BBC4 is rapidly becoming a 'must watch' TV channel, or to be precise, it is a 'must read their forthcoming schedule' TV channel, because they keep producing interesting and well-made programmes which are easily missed unless you pay attention. Thus, I missed the first episode of Agony & Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet but almost by accident I did catch the second episode dealing with the trials and tribulations of the male dancers. Now, in my youth I mixed with some very hard men, by which I mean, men who could put enormous weights on their backs and carry them over rough country for huge distances and then, if required, mount an all-out assault on a position. To drop out was unthinkable. But having watched these dancers I am humbled. Of course, I always knew, intellectually, so to speak, that they were super fit, but as I watched them going through their routines, hour after hour, day after day, having to learn several roles, suffering, as many of them did, with a plethora of injuries, to say nothing of physical and mental exhaustion, well, I was open-mouthed with admiration.
These men (and, of course, the ladies but this episode was concerned solely with the men) are supreme athletes as well as being great artists. Their guts and determination are exemplary. And in addition, not only do they have to overcome physical exhaustion and pain but also they have to remain in a highly concentrated mental state to remember their steps, and their music, and their interpretation of the roles they are playing. In this particular episode they were rehearsing Romeo & Juliet, a ballet that on top of all else requires several mass fighting scenes of great violence and energy with swords and daggers, all of which, of course, are choreographed to the last detail - one mistake and chaos could ensue! Needless to say, the rehearsal room began to resemble a battlefield with bleeding wounds, sprained ankles and wrists, and exhausted men. But still they carried on until they got it right.
Also, I was touched by the plight of one of the principle dancers who, at the age of 36, was nearly at the end of his career. When you have given your life to such a concentrated art form as ballet, I simply don't know how you face up to the fact that it is all over - never again to dance those magnificent roles accompanied by great orchestras and huge audiences cheering you at the curtain. All over, finished, before you've even reached your 38th birthday!
'The agony and the ecstacy' just about sums it up. I salute them.
My sister has recently retired, at the age of 76, after being a professional dancer for something like 60 years.
Although she was a trained ballet dancer she tried vaudeville and loved it so spent her life (or vaudeville's life) in that field and then worked in television.
She did one show that toured Australia and New Zealand and ran for something like 6 months or more.
On the opening night, just before the first number, two of the ballet boys came and picked my sister up, one of either side. They carried her to the backstage toilet, sat her on the seat the flushed the toilet.
She was wearing her costume, which consisted of a red two piece outfit with lots of spangles and a tail of ostrich feathers.
And so she staggered on stage with the other 16 or so dancers and had the only dripping bottom and sagging feathrs.
This was a great joke and happened every single night of the run of that show.
Robin (the sister) would get ready, sit quietly until the boys came to pick her up, take her drenching like a trouper, and then splash through the opening number.
She was always in trouble with the wardrobe ladies due to missing sequins and tatty feathers.
She is a good sport, my sister, but things might have been easier if she'd stuck to ballet.
I just thought you'd like to know that.
Posted by: Sassyandra | Friday, 18 March 2011 at 03:51
Yes, I can't see Dame Margot Fonteyn putting up with that!
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 18 March 2011 at 12:43
Indeed BBC Four has become one of the best cultural TV channels in the world. It is a privilege to have access (for free) to their programs and maybe they only need a better publicity to inform the audience about the upcoming schedule.
Posted by: Armando Guerresi | Tuesday, 22 March 2011 at 18:50
Armando, welcome to D&N, and, yes, they need all the publicity they can get - and they deserve it, too.
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 22 March 2011 at 19:18
Sack the Director - even amateur theatre wouldn't stand for a director who hadn't blocked moves 2 weeks before the show - never mind 2 hours.
Posted by: Carol | Wednesday, 23 March 2011 at 16:30
Carol, yes, I did wonder briefly why they seemed to be under quite such severe time pressure but I was so awe-struck with the dancers' determination and guts that I didn't dwell on it.
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 23 March 2011 at 17:07
It has been a great program to watch,I have worked in the theatre for many years and this is really what it is like. They work you so hard and the pay is not that good, you do it for love not money. I teach now but I would not change a thing.
Posted by: Polly Stredder | Wednesday, 30 March 2011 at 20:52
Hello, Polly and welcome to D&N. I share your enthusiasm from my very amateur, or perhaps I should say, amateurish, background in theatre but perhaps my later post is not quite so warm towards the ENB:
http://duffandnonsense.typepad.com/duff_nonsense/2011/03/ballet-or-blx.html#tp
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 30 March 2011 at 21:16