Ballerina Irina Kolesnikova Hosts First Ever Instagram Photo Call for HER NAME IS CARMEN

St Petersburg Ballet Company doyenne Irina Kolesnikova returns to the London Coliseum stage this week with the world premiere of her new ballet HER NAME WAS CARMEN and for the first time, in both ballet and the London Coliseum's history, social media fans are being granted exclusive access as the star hosts the world's first Instagram photo call live in the heart of the iconic auditorium. With over 400 million global users Instagram is one of the top social media networks and ballet in particular has in recent years gradually been building a massive tribal audience across the photo-sharing app.

Arguably American ballet star Misty Copeland, with 1.2million followers, leads the way on Instagram as someone who truly understands connectivity and her art form, while ballet has also been tied to Twitter since its creation as Jack Dorsey, the innovator behind the social media phenomenon, had a former partner in the San Francisco Ballet. He also used ballet's ideas of 'coordination, simplicity and discipline' to form his 140 character tweets.

However it is Instagram, with all of its inspiring visual content, that truly allows for a unique peek into different and magical worlds - none more so than that of ballet. Irina is reaching out to the wider dance community and young female audiences by inviting Instagrammers to record her dress rehearsal for the first time ever. It's a bold move as she is in the final stages of setting up for the world premiere of her adaptation of the old classic Carmen, but the outspoken prima ballerina hopes to reshuffle the traditional arts hierarchy by giving a peek into a performer that is more authentic and realistic.

Irina explains: "This is a very contemporary production, exploring a present-day issue - the global refugee crisis - so we want to communicate with a contemporary audience, and Instagram is the natural language in which to do that. Ballet is the only 'high art' to have found a niche among the predominantly young Instagram audience - naturally as it's such a visually stunning medium - and what we're doing next week is our way of acknowledging the support of Instagrammers for the art form."

The open photo call will take place at 7pm on Monday 22 August in the front row of the stalls of the iconic venue. Using #BalletShot, Instagrammers will be able to join the world's media and capture exclusive behind the scenes content and have a first look of Her Name Is Carmen before its world premiere on Thursday 25 August.

Irina added: "The arts can still seem inaccessible to young people, but allowing some brilliant up-and-coming photographers to share an inside look at Her Name Was Carmen on Instagram will hopefully help bring us closer to existing fans and introduce ballet to brand new audiences. It's even more important for us because this production has been devised to draw attention to the current refugee crisis and Instagram has been arguably the primary medium for raising awareness around it."

Read BroadwayWorld's interview with Irina Kolesnikova

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