‘Young Dancer’
Opposite the Royal Opera House, Bow Street, London WC2E 9DD
I curtailed this statue early on in my research as it was entitled, ‘Young Dancer’ so took it as a nameless statue. It was in fact posed by Australian ballerina Katie Pianoff who, at the age of 17, was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Ballet Upper School in Covent Garden. After graduating she joined and toured with the Royal Ballet Company but due to ill health she returned to Australia teaching ballet at the infamous (I guess in ballet circles) Tanya Pearson Academy in Sydney. The sculptor Enzo Plazzotta died in 1981, so Katie must have sat for it some time before that.
After his death his estate bequeathed the statue to the City of Westminster with the unveiling in 1988. Katie has her own Instagram account with some lovely pics of her visiting her statue whilst touring in the UK. Check them out @katiepianoff. I love that the sculptor captures her right foot on point, even when just tying her ribbons.
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