BP ballet protest

Three ballet dancers have mounted a dance protest to draw attention to BP’s controversial investment in the Canadian tar sands. The protest took the form of a short dance piece based on ‘Swan Lake’, and was performed just before the Royal Opera House’s ‘Summer Screen’ broadcast of the opera ‘Cinderella’ in Trafalgar Square, which was supported by BP. The performance featured the White Swan being smeared by an oily substance and suffocated with a cloth. Will McCallum of campaign group Art of Activism, who played the ‘BP’ villain Rothbart, said: “By sponsoring the Summer Screens, BP is bringing art to thousands of people, but it is also creating a false image which hides its dirty investments… Without being able to put its name by our beloved cultural institutions, BP would suffer a real blow to its public legitimacy.” Emily Coats, a campaigner with the UK Tar Sands Network, who played the White Swan, Odette, said: “Most people have never heard of tar sands, and BP would be happy to keep it that way. We used classical dance – an unusual campaigning medium – to introduce the issue to a new audience.”