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| Free People ad showing model in pointe shoes |
When I first saw
Free People's "Movement" ad mockingly posted on fellow dancer's Facebook pages, I chuckled--then I cringed, and when
AdWeek's article came out a few days later, the response comments telling passionate dancers to basically "get over it," started to make me upset.
The under-valuing of trained dancers is nothing new. Taking something that is an incredible athletic feat and making it look like a walk in the park, well, that kind of achievement lends an art form to misconceptions about just how difficult it really is. If professional dancers weren't so consumed honing their craft and pouring their bodies and souls into their art 24/7, maybe they would have gotten around to promoting ballet to the masses and securing a higher working wage for company positions, but they've been a little busy training, rehearsing, recovering, performing and being some of the most beautifully sculpted super-human artists on the planet--shouldn't that be worth something? After watching Free People's ad tell me what ballet was all about, I felt like the air had been let out of my sails. Here was a young woman, barely capable of properly standing in her pointe shoes describing how well she "knew her body," and hailing the "structure" of her training as she struggled to make shapes and lines resembling those taught to beginning ballet students. Really, she doesn't "think about what she's going to do?!" If one of my students said that, I'd confiscate their pointe shoes for their own safety.
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| Proper pointe technique, Bloch dancewear |
So, who let this happen? The truth is, we all did a little. Be prepared for a barrage of assumptions on my part here. Someone wanted to sell garments that made the wearer feel like a "ballerina." Trouble is, by the looks of the clothing line, that person obviously has never been one. Someone decided that the oxymoron of a free-spirited and free-form ballerina was exactly the thing to sell these garments for a bohemian clothing company. Someone put on their resume that they had experience with pointe work. Someone cast them. No real ballerinas auditioned for the part--they were probably working their butts off to get a lower-paying, but higher prestige jobs. No one checked for quality control, or what the definition of ballet was, for that matter.
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| GAP ad featuring SF Ballet Principal Yuan Yuan Tan |
Let me be clear--I am all for the accessibility of ballet--to ANYONE who wants to try it. It's a lovely art form that any human being can learn, with varying levels of success. What I am upset about is the vague misrepresentation of an experienced performer of ballet--the complete ignorance of the fact that ballet dancers aren't "free," in any sense of the word. We have to train vigorously, show up to work (for incredibly long hours), pay rent, eat (I know, that one surprised you, right?), pay bills, tend to families, see doctors (sometimes specialists or trainers to maintain our athletic fitness level), etc. Professional dancers sacrifice the recognition of a degree after a decade of training, relationships, lifestyle, and career stability--all for a chance to make it. The girl hired for this ad will be paid more per hour for her brief appearance doing diddly-squat than a professional ballerina will be paid for rehearsing and performing at an unspeakably higher level. That stinks, but it doesn't bother me nearly as much as the inconsistent message that her dancing and her words send about ballet. She speaks of "knowing her body," and the "structure" of ballet, while displaying none of it. Then she goes on to sing the praises of being able to "just let go." I can't remember a time I've stepped on stage where I wasn't juggling nerves, corrections, from coaches and directors (and myself), artistic expression, and trying not to let one of these things interfere with another, while genuinely trying to give myself and the audience the time of their life. Supposedly she's been "dancing since she was three," so which is it?--is she supposed to be a recreational dancer or an experienced professional? I'm not sure--and if I'm not sure, I'm positive the general public is confused. Free People, next time please don't try to pass off a beginner as an experienced dancer--and please don't confuse the general public into thinking that pointe shoes are safe to wear at this level of training--otherwise, people might assume that you are this careless in your garment-making. If you admire ballet so much, please-please-please, help support the art form: hire a real ballerina...like Under Armor did.
And just so we don't end on a total downer, I'd like to highlight two more companies who have paid respect to the incredible art that is ballet, sometimes comparing their products to ballet dancers in their strength, agility, and precision--which is the highest compliment, in my opinion.
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