Welcome back to the Deep Dive. So today we are
opening a file that on the surface, it looks
like a pretty standard biography of a ballet
director. But once you start peeling back the
layers, you know, the articles, the timelines,
the reviews, you realize what we're actually
looking at is a masterclass in change management.
It really is. I mean, it's a story about disruption
in a field that is, well, notorious for resisting
change. We're talking about Erin S. Walken. Yeah.
Now, for the ballotomies in our audience. That
name is probably front and center right now.
Oh, for sure. Because he recently took one of
the biggest jobs in the dance, world artistic
director of the English National Ballet. Right.
The ENB. Which is a massive seat to fill. He
succeeded Tamara Rojo in 2023, and she was an
absolute titan in that role. A total titan. Yeah,
she really put ENB on the map globally. So following
her is, it's not for the faint of heart. But
what hooked me when I was reading through the
research wasn't just the promotion, it's the
path he took to get there. We're talking about
a guy from a tiny town in British Columbia who
didn't just climb the corporate ladder of the
arts. He effectively set the ladder on fire and
like, built a new one from scratch that's a pretty
fair characterization it's definitely not a linear
path no We're going to look at his nomad years
across Europe, his apprenticeship under some
of the wildest geniuses in choreography, and
specifically his time in Germany. Ah, Dresden.
There's an event in Dresden, we'll call it the
Dresden Purge, that is honestly shocking. I had
to reread that part of the notes twice. It's
the kind of move that either makes you a legend
or gets you blacklisted from the industry forever.
It was a massive, massive gamble. Exactly. So
our mission today is to track how this Canadian
kid became the architect of modern European ballet
and what his return to London means. Because
if you're a learner, you know, someone curious
about how people get to the top of their fields,
this is a roadmap for bold leadership. Absolutely.
Let's get into it. We have to start in Duncan,
British Columbia. The sources put his birth year
around 1969 or 1970. Now, I've looked at Duncan
on a map. It is beautiful. It's on Vancouver
Island. Lots of totem poles. But it is not exactly
the center of the cultural universe. No, it's
a small community. But this is where that whole
prodigy narrative kicks in. And it kicks in early.
Right. You see, in the ballet world, if you want
to make it, you have to leave home young. And
by 1983, Watkin is not in Duncan anymore. He's
in Toronto at Canada's National Ballet School.
And for those who don't follow dance training
hierarchies, where does that school sit? Is it
like a state university or are we talking Ivy
League? Oh, it's Ivy League. Top tier. It is
one of the very few schools in North America
that feeds directly into a world -class company.
But just getting in isn't the story. The story
is what happened when he graduated in 1988. The
sources flag this one achievement. the eric brun
memorial award i saw this in the notes he was
the first ever recipient the very first and we
really need to pause on the name eric brun because
unless you're a historian that name might not
mean much today but in the mid -20th century
eric brun was a danish superstar he was famous
for absolute technical perfection, nobility,
elegance. He was the dancer noble standard. Think
of him as the Roger Federer of ballet, effortless,
precise, perfect. So if they create an award
in his name. It's a massive signal. It means
the judges aren't just looking for potential
or athleticism. They are looking for technical
flawlessness. For Watkin to win the inaugural
award meant the industry was saying this kid
is the next standard bearer. He was being anointed.
That is a lot of pressure. for an 18 -year -old.
Huge. So you win the award, you join the National
Ballet of Canada in 1988. He's on the home team.
He's got the accolades. And any other career,
you'd stay there, right? You'd ride that way
for 20 years. You would think so. In a traditional
career arc, you stay, you rise through the ranks,
become a principal dancer, retire at 40 with
a nice pension. But Watkin does something strange.
He leaves. Two years in, he just takes off. At
age 20, he packs his bags and heads to Europe.
This kicks off what the sources call his nomad
years. And this is so cr - because if he had
stayed in Canada, he would have been a great
dancer, probably a star, but he likely wouldn't
have become the leader he is today. He needed
to see the world. Okay, let's look at this itinerary
because it's frantic. He goes to the English
National Ballet foreshadowing alert for two seasons.
Yep. Then the Dutch National Ballet, then the
Frankfurt Ballet, then the Spanish National Dance
Company. It reads like a travel brochure, but
artistically, it's a deliberate accumulation
of, like, conflicting data. How so? Because to
me, it just looks like he's jumping from job
to job. Well, look at the styles. English National
Ballet and Dutch National Ballet at that time
were heavily rooted in the classical tradition.
We're talking Tudor, Tchaikovsky, strict hierarchy,
very vertical, very rigid. It's all about preserving
history. Okay, so that's the foundation that
matches his training. Right, but then he pivots
to Frankfurt and Spain. In Frankfurt, you have
William Forsyth. In Spain, you have Nacho Duado.
