” with anyone to start following them (unless they have protected accounts – bust most active users don’t). Many ballet companies and dancers use Twitter as a way to engage with their audiences and you can find plenty of interesting ballet follows by searching on wefollow (the most popular Twitter directory).

• Facebook

Use if: you want to connect with other ballet enthusiasts, either via becoming “friends” or discussing topics of interest in fan “pages”

Skip if: you prefer to remain a “lurker”

Facebook is a networking site that gives every user a profile page with a wall/news feed. Users can post text, links, pictures, etc. and share it with their “friends”. Ballet companies, dancers, retailers and all sorts of ballet sites typically post the latest news, articles of interest, photos, promotions and tour information via official “pages”. If you connect with a page (you have to click on its “like” button) its related updates will show on your personal news feed. In other words, pages behave as your “friends”. Over here we tend to share in our page interesting ballet articles from conventional media or dance blogs in addition to our own content.

Facebook “groups” used to be popular, but since pages are easier to interact with (groups don’t stream their content – ie. members have to keep proactively visiting them) groups have become less appealing. You can read more about Facebook pages vs. groups in this article. Pages also have their shortcomings. Although they can interact with  subscribers, it still remains very difficult to network and communicate from one page to another. In other words, there’s no Facebook equivalent of Twitter’s RT/Retweet or Tumblr’s Reblog functions for pages.

The Twitter-Blog mashup:

• Tumblr

Use if: you love to share ballet photos and video links

Skip if: you prefer to read full blog posts/dance articles

Tumblr is mainly visual. It is a mashup of blogs, YouTube and Flickr but with the same type of streaming feed as Twitter. Most of ballet-related Tumblr posts we see are links to archival photos and video but some people also use it to write short performance reviews.

The New Kid on the Block:

• DeBallet

DeBallet is a brand new ballet networking site. It works like a mini-Facebook for ballet fans, dancers, etc. Maria Kochetkova, a San Francisco Ballet Principal and one of the site’s founders, says the portal is “a great site to connect with ballet dancers from other companies and schools around the world”.

Further reading:

• Best of Blogs
• What can Social Media do for Ballet?
• An analysis of Ballet and Twitter (based on a recent NYTimes article)
• Why should Ballet Companies and Dancers tweet about ballet?
• Read an interview with ABT’s Daniil Simkin on his social media presence
• Shortcut to all of our ballet & social media related posts

If you have followed The Ballet Bag for a while then you already know we love juxtaposing pop culture and ballet and looking at this art form through younger, fresher eyes. You also probably know most of our post titles are taken from rock songs (well if you didn’t, now you do).

We love indie rock and gig posters. We are always looking for limited edition prints to add to our collection, especially those designed by artists like Ames Bros and Tara McPherson. So when thinking of something special for our 1 year “birthday” bash we had the idea to bring together ballet and indie rock art, creating the first ballet “Gig poster” ever.

We took this concept, along with the idea of “giving Ballet a New Spin”, to our fabulous designer João Ferraz. He came up with this awesome drawing:

Then we found some amazing printers, Luma Studio to help us execute the project. Here we leave you with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes, look at how the posters were made:

The intricate screen printing process involves multiple layers of ink. The first layer of white (corresponding to the washing machine and the tutu in the drawing above) goes into 270gsm thick vellum paper

Now the acid orange is ready to go in

Each colour must be thoroughly dry before the next layer can be applied

Test prints with the two final colours: shades of purple-ish/blue. The more colours are added, the more expensive the print becomes

Any imperfections are corrected by hand

After drying they are almost ready…

Now each of these brightly shining goodies needs to be individually checked…

… signed and numbered

Screen prints have a lovely porous texture, here are some macro shots

Let’s carry on with the numbering fun. As you can see, these are the coolest ballet posters ever. How can you get your hands on one? Join our Ballet-Mad Libs promotion! Entries from all over the globe are welcome.

Alternatively, to register your interest in purchasing a poster contact us by email.

Good luck to all participants!

Thanks and credits:

• Designs by João Ferraz (joaoferraz(AT)gmail.com)
• Printing by Lucie & Mark, Luma Studio (studioluma(AT)yahoo.com)
• Photos by © The Ballet Bag and © Luma Studio

Spotlight on Five Different Dance Blogs

Blogs are a simple and effective way to communicate. Everyone can have one and there are many user friendly blogging platforms out there (Blogger, TypePad, Tumblr, WordPress, etc.). Of course they vary in quality and scope, but blogs have become an important tool for the ever-growing online dance community. Dancers, fans, teachers, students and dance professionals can use them to make their voices heard; to communicate why dance is an activity to be celebrated and appreciated. These blogs document the impact of dance in our lives; why it matters culturally or stylistically.

