Edward Watson performed a duet with Leanne Benjamin, choreographed by Liam Scarlett at the Linbury Studio Theatre for the event, In Good Company. The piece, Despite, was performed to the music of Rachmanioff and costume designs by Johannes Stepanek.

Leanne Benjamin was exceptionally stunning in the piece, personally I adore her costume. It was a light gold laced short dress, with a narrow V front and back opening, very sensual looking.

However I didn't feel Edward costumes was suitable. He was in orangey gold 3/4 length trousers and a light organza-looking shirt over a dirty-olive coloured tank top. The shirt was buttoned at the stomach, causing a lot of tightness in the back and restraint in expansive arm movements. Apart from the restricted costumes, it shows Ed being most at home with the contemporary movement. The movement seemed suitable to his personal style of moving, perhaps due to his uncontrolled flexibility in his joints. However, I feel, sometimes he seemed to be throwing his limbs around, and dancing wildly, yet at times, he seemed to be able to capture a moment of stillness in a picturesque position. Also, to add, watching him perform in the Linbury, is very much a close-up affair. His panting after each partnering with Leanne is extremely obvious. Perhaps he is asthmatic, but his deep breathing seemed to portray exhaustion. I noticed that he always have such deep breathing after a short sequence (which is terribly obvious when he is in the corps), both on videos and on stage...

It is an interesting event, In Good Company, which presents dancers from Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Canada and The Australian Ballet. However, I feel the pieces such as Liam Scarlett's Vayamos al Diablo (Performed by Romany Pajdak and Steven McRae) and Jonathan Watkin's Silent Vision (Peformed by Zenaida Yanowsky) are the only two which shows diverse movement vocabulary, the other 4 pieces, each from each company, seemed to show quite similar movement voices.

I would love to see Watson in Maliphant's choreography. It will be an interesting collaboration.

I heard about this interview from a friend who is a big Edward Watson fan. The reason I missed it earlier was because it was published on Easter Monday. Anyway it makes a very good read with lots of insights into his performance in Mayerling.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/danc ... 57,00.html

Edward Watson gets a double page colour spread in today's Independent with pictures of him in Qualia, Mayerling and Seven Deadly Sins.

Not a great deal about his dancing but rather more about his role as cover boy for the new Covent Garden programme. Mary Clarke of Dancing Times isn't impressed about this new departure and it certainly raises questions about whether this kind of coverage is suitable.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_b ... 739748.ece

Well, she's got a point. But we do this to actors and athletes all the time for publicity. Is ballet really above a little lowbrow promotion to put patrons in seats? Maybe not.

He is quite dishy, isn't he.

Is it really that lowbrow? The Pennsylvania Ballet did a very successful, and I thought very stunning, PR campaign with shots of their dancer's bodies. The point of the campaign was that the dancers were athletes, and it came off quite well.

The Royal Danish Ballet has certainly featured less than entirely clothed dancers in ads (in their 2005 Bournonville Calender, a number of the women are topless, albeit in body paint). ABT has gone the sultry mode with some of Fabrizio Ferri's PR shots as has NYCB with the shots in Central Park and around NYC. The fact is that sex and ballet have met, both onstage and off...and long ago.

No offense to Mary Clarke, but the fact of the matter is that it is no longer her generation that we need to attract to the theatre. It is people in their teens, twenties and thirties who we need to get to the ballet - an advertising to that age bracket requires a different approach. What might be tacky to someone who is 60, isn't necessarily going to seem tacky to a 25 year old. A little sex appeal goes a long way... and many dancers have a lot of sex appeal. And since many people have a pre-conception that ballet is prancy, girly, prissy etc., PR campaigns often try to counter that thinking with athletic or sexy motifs. And why not - dancers have such fabulous bodies..

Meanwhile I fear for the state of grammar when a reporter from the Independent doesn't know the difference between principal and principle. Poor editing...

I totally agree with you, Kate. I don't necessarily want to call her opinion irrelevant, but she isn't exactly the demographic the arts are trying to target right now.

I find these edgy campaigns quite amusing and interesting, which I suppose is the point, and I AM the demographic they are trying to reach.I say bring on more similar comapigns. They're fun.

San Francisco Ballet did an ad campaign a couple of years ago that was specifically targeted at a younger demographic and created a bit of controversy. It also ended up with an article in the paper. I thought that just generated more buzz, which could only be good. The last few years, the ads have been the same traditional boring though pretty fare.