These aren't just different companies. They're
on a different planet artistically. Let's define
that difference for the listener who hasn't seen
a Forsyth ballet. What is Watkin doing in Frankfurt
that he wasn't doing in Toronto? Okay, so picture
a classical ballet like Sleeping Beauty. It's
all about... Illusions of weightlessness, straight
lines, perfect balance. In Frankfurt, under Forsyth,
he's doing the opposite. Forsyth is about being
off balance. It's about extreme extension, stretching
the limbs further than they should go. It's athletic.
It's fast. It deconstructs all the rules. It's
incredibly intellectually demanding. And Nacho
Duado in Spain. More earthy, grounded, very contemporary.
It's heavy. So by the time Watkin is done dancing,
his body is essentially a hybrid database. He
understands the strict discipline of the classics.
He knows how to be a prince. But he also knows
how to break those rules in the way the avant
-garde. art demands. That versatility seems to
be the central theme here. He's not a specialist.
He's a generalist in the highest sense. He speaks
all the languages of dance. Exactly. And that
sets him up for the next phase because around
2002, the dancing stops. He retires from the
stage and the visionary phase begins. He becomes
the associate artistic director at Victor Yulet
Ballet in Spain. But the source material highlights
a specific role that I think is the real turning
point. He becomes William Forsyth's choreographic
assistant this is a huge deal it sounds like
a secondary role but in the dance world it's
a position of immense power and trust why is
it just prestige or is there a skill transfer
happening it's deep skill transfer being forsyth's
assistant doesn't mean you're managing his calendar
or grabbing his lunch right it means you are
the keeper of the source code Forsyth's ballets
are incredibly complex. They're mathematical,
high velocity, and often improvised within a
structure. Hard to memorize, I assume. Nearly
impossible. To be the assistant means you have
to know every step, every count, and the intention
behind every movement for every dancer on stage.
Watkin wasn't just watching, he was dissecting
the genius. So he could teach it. He had to be
able to teach it to others when Forsyth wasn't
in the room. And the sources say he took this
on the road. Right. He went to the Kirov, which
is now the Mariinsky in Russia, and the Paris
Opera Ballet to stage Forsyth's work. Pause there.
The Kirov and Paris Opera are, I mean, they're
the Vatican and Mecca of classical ballet. Absolutely.
These are institutions that have done things
the same way for hundreds of years. They protect
tradition with a capital T. Correct. They are
the fortresses of the old world. So you have
Watkin. This guy from Duncan, B .C., walking
into the Kirov to tell Russian dancers how to
move. That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
You can just imagine the skepticism. Who is this
Canadian guy? But this is where his background
paid off. Because he had that classical training,
the Eric Bruhn Award, he spoke their language.
He could respect their tradition while pushing
them into this new, jagged Forsyth style. He
was the bridge. That ability to bridge the gap,
to speak old world and new world, that seems
to be the asset that got him his big break. It
was the prerequisite. Which brings us to 2006,
Dresden, Germany. The Dresden Semper Opera Ballet.
Now, looking at the context, this wasn't a world
-famous company at the time, was it? It was respectable.
It had a long history. Dresden's a cultural hub,
but it was a sleeping beauty, if you'll pardon
the pun. Okay. A traditional German opera house
ballet company. Good, but not making global headlines.
A bit dusty. And Watkin gets the keys. How? It's
a classic who -you -know moment, but, you know,
backed by competence. The general director, Gerd
Uecker, wanted to shake things up. He didn't
want just another classical season, so he asked
William Forsyth, who can do this? Who can bring
us into the 21st century? Forsyth says, take
my guy. Essentially, recommended Watkins. So
Watkins walks in, 2006. He's the artistic director.
He has a mandate to modernize. Now, usually when
a new boss comes in, there's a transition period.
You tweak a few things. You hire a new marketing
person. Right. Watkins did not do that. No. He
chose a much more aggressive path. He's putting
it mildly. He executed what we have to call the
Dresden Revolution. To get the kind of repertoire
he wanted where dancers could do Swan Lake one
night and a hyper -modern piece the next, he
looked at the existing company and realized,
this team can't do it. And this is the part that
made my jaw drop. The number in the sources is
25. Yes. He let go of 25 dancers. That was half
the company. I want the listener to just sit
with that for a second. Imagine walking into
your office on Monday and the new CEO fires 50
% of the staff. Because they don't fit the new
vision. It's incredibly risky. It's unbelievable.
It's high risk, high trauma. And we have to remember
in the German theater system, job security is
usually quite strong. Right. For him to do that
required immense political capital and a spine
of steel. He was betting his entire reputation
that the new company would be so good that people
would forgive the bloodletting. It raises a real
leadership question. Can you achieve radical
transformation? without radical personnel changes.
Watkin clearly believed the answer was no. He
needed crossover dancers. He didn't just need
bodies. He needed dancers who looked good in
a tutu, but who could also roll on the floor,
improvise, and handle complex rhythms. The existing
troupe was likely too specialized in the old
ways. So he clears the deck. He takes the heat.