We love reading dance blogs and have quite a large list of favorites in our RSS reader. We also love discovering new ones. The five dance blogs below are all recent finds brought to our attention via different networks. They approach dance from various angles and are definitely worth adding to your feed (see our Ballet Newbie page to learn more about RSS feeds – a must if you want to keep up with as many blogs as we do).

The Go Fug Yourself of Ballet – Thin and Dizzy

Thin and Dizzy, aka TAD, was set up by dancers of the Boston Ballet. TAD is unashamedly satirical and snarky.  Sometimes it pays direct homage to those Fug Girls we know and love – see this post entitled Fuggerina – as well as a number of other cult blogs. TAD’s own regular feature is “OMG Boot!” where dancers and “normies” (ie. non-dancers) can be told apart simply from the way they sport their boot casts. This is a great blog if you want to spend a few leisurely minutes seeing the world from the perspective of dancers. In this case, dancers with a great sense of humour.

Dance meets The Sartorialist – Dancer Style

Georgina Harper and Meg Ferguson are fans of such popular fashion blogs as The Sartorialist and Style Bubble. Their project Dancer Style, which has just been featured in this week’s Time Out (London edition) was inspired by this love of fashion. In their own words, Dancer Style is “dedicated to the undeniable fact that dancers are some of the coolest dressers on the planet. Dancers are style leaders, pioneering new trends and attacking the old skool with a uniquely performative twist.” Great for observing dance’s influence beyond the stage.

The Behind the Scenes Photoblog - Blue Ballet Blog

David Amzallag works as a photographer for The Royal Danish Ballet. In addition to his official website David keeps the Blue Ballet Blog where he experiments with different formats of digital storytelling. He posts thoughts on ballets (in French) together with rehearsal and performance shots. Thematic slideshows like the Death of the Sylph and Gurn meets Effie invite us to look at the ballet La Sylphide under a different light. We also like his innovative series of 45 photos of corps de ballet member Holly Jean Dorger preparing for a soloist role in Balanchine’s Symphony in C.

Carling Talcott’s Mixed Nuts

In addition to showing what it’s like to be a corps de ballet dancer in The Royal Danish Ballet, one of the oldest and most prestigious ballet companies in the world, Mixed Nuts gives us insights into the life of an American young expat living in Copenhagen. Dance meets globetrotting.

Kristen McNally’s Blog at Ballet.co

To say she is fresh and fun would be a huge understatement. Ballet.co editorial team.

Kristen McNally is a Royal Ballet soloist and a choreographer. Last year she made a promising piece based on Obama’s presidential campaign for The Royal Ballet at the Linbury. Earlier this year she created a role in Jonathan Watkins’s As One dancing a lovely solo. She also made impressive debuts as the lead harlot in MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet and as Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty. Kristen is now blogging at Ballet.co where she describes with plenty of personality the trials and tribulations of being a dancer, as well as things that inspire/fuel her creativity.

Why does dance matter to you?

Why Dance Matters is an online event organized by Dance Advantage to support dance and demonstrate its impact on the lives of individuals and communities. This virtual event rallies the dance community on Facebook and beyond and will run between Arts Advocacy Day (April 12) and the close of National Dance Week (May 2). Anyone can participate, so do join in.

Help us celebrate The Ballet Bag’s 1st Birthday!

The image on the left is another little teaser (see also this earlier snapshot) of our limited edition, gigposter-inspired, silkscreen art  specially commissioned to celebrate our one year Birthday. As you can see here we’ve been busy mixing the colours and we rather like that acid orange-on-blue. In fact, we’re quite proud that this ballet poster contains no trace of pink. The full image will be revealed this Thursday 22 April, so stay tuned.

