Why Every Marketer Should Take a Ballet Class (Seriously)
Let me backtrack. I haven’t pirouetted since I was seven, but last month, on a whim and a dare, I ended up in a Thursday night beginner’s ballet class in Grey Lynn. It was humbling. Embarrassing even. What does this have to do with marketing? Everything.
Here’s the thing: marketing today has all the flexibility of a doorstop. We’ve streamlined ourselves into formulaic campaign cycles, templated decks, and quarterly KPIs that reward sameness. Ballet, oddly, reminded me what creativity actually feels like. It’s not efficient. It’s not neat. It doesn't trend on LinkedIn. But it works. Because it forces you to listen to rhythm. To find shape within rules. To move with intention, not just direction.
There’s a term ballet dancers use. 'Placement.' It means your body is always aligned, always present. Marketers talk a big game about presence, but how often do we actually pay attention to context? To culture? To the mood of the room before we speak? We’re marketing into echo chambers, chasing impressions with nothing behind them. One wrong move and you’ve failed your audience. Again.
Instead of another brainstorm meeting, maybe your team needs a temporary escape from the tyranny of the strategy slide. Try an art class. Go to a dress rehearsal. Sit in the back row and watch what makes people lean forward. I promise, once you’ve tried to hold an arabesque for eight seconds, writing a campaign tagline under pressure suddenly feels a lot less intimidating. And maybe, just maybe, more interesting too.
Here’s the thing: marketing today has all the flexibility of a doorstop. We’ve streamlined ourselves into formulaic campaign cycles, templated decks, and quarterly KPIs that reward sameness. Ballet, oddly, reminded me what creativity actually feels like. It’s not efficient. It’s not neat. It doesn't trend on LinkedIn. But it works. Because it forces you to listen to rhythm. To find shape within rules. To move with intention, not just direction.
There’s a term ballet dancers use. 'Placement.' It means your body is always aligned, always present. Marketers talk a big game about presence, but how often do we actually pay attention to context? To culture? To the mood of the room before we speak? We’re marketing into echo chambers, chasing impressions with nothing behind them. One wrong move and you’ve failed your audience. Again.
Instead of another brainstorm meeting, maybe your team needs a temporary escape from the tyranny of the strategy slide. Try an art class. Go to a dress rehearsal. Sit in the back row and watch what makes people lean forward. I promise, once you’ve tried to hold an arabesque for eight seconds, writing a campaign tagline under pressure suddenly feels a lot less intimidating. And maybe, just maybe, more interesting too.