EVB positions ballet for the next generation

True or false: In our postmodern, high-tech age, ballet is more relevant than ever. It's a trick question—ballet was never relevant. Which brings us to EVB's photo mash-up campaign for San Francisco's Smuin Ballet. Posters, transit cards and print ads work hard to spice up the company's offering. We get a dancer in denim jammin' on guitar (whoa, he's like Jimi Hendrix!), a ballerina in sexy lingerie (whoa, she's like Britney Spears!) and other "hot" images designed, I guess, to make ballet seem more accessible to a modern audience. (It helps that Smuin's performance style merges classical ballet with contemporary dance.) The problem is, no matter how progressive the promotion or actual program, it's still ballet: guys in scandalously close-fitting tights and divas masquerading as swans. Don't even get me started on opera.

—Posted by David Gianatasio