You can win one of these posters by sending in your own Ballet-Mad Libs. Participants from all over the globe are welcome. The more the merrier. To get you going here are some of the first entries we have received, together with our own. We will post more as they come in:

Alexa Chipman

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Picture 1 of 6

Credits & thanks to:

Eric Taub/Manhattnik – Tweets @Manhattnik & blogs at Demicontretemps

Alexa Chipman/Zimrahil – Tweets @zimrahil & blogs at Alexa Chipman’s Writings

Madame Galina – Facebook page & Official website, blogs at Ballet.co – Madame Galina’s Doings Diary

Raquel Ribeiro – Blogs at Stringy Universe

It’s been over 6 months since we wrote a post about how social media had the potential to “turn the ballet microcosm into an universe”, to make it expand beyond its captive audience and hopefully reach out to those who still believe ballet is old fashioned and all about girls in tutus & tiaras; men in tights.

So how have things evolved within this relatively short period? Many ballet companies which were not very active in social media have now embraced it. One example is The Royal Danish Ballet, now on Facebook and also tweeting – albeit in Danish. Some of the “headstarters” mentioned in our original post have also furthered their social media presence: ABT has finally joined Twitter and San Francisco Ballet continues to put out innovative content and provide audiences with a great online experience, supported by their well designed website. For evidence take a look at the trailer for their new ballet season and their video profiles of dancers.

Other dance companies have stayed in their comfort zones and not bothered to do much: the Bolshoi are still nowhere near web 2.0 (ie. the new era of information sharing), ditto Paris Opera Ballet even though one of their principal dancers, the lovely Isabelle Ciaravola tweets on a regular basis.

But the real eye opener about social media’s potential to break down barriers and make ballet more accessible came on Monday via New York-based dance writer Gia Kourlas. In this article about ballet dancers who use Twitter which featured in the front page of the New York Times she said:

[Dancers'] Tweets are starting to change the public face of ballet. They may never amass the number of followers of, say, the prolific tweeter Ashton Kutcher, but Twitter is making ballet dancers human. (A simple Google search of a name plus Twitter is generally all that is needed to find them.)

Her article lists some of the most active US dance tweeps (ie. people who tweet): ABT’s Daniil Simkin, SFB’s Maria Kochetkova, NYCB’s Kathryn Morgan, Devin Alberda and Ashley Bouder. It went viral on Twitter and other social media channels and generated a cascade of follow-up articles and reactions:

New York Magazine’s Vulture blog singled out the crassest twitterer of the bunch, Devin “tell it like it is” Alberda as their favorite:

without reservation we can recommend the bitchy, uncouth Twitter feed of NYCB’s blue-working Mr. Devin Alberda, who likes to keep things edgy.

UK dance writer Ismene Brown commented on Kourlas’s article via The Arts Desk:

According to Gia Kourlas’s article in the New York Times today, Ashley’s iPhone is her closest partner, and her constant twittering is opening up a new understanding of a leading dance-artist’s life. So what did the Swan Queen tweet the other day as she magically flew off the stage and prepared to change into the black tutu of her wicked doppelgänger? “Odette act II was ok today, mild foot cramps though. Yuck yuck. Onto odile. Going for evil sexy tonight…”

Internet newspaper Slate.fr also picked up on the story, contrasting it with the fact that there are only two Paris Opera Ballet dancers currently on Twitter (Ciaravola and Karl Paquette). You can read their comment (in French) here.

Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer & active twitterer Christopher McDaniel wrote a pro-Twitter manifesto in his blog:

I love following people, and I love for people to follow me. The main reason I got into Twitter was so that I could see what’s happening with others in the dance world, and OMG it is awesome. It’s amazing to see that these divine dancers are normal humans who laugh, eat, talk, and screw up just like I do!

NYCB’s Kathryn Morgan, one of the dancers mentioned in Kourlas’s article tweeted:

I love the “mystery” that surrounds ballet, but I joined twitter to keep ballet growing with the changing times. Any thoughts?

As Twitter works both ways and we believe it’s important for dancers and companies to learn more about their audiences Bag Lady L. tweeted in reply:

@KMorganNYCB 2 bring new audiences in, one needs 2 tear down myths surrounding ballet – the mystery & magic in [performance] will still be there!

Capitalising on all this buzz ABT, a relatively new presence on Twitter, launched a “guest Twitterer” initiative:

A dancer’s perspective: Corps de ballet member Mary Mills Thomas to tweet for a week!

Some people wrote they had signed up to Twitter just because of the article. Others protested that what should make headlines is Ashley Bouder’s “amazing dancing not her tweeting”. However different those opinions, the fact is Bouder’s follow base more than doubled up in just one day. You can follow other reactions to this story using  Twitter Search.

