A Turning Point in Promoting Ballet

PHILADELPHIA — Think of ballet, and the first things that likely pop to mind are tutus, toe shoes and maybe a sugarplum fairy or two.

But the Pennsylvania Ballet is taking steps to get across the message that under those sparkly tights are the souls--and sinew--of athletes who are strong, tough ... and, yes, sexy.

Black-and-white billboards going up around Philadelphia show the dancers’ buff, sometimes airborne bods with headlines like, “Not all Flyers wear skates”--a nod to the city’s hockey team--and, “An athlete by definition,” showing a dancer in a pose that flaunts her ripped back and arms.

Welcome to the new world of ballet, where companies across the nation are employing edgy programs and clever marketing to reach out to younger audiences who see the art form as esoteric and just plain stuffy.

“While we’re grateful for our loyal subscribers, we’re trying to expand and bring in new people,” said Shawn Stone, the director of marketing for the Pennsylvania Ballet, where the average ticket holder is 49 and female.

Enter the 39-year-old company’s youth- and male-focused ad campaign.

Newspaper ads spotlight individual dancers. In one, featuring principal dancer Amy Aldridge looking like a Gap model, the copy reads: “300 crunches. 200 lat pulls. 100 arm curls. 45 minutes of stretching. You’d call it insane. She’d call it a warm-up.”

There’s also a new program geared toward 19-to-32-year-olds called Thursday Night Jumps.

The program offers ticket discounts and a “dance card” for subscribers--an invitation to attend Thursday night post-performance parties, where young ballet-goers can eat, drink and mingle with dancers.

“We wanted to reach the younger generation that grew up with the ‘Nutcrackers’ and ‘Swan Lakes’ of the world and who say, ‘Ballet has no relevance to my life,’” said Alvin Henry, marketing and public relations director for the San Francisco Ballet, which launched its own youth-market spin a year ago.

“The idea was to present the ballet in a new and different way, to make those people say, ‘Maybe I should take a second look at this,’” he said.

According to a 1998 National Endowment for the Arts report, 16% of the American ballet audience was younger than 30 in 1997--down from 34% in 1982. People 60 and older make up 22% of total ballet-goers in 1997, up from 15.4% in 1982, the report stated.