Arise Sir Matthew

Sir Matthew Bourne

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Many congratulations to Sir Matthew Bourne on his knighthood in the New Year's Honours List for services to dance. While I can't claim to be his most avid fan I have always recognized his genius and appreciated his massive contribution to the performing arts. I am delighted that he has been honoured in this way and send him my very best wishes. I am not a great admirer of the honours system - particularly not when it is used to advance party political as opposed to public service ends as it has been today - but Sir Matthew's knighthood is an example of how the system ought to work. He joins a very select group of knights and dames such as Peter Wright and Anthony Dowell who have made an extraordinary contribution to dance.

Also honoured this morning are Jill Tuckey, artistic director of the National Youth Ballet, who is appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to dance and young people, Maralyn Barton-Kronman, head of wardrobe at the Royal Opera House for services to the performing arts, Felicity Belfield for services to supporting musicians and dancers and Brenda Taylor, founder of the Brenda Taylor School of Dance and the Performing Arts. Congratulations to them too.

If I have forgotten to mention anyone else who has been honoured for his or her contributions to dance I apologize profusely and offer my congratulations.

What we can learn from Rihanna

Last week the singer Rihanna saw off an appeal by Top Shop against a decision of the High Court ordering the retailer to stop selling t-shirts reproducing her likeness in a way that suggested that she approved or endorsed Top Shop's products. If you want to understand the legal issues you can read my case notes in my law blog on the original decision in 2013 and the appeal.

"Very interesting" you may say "but what's it to do with ballet?" Well quite a lot actually because if more money is to come into dance and the other performing arts it will have to come from merchandising and endorsements. As I said in Ballet as a Brand? How to bring More Money into Dance for Companies and Dancers 13 March 2013 there is a limit to how much the long suffering British public will pay for the arts whether in the form of ticket prices or subsidies from the Arts Council.

Sports stars and performers in other art forms such as Rihanna have long known that there is a lot of money to be made from advertising, endorsement, merchandizing and sponsorship. As the Court of Appeal noted, Rihanna runs very large merchandizing and endorsement businesses. Over the years has had endorsement deaks with Nike, Gillette, Clinique and LG Mobile. She has also been very active in fashion in her own right and has made considerable efforts to associate herself in the public mind with that industry.

As I noted in my article last year:

"A few companies are already making a little extra money from advertising. The Royal Opera House shop offers a wide range of merchandise bearing the Royal Ballet name and crest such as books, calendars, greeting cards, t-shirts and videos. Other companies sell t-shirts. A website called Balletgifts, which appears to be based in New Cross. markets various items of clothing and other merchandise for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky. Many companies hire out rooms in their studios or their orchestras. Most also have schemes by which businesses and individuals can become friends or patrons of a company or sponsor individual productions or dancers."

Also, a few dancers are also beginning to exploit their value as brands:

"A few superstars like Carlos Acosta and Darcey Bussell have websites through which they market branded merchandise. Acosta offersclothing and posters and advertises his book with links to Amazon and Waterstones. Bussell markets a range of children's dancewear, books and games and DVDs from her site."

However, much more can be done. You don't have to be the Royal Ballet or Carlos Acosta to make money from advertising, endorsements, merchandising and sponsorship. Every company - even quite small ones has its following - and it is not just ballerinas and premiers danseurs nobles who have fans. Look how I gush over Brill, Coracy, DePrince, Gillespie, Kundi and other favourite artistes as well as the principals of their companies.  And it's not just performers who have brands. So, too do studios, dance schools and even individual teachers.

I made some suggestions as to what companies, theatres, dancers and increasingly individual teachers can do to protect their goodwill in  Branding and Ballet - Ten Top Tips 13 June 2014. The Rihanna case is likely to be discussed at a seminar at St Pancras on the law relating to branding and fashion and luxury goods at which I shall be speaking on 10 Feb 2015. If you want to attend the seminar you can book on-line.

Meet Riho Sakamoto of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company

Riho Sakamoto

Photo Robin DePuy

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014

Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch 

National Ballet

Riho started ballet because her grandmother wanted her to develop a good posture. She would start dancing around whenever she heard music. That is why her mother and grandmother thought that it would be good for me to learn to dance.  Riho studied in Japan for few years and then went to study in Washington DC to study at the Kirov Academy of Ballet.

Many dancers have inspired her particularly Rudolf Nureyev. "I like his idea of always wanting to learn new things, exploring what your body can do, and by working with new dances you can find your new self," she said. She was also inspired by her teacher Elena Tenchikova who taught her for three years who Riho described as "not just my teacher, but also like a second mother to me." For instance, as a young girl Riho did not know how to apply a stage make up. Elena Tenchikova showed her how to put it on giving her private lessons as the performances approched.