It is still early days for dance on social media channels. Although there’s a lot more ground work to be done to attract new audiences, we are fully supportive of creative, interactive ways to do so. If tweeting is what it takes, then let the twitterverse be flooded with dancers. We hope they become increasingly aware of how much of the power to demystify their chosen art form lies with them.

Further Information & how to get started

1. Cornerstone – Why should dancers and ballet companies embrace Twitter? [link]
2. Virtually There – Ballet and Social Media [link]
3. Our directory of Dancers on Twitter [link]
4. WeFollow’s directory of Ballet Tweeps [link]

In the last two years Twitter has widely grown in popularity. Even though it has been labeled a fad like other social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc.), it continues to flourish and establish itself as one of the most effective and versatile social media channels.

Twitter can be used as a tool for staying in touch with friends and family, as a real-time search engine, as an information outlet and in many other ways. Over here we use it for networking with dance fans, companies, writers, dancers and choreographers anywhere around the globe. We have been positively surprised with the amount of information we can exchange and use for spreading, together with other ballet fans, the notion that “Ballet Rocks!”.

We are enthusiastic about the use of social media to promote inclusion and attract new audiences to certain art forms. It is an effective way to get a message across and we certainly approve of art organisations jumping onto the bandwagon. But many of these organisations have been too hasty in embracing social media and have no clear strategy, goals or any understanding of how to leverage off these channels. We have often seen new Twitter users quickly become wall spammers (ie. overpromoting their services with little additional information or dialogue with followers) or adopt erratic tweeting behaviour (ie. short bursts of activity followed by prolonged silence).

But aren’t we all on Twitter to promote a service anyway? Most Twitter sceptics view it as a self-promotion wasteland, but given that it has little or no impact on box office sales why do companies even bother maintaining a Twitter presence? And how can they improve their Twitter strategy, toning down on spamming and overpromotion? These are the questions we attempt to answer below:

How can dance companies use Twitter

• As a promotional tool: It can be used for announcements, providing related links, to launch competitions, promotions and engage audiences.

• As a networking resource: to seek solutions and get real-time feedback. Direct questions/polls can be used to profile audiences without the need to chase after statistical studies or  feedback forms. Any Twitter user can also get live information and find what audiences are talking about via Twitter Search + relevant keywords.

• To engage/maintain a dialogue with followers: to learn about audience demographics and understand which areas need to be developed/focused on.

• As a live feed/relaying events, helping international followers feel included in an event (@RoyalOperaHouse did a great job with their BP summer screenings and their Twitter Opera project). A core network of  followers (ie. a community of supporters) can also help spread the company’s news/events via retweeting or RT’ing (ie. forwarding information).

Practical examples:

@DutchNatBallet, @mariinskyen and @nycballet do great links to videos & production photos.

@BRB, @BostonBallet, @MiamiCityBallet, @sfballet link to interesting related blog posts & articles, as well as programme notes, pictures, casting details, etc.

@BRB, @paballet @NorthernBallet @ScottishBallet and @BalletBlack are examples of companies who often engage, retweet and exchange tweets with their followers. They even post job vacancies from time to time.

How can dancers use Twitter

Dancers lead very busy lives running from class to rehearsal, from rehearsal to performance, so why should they waste what little spare time they have on Twitter?

• It can help dispel myths regarding their profession and provide a glimpse into their daily activities, without getting too personal (ie. unlike the concept of “Facebook friends”).

• It can help them build relationships and engage with fans and audiences in general. Interviews and traditional media features might be forgotten or skipped, whereas Twitter is a continuous flow, helping the dancer maintain an internet presence.

• It can help them network with other dancers, choreographers and in the case of freelance performers, dance companies and festivals.

There might be a preconceived notion that Twitter, like Facebook, is “just another place for procrastination”. However, Twitter is the least intrusive of all social media tools: it can be accessed from any mobile phone and it takes less than a minute to compose a 140 character message. Twitter is based on linear messaging (displayed as a timeline) so there is no additional browsing, photo albums to maintain, no Farmville games and such to divert one’s attention.

Examples of dancers who are great on Twitter: @Bennet76, @balletrusse, @MadisonKeesler, @ashleybouder, @daniil, @EvanMcKIE,  and @MarijnRademaker, among others.

How NOT to Tweet

• Don’t spam. Followers need to be interested and care about the information they get. Too much, and they will lose interest. Too little and what’s the point? Don’t say it all at once, spread your tweets during the day.

