A 21st century princess. Photograph: AFP/Gabriel Bouys
Here's a vital lesson for any dance company that's struggling for audiences or aiming for wider exposure. Attach a celebrity name to your programme and the newsdesks will come running.
Hubert Essakow is a member of Rambert Dance Company and as such has been given a slot in the company's annual workshop programme which allows dancers with choreographic ambitions to present their work in public. Essakow's short offering is based on the life of Britney Spears, a series of dance vignettes charting the singer's meteoric rise and tragic fall. This work is not part of the company's repertory - indeed it is getting just one showing - and Essakow himself has no serious track record as a dance maker. Yet the mere mention of Spears in the (apparently hilarious) context of modern dance has sent news teams scurrying down to Rambert's studios to report on this very modest premiere.
Rambert's workshop evenings are a valuable part of their working life. They give encouragement to novice choreographers and at best can yield work that is worth developing into a full company piece. But that of course is of no interest to the news editors. The message from this dispiriting media farce is clear. Choreographers should already be lining up for the race to get Amy Winehouse: The Ballet onto the stage.
