Interview with Mette Bødtcher
November 19, 2019
It is difficult to imagine a more successful start of a career in ballet than Royal Danish Ballet´s Mette Bødtcher. Picked as a very young dancer by John Neumeier as his Ophelia for his Hamlet created on the Royal Danish Ballet, it looked like a dream career in the making. However, that was not her only break; she was also the focus point for a documentary series on the Royal Danish Ballet School.
What the television series showed was that ballet was not her only talent. She proved to be a natural for television and media. So maybe it is not so strange that the ballerina has used her talent and communication skills in promoting RDB and help her company in reaching new audiences.
Early Stardom
It was every young dancer´s dream that happened for Mette Bødtcher getting the starring role in the first production on the renovated historic Old Stage. Every newspaper wanted to interview her. She became early a household name. Following the premiere, John Neumeier invited his young staring couple to join his own company in Hamburg:
“It is one of my life blessings to have worked with John Neumeier. I spent four years in his company, and luckily, RDB has been able to present several of his great ballets. We are all looking forward to the third run of his “Lady of the Camellias” later this season.”
Finding new Outlets
Mette Bødtcher joined the Hamburg Ballet in 1986 and was promoted to a soloist by John Neumeier, after a year with the company. After four years she returned to RDB in 1990. A lot had happened in the company, and although Mette Bødtcher still got some very attractive roles, other stars had emerged. While continuing as a dancer and later a character dancer, Mette Bødtcher also found new outlets for her creativity and talent:
“At the age of 35, I started producing ballet training clothes and had to learn how to market my collections. Apparently, I had a knack for marketing and received a lot of press coverage.”
In Need of new Audience
Unfortunately, Royal Danish Ballet found themselves in a situation where press coverage was difficult to achieve. Where the national television had earlier produced many ballets and transmitted many productions, there was now very little coverage on both television and print media:
“We needed both to address a new audience and also turn our existing audience into ambassadors. I felt that was a very interesting challenge so somehow I found myself being more and more involved in the various outreach activities”.
Most dancers are uncomfortable addressing a big crowd. Not Mette Bødtcher. Over these last years, she has effortless interviewed international choreographers on the stage in relation to open rehearsals and presentations. She makes both the artists and the audience feel good.
She is rightfully proud of the results, the outreach program has made:
“When we have the Brunch & Ballet program we include a contest, where audience members can apply via their mobile phone to win two free tickets. Very often, those who win have never attended ballet before. We can also tell from the email addresses, whether they have attended a RDB performance before. At the last performance, there were 139 responses who had never attended a ballet performance before.”
Everybody Dance!
However, the mission of bringing more audience in play reached a new height earlier this year in relation to the Ballet Festival:
“The Festival gave us the possibility to meet a really broad potential audience. We used Nikolaj Hübbe as the front. Being in the jury of the Danish version of “Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing with the Stars”, he has become a household name in Denmark.
We made outreach project in almost every part of the country. We gave dancing lesson, and we even got one of our premier league football teams to attend a ballet class. During the festival, we invited people to attend outdoor screenings of several of the ballets. We actually won an international price for best marketing campaign.”
Taking care of the Audience
Mette Bødtcher has many ideas when it comes to getting more people interested in ballet. She forms a team with fellow RDB veterans Henriette Brøndsholm and Morten Eggert to give introductions to the evening performances:
“We each have our own take on the presentations. They have grown so popular, that we are looking into whether we can find a bigger space for them.”
RDB are also heavily involved in various festivals and “The Culture Night” an annual evening event where all culture institutions in Copenhagen open their doors. Mette Bødtcher is the project manager of “The Culture Night” every year at the Old Stage of the Royal Theatre.
It is still possible to catch Mette Bødtcher on stage. The retirement age at the RDB is 40. However Mette Bødtcher is also part of the ensemble of character dancers. You can find here on stage in many big beautiful costumes as the queens and mothers in the classical ballets like “Swan Lake”, “Raymonda”, “Giselle” and “Napoli”.
However, she may also be found in works like Kim Brandstrup’s “Shaken Mirror”, an outstanding creation presented a few years ago. Her daughter also had a little role in the ballet. However, neither her daughter nor her two sons have opted for a ballet career.
With the “Lady of the Camellias” coming back in the spring, Mette Bødtcher will be reunited with its creator John Neumeier and his team.
Mette Bødtcher have had a career that may have turned another route than expected. However, whether she serves the art form as a performer or as a PR and outreach specialist, she has certainly brought great value to the company and the art form.
Photos:
1. Mette Bødtcher (Photo by Natascha Rydwald - Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
2. Mette Bødtcher (Photo by Signe Roderik - Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
3. Mette Bødtcher in Lady of the Camellias (Photo by Costin Radu - Copyright(c) Royal Danish Ballet)
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