Her greatest achievement to date and been entering the Junior Company and working with people she admires.  

Already Riho has enjoyed dancing the first act of Don Quixote as Kitri, the second act of Giselle, the second of La Sylphide, the first act of La Bayadere, the role of Aurora, and the pas de deux from La Fille Mal Gardee which was her first pas de deux

When asked what ballets she would like to dance, Riho replied:

"This is a very difficult question, because I would love to dance every role and ballet possible. I would love to play an evil character, just because I’ve never done them before, and I would also like to dance Giselle again someday. I would also love to dance In the Middle Somewhat Elevated' by William Forsythe, and I was inspired by Million Kisses to my Skin by David Dawson."

Riho's favourite dancers and choreographers include Sylvie Guillem, William Forsythe, Kristina Shapran, Evgenia Obratsova, Maia Makhateli, and Anna Tsygankova.

Riho's immediate ambitions are to 

"continue working with amazing ballet masters here with the Junior company and to become a better dancer, and to be part of the main company here with the Dutch National Ballet." 

In the longer term she would love to be a ballet master in a company, teaching at a school, or  a choreographer one day. She does not know what she would like to do exactly, but she knows she would like to stay in the ballet world.

Her interests outside ballet include singing, watching TV, cooking, and playing the piano.

A very interesting and determined young woman, I wish her well.

Ballet as a Brand? How to bring More Money into Dance for Companies and Dancers

Degas, Class                                                           Source Wikipedia

On 20 Nov 2013 The New York Times published an article by Michael Cooper and Roslyn Sulcas entitled "Ballet Dancers as Brands". The opening sentence was as follows

"A wave of international ballet stars are increasingly leaping from company to company, creating their own brands and becoming more like world-traveling conductors and opera stars."

Alina Cojocaru was quoted as saying:

"Ballet careers are relatively short and require years of training that pose the risk of injury, yet the world’s top dancers earn far less money than their counterparts elsewhere in show business."

Less money? Well according to Cooper and Sulcas only three dancers at American Ballet Theatre earned more than US$190,000 and  the étoiles at the Paris Opera earn on average, around US$125,000 a year. Now bearing in mind how long it takes to become a principal and how few dancers actually reach the top that is not a lot of money. It may allow a reasonably comfortable standard of living for a few years while the dancer is at the peak of his or her career but it does not allow him or her to plan, save and invest for a comfortable retirement or other priorities like private education for his or her children.

What to do about it? Well I don't think dancers can expect very much more from  their companies. The arts in the United Kingdom at any rate rely on grants, ticket receipts and corporate and individual sponsorship for their income. Can that be increased? A bit perhaps but not by much.  There is a limit to what the public will pay whether as taxpayer or theatre goer. Especially in hard times.

So is there anything else that can be done? Well perhaps. As the Bailey's Nutcracker commercial showed last Christmas ballet can sell. Maybe advertising, merchandising and endorsement. A few companies are already making a little extra money from advertising. The Royal Opera House shop offers a wide range of merchandise bearing the Royal Ballet name and crest such as books, calendars, greeting cards, t-shirts and videos. Other companies sell t-shirts. A website called Balletgifts, which appears to be based in New Cross. markets various items of clothing and other merchandise for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky. Many companies hire out rooms in their studios or their orchestras. Most also have schemes by which businesses and individuals can become friends or patrons of a company or sponsor individual productions or dancers.

What about individual dancers? A few superstars like Carlos Acosta and Darcey Bussell have websites through which they market branded merchandise. Acosta offers clothing and posters and advertises his book with links to Amazon and Waterstones. Bussell markets a range of children's dancewear, books and games and DVDs from her site. But not every principal of the Royal Ballet does that and a few do not even have websites or social media accounts. I think more could be done in that regard by other dancers because many ballet goers are loyal almost to the point of obsession referring to artists whom they hardly know and in most cases have never met or are ever likely to meet by their first names. Ballet tickets are not cheap yet some fans see the same work albeit with different casts in the same season. Moreover the audience for ballet and thus the fan base will expand massively with HDTV broadcasts to cinemas around the world.

If companies or dancers want to exploit such goodwill they have to protect and manage it in the way that sports stars and indeed other entertainers do. Company names and indeed the names of individual dancers are valuable assets and should be protected by trade mark registration. Last night I made a number of searches on the Intellectual Property Office databases and was surprised to find that not every major company in the United Kingdom let alone every dancer had registered their names and logos as trade marks. They really do need good advice on IP and licensing strategy and no doubt tax planning and pension advice as well.  If there is sufficient interest from dancers and their companies to discuss these issues I would be very happy to organize one and speak for free as my gift to those who have given me so much pleasure in the past.