Who did he bring in? He recruited from all over
Europe. He built a United Nations of Dance. And
crucially, he didn't just hire dancers, he hired
creators. He appointed David Dawson as the resident
choreographer. Dawson is a big name in the contemporary
world. Huge. That signaled to the world, we are
making new things here. Then he went on a shopping
spree for repertoire. He brought in works by
G .J. Killian, Mats Ek, Alexander Ekman, Stein
Celis. These are the heavy hitters of European
modern dance. If you have those names on your
poster, people pay attention. They are the A
-list. But, and this is the genius part and why
he survived the purge, he didn't throw the baby
out with the bathwater. He kept the heritage.
The sources list Balanchine, Martha Graham, Pina
Bausch. And he didn't just buy the rights to
The Nutcracker or Sleeping Beauty. No, he staged
his own version. And that's the balance. If he
had turned Dresden into just a modern dance troupe,
he would have alienated the local audience who
loves the classics. They want their to -dos at
Christmas. By staging his own Swan Lake, he reassured
them, I respect tradition. I love it. I'm just
expanding what this company can be. It's like
the Apple strategy. You keep the core products
everyone loves, but you introduce the iPhone
to change the game. Exactly. And the result was
that for 17 years, Dresden became a powerhouse.
It went from a regional company to a destination.
People traveled to Dresden specifically to see
this company because they were the only ones
who could do everything at a world -class level.
He proved the model worked. Which brings us to
the present day. The full circle moment. August
2022. The announcement drops. Erin S. Watkin
is named the next artistic director of the English
National Ballet. He's coming home. Well, his
second home. He danced there in his early 20s,
right? During those nomad years. Now, 30 years
later, he's the boss. It's a poetic narrative,
sure, but it's also a really strategic hire by
the ENB. Why? What does ENB need from him? Why
not hire someone already in London? Well, the
English National Ballet is a unique beast. It's
not the Royal Ballet, which is the government
-funded giant at Covent Garden. The Royal is
the establishment. ENB is a touring company.
It was founded to bring ballet to the people.
It has to be commercially viable. It has to sell
tickets in Manchester, in Liverpool, not just
London. So they can't just do weird avant -garde
experimental stuff that nobody watches. They
need hits. Exactly. But they also can't be boring
or they become a museum piece. Tamaroh did an
amazing job of making them relevant and edgy.
Watkin has to sustain that. And he has the track
record of balancing commercial hits with artistic
credibility. The timeline here is interesting.
He was announced in August 2022, but didn't officially
take over until August 2023. But the sources
say he announced his first season back in March
of 2023. Right. That designate period is awkward,
but necessary. You have one foot in Dresden wrapping
up 17 years of your life saying goodbyes and
one foot in London planning the future. So we
hit the ground running. Oh, yeah. He was curating
the season before he even had the key to the
office. So let's zoom out. We've gone from the
boy in Duncan, B .C. winning the Eric Bruin Award
to the nomad learning from Forsyth to the butcher
of Dresden. Harsh but fair. To the seasoned leader
in London. Yeah. When you look at this whole
trajectory, what is the core lesson here for
the listener? I think it's about the concept
of the hybrid leader. Unpack that. In many fields,
not just the arts, people tend to polarize. You're
either a traditionalist, someone who protects
the way things have always been done, or you
are a disruptor, someone who wants to blow it
all up. Right. What improves you can, and maybe
you must be both. He protected the technique,
the Eric Bruhn legacy, but blew up the rigid
structures with the Dresden Purge. Precisely.
He used the credibility he earned from the classics
to buy the freedom to do the modern work. If
he hadn't staged a great Swan Lake in Dresden,
they never would have let him do the Forsyth
pieces. He understands that innovation requires
a foundation. You earn the right to disrupt.
It's leverage. You build trust with the old stuff
so you can sell the new stuff. It is. And the
other takeaway is just courage. The Dresden move
proves that sometimes incremental change isn't
enough. If the structure is wrong for the vision,
you have to be willing to break the structure,
even if it makes you unpopular. In the short
term. Exactly. He risked his career on that vision,
and it paid off. That brings me to my final thought,
and it's a question for you, the listener, and
something I'm going to be thinking about. Why
can't spend 17 years in Dresden? A place where
he had total control. He built that team. He
was the king of that castle. He was the benevolent
dictator, yeah. Now he's in London. The English
National Valet is a much bigger ship. Yeah. The
British press is... Let's say more vigilant.
The unions are stronger. The public scrutiny
is higher. He can't just fire half the company
in London. That would not fly. No, it's a completely
different game. The politics are harder. So does
the outsider perspective he honed in Germany,
that ruthlessness and that clarity of vision,
make him the perfect person to push ENB forward?
Or will he find that the tactics that worked
in a German opera house just don't translate
to the UK scene? That is the question. In Dresden,
he was the radical import. In London, he's part
of the establishment now. How he navigates that
shift from revolutionary to guardian is going
to be the real test. Can a disruptor survive
inside the establishment? We're going to be watching
the EMB very closely over the next few seasons
to find out. I wouldn't bet against him. Neither
would I. That's it for this deep dive into the
career of Aaron S. Watkin. Thanks for listening,
and we'll catch you on the next one.