• Don’t be a one-track mind. People will be quick to unfollow if your ticketing or product page is the only thing you tweet. Post articles of interest, blog posts, reviews, polls… the sky is the limit.

• Don’t be self-centered. It is good “Twitter etiquette” to retweet (RT), ie. give credit to whom credit is due. It is all about spreading the word.

• Don’t just talk & talk. Twitter is a social network and as such is built on relationships. One cannot build a relationship if there are no conversations. As you speak, followers listen & if they reply to your tweet or ask a question they want to know you are listening back. Do respond.

Why should companies, dancers, etc., follow others?

There are several Twitter strategies. Over here for instance, we might not follow everyone back but that’s because we try to keep track of those we do follow and their individual posts (It would be impossible to pay attention to everything that’s being said if we reciprocated all the follows). However, if someone we do not follow engages with us or asks us a question we will always engage back. This seems to us a more authentic way to establish a dialogue.

Another strategy is to follow everyone back and use certain filters (via TweetDeck or another third party Twitter application) to  keep track of only the tweets that are relevant to you. The disadvantage here is that tweets “slip through the net” and if you are an active user you might be missing out on potentially relevant information.

The punch line: We do not think Twitter is another social media fad. Major companies and individuals have embraced it as a tool which can be used for:

• Promoting events, content, and to spread the news.
• Building a community. Be generous and reciprocate.
• Sharing your thoughts, ideas and links.
• Providing a live summary/description of events or presentations.
• Thanking your audiences.

Further Information on Twitter and how to use it:

1. Twitter? It’s What You Make It by David Pogue. State of the Art Column at The New York Times, February 2009. [link]
2. Why Twitter Will Endure by David Carr. The New York Times, January, 2010.  [link]
3. How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live by Steven Johnson. Time, Business & Tech. Jun 2009. [link]

As we prepare to send off 2009 and embrace a new decade, we look back into what was hot, fun & fab around the ballet blogosphere to pick our favorite things this year. Feel free to share yours too.

Favorite Blog Posts

Haglund Heel’s “ABT needs a Mayerling” campaign

The coolest ballet campaign of the year. We keep on crossing our fingers & sending positive vibes for Mayerling to be part of ABT’s repertory someday. We’d definitely cross the Atlantic to see Marcelo Gomes as Crown Prince Rudolf.

You Dance Funny on the mess with “Swan Lake’s third act Pas de Deux”

We love uncovering mysteries à la Sherlock Holmes / Dr. Gregory House.  Divalicious prima ballerina decides she doesn’t like the score for her Swan Lake 3rd Act solo and asks Ludwig Minkus to write another one. This in turn bothers the original composer, a certain Mr. Tchaikovsky, who then writes a second version which never makes it to the final cut after all. Complicated? This could very well yield material for a soap opera.

Bloggerina meets Mr. Clement Crisp

Once upon a time our favorite ballet critic, Mr. Clement Crisp, went on a trip to Canada to see a triple bill composed entirely of new ballets, something sadly unthinkable in our neck of the woods. He met the Toronto ballet audience & spoke about what can be done to ensure the future of ballet. We were left very jealous…

Bella Figura’s Make your own Ballet Xmas in Paris

While Eurostar #FAIL would have surely prevented us from celebrating a balletic Xmas in Paris this year, this post provided us a much needed insight into the pick and mix of POB‘s casting. We are very curious about the darkest of all Nutcrackers and we might be more than tempted next December when the Mariinsky will also be in town. The post also offers a witty description of a certain Bolshoi star who has a habit of hanging on to theatre curtains.

Demicontretemps’s “If Ballet Stars were comic book heroes”

We love graphic novels, comic books and movie adaptations of both. We also often imagine deathmatches between our favorite ballet stars… if only we could pitch this idea to MTV. In this very funny post Eric Taub imagines Ballet dancers as drawn by famous comic book artists.

Veronika Part on Wolcott and Swan Lake Samba Girl

She is one of the most glamorous things to have happened to ballet. Just as gossip started to circulate that she would leave ABT she turned the tables on the rumour mill and bagged a promotion for Principal and a spot on David Letterman. May she long continue to fascinate us.

Favorite Tweets/Social Media Stuff

Sanjoy Roy on How dance companies must embrace the internet. The Guardian dance writer Sanjoy Roy picks up on the Ketinoa debate.

Hedi Slimane’s short film featuring Royal Danish Ballet’s Oscar Nielssen rocking and phrasing beaten steps to the music of Supershine drummer Matthias Sarsgaard. We said it before and will say it again: Ballet Rocks! (as tweeted by @hedislimanetwit)

Crankocast – Who would you be cast as in a Cranko ballet? Over here we got the two Taming of the Shrew sisters, one for each Bag Lady. Spooky! How did they know? (as tweeted by Stuttgart Ballet Principal dancer @EvanMcKie)

Charlotte MacMillan’s Mayerling photos at The Arts Desk – breathtakingly sinister studio shots of one of our favorite dark ballets with one of our favorite casts (as tweeted by @Macmillanballet)

Mariinsky in Japan Little Humpbacked Horse photos – mouthwatering candy store-like pictures of the Ratmansky ballet we are dying to see (as tweeted by the lovely @naomip86 – our Japanese ballet guru)

Favorite Ballet Bag Stuff

Interviews – Three fabulous leading dancers with each of the Mariinsky, the Royal Ballet and ABT. Three very distinct personalities which resulted in very different interviews. We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did. We are crossing our fingers for more.

Bridge Over Troubled Water & other Social media posts – We are big believers in the power of social media. All of these posts were great fun to write & some even managed to stir some controversy (see Sanjoy Roy article above).

Supermassive Black Hole – Our resident physicist analysed BRB’s new ballet based on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Perfect for the job.

Grace – This was a tough cookie. Someone asked in our Facebook group if we could write something about the ballerina’s grace. It was hard to put a subjective concept into words but we really liked the final product, not least because it gave us a chance to quote from Pride and Prejudice.

Last but not least

Our favorite Dances of the Decade

Our favorite Dance articles of 2009 (Conventional Media)

Dear Santa,

We know we had a lucky year with many wonderful ballet tickets filling our bags. We had a great time writing over here and making plenty of new friends on Twitter and Facebook some of whom we had the pleasure of meeting in person.

Having managed to strike a good balance between work & play we feel we now deserve some ballet candy for the new year. We’d happily trade that wonderful Rodarte dress or that anything Chanel we have coveted over the years for a few of these treats so, here’s what the Bag Ladies would really really like. Please and thank you.

• More NYCB, ABT and Mariinsky stars guesting with the Royal Ballet. If Evgenia Obraztsova, Ekaterina Osmolkina and Yvonne Borree did so well over here in The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Dances at a Gathering why can’t we have them more often and while you’re at it, can you please bring Ashley Bouder and Marcelo Gomes too?

• Royal Ballet revivals of Onegin, Song of the Earth and La Sylphide with plenty of new casting delights… and preferably with Steven McRae as James.

• Much smaller doses of such stalwarts as The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake or at least new designs for the latter. Yolanda Sonnabend’s are appreciated but they are starting to betray their age. If we are going to visit the lake once more let us see some different settings and costumes.

• A new narrative ballet that is not based on a children’s tale. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not that we are not looking forward to Wheeldon’s Alice in Wonderland, but a while back we had this interesting discussion on Twitter and concluded there are so many books which would lend themselves wonderfully into ballet scripts. We’re thinking the whole Jane Austen canon, the Russian classics, plus some Edith Wharton & Henry James.

• Sneak previews. If ballet seasons are planned so long in advance, we’d like to see the major ballet companies slipping some bits of information/trivia/teasers on what’s coming next or fueling discussion in their Facebook/Twitter pages like ABT did recently. Call us greedy but it’s more hype for them, less suspense for us. Everyone wins.

• More visits from foreign companies. It’s time the Mariinsky  treated us to a full-length Ratmansky ballet (yes we do mean The Little Humpbacked Horse). ABT could follow suit and show us On the Dnieper instead of Le Corsaire and Don Q. (yawn, yawn). And let us not forget that Ms. Diana Vishneva still owes us a visit since pulling out of the Mariinsky season at Sadler’s Wells (2008) at short notice. Can you pls. give her the nudge?

• Can we have more ballet companies embracing social media? We have great fun browsing SFB’s blog, ABT’s pictures and looking at NYCB, Mariinsky and Royal Ballet videos, but perhaps the Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi can also follow suit?

• Less injuries. This we wish for every dancer in every company out there.

Many thanks again. Don’t forget to grab your box of cupcakes from underneath the Christmas tree. We know how you like the Christmas pudding special from The Primrose Bakery.

xoxo,

Emilia & Linda