World Ballet Day LIVE
The Royal Ballet streams five hours of BACKSTAGE FOOTAGE WITH CONTENT FROM Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet
THURSDAY 1 October, 11.00AM – 4pm (BST)
World Ballet Day Live returns this year on Thursday 1 October with 23 hours of footage from five of the world’s leading ballet companies; The Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, and San Francisco Ballet. The Royal Ballet will stream five hours of exclusive backstage footage from 11.00am BST.
A portion of The Royal Ballet’s five hour long segment will, for the first time, be dedicated to showcasing the wealth of balletic talent from across the UK. Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet will each stream a 15 minutes of live and pre-recorded content.
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, will lead a panel discussion live from Covent Garden on the future of ballet in the UK at 2pm. The panel will include Directors from each UK ballet company joining World Ballet Day Live; David Bintley (Director, Birmingham Royal Ballet), Tamara Rojo (Artistic Director and lead Principal Dancer, English National Ballet), Christopher Hampson (CEO/Artistic Director, Scottish Ballet) and David Nixon (Artistic Director, Northern Ballet)
As well as showing segments of morning class live, The Royal Ballet segment will follow the preparation and off-stage action at a matinee performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet featuring Federico Bonelli and Lauren Cuthbertson. Rehearsals for the world premiere of Carlos Acosta’s Carmen which opens in October will be broadcast alongside exclusive footage of Royal Ballet Principals preparing for highlights from the 2015/16 Season.
Birmingham Royal Ballet will show in their 15-minute segment two different aspects of the Company off stage. Artist Jade Heusen and First Artist Brandon Lawrence will look at the dos and don’ts’ and what it takes to form a great dance partnership. BRB will also look at career transitions, from dancing with BRB as children and students and the journey to becoming a professional.
Ahead of its national tour English National Ballet will show rehearsals of Akram Khan’s Dust, part of its award-winning Lest We Forget programme, performed by Erina Takahashi and James Streeter. English National Ballet will also show segments from one of its ground-breaking Dance for Parkinson’s classes, which offer people with Parkinson’s, their carers, friends and family members the opportunity to engage with artistic dance activity inspired by the Company’s repertoire, within a professional setting.
From their Quarry Hill studio in Leeds Northern Ballet will give an exclusive insight into the preparation and practise for their upcoming performance of Wuthering Heights. Ballet Mistress, Charlotte Talbot who performed the role of Cathy when Wuthering Heights was first created will be joining the lead company dancers by rehearsing set scenes focusing on the characterisation, narrative, drama and dance to give a unique interpretation to this literary classic.
Scottish Ballet will show a unique behind-the-scenes look at Scottish Ballet’s visionary new production of Swan Lake – Scottish Ballet’s first re-imagining of this classic ballet in over 20 years to premiere spring 2016 – by award-winning choreographer David Dawson. Taking the format of the successful Scottish Ballet’s Uncut series, this is an exclusive peek into the rehearsal studio with David Dawson as he creates his visceral and daring interpretation of this iconic ballet on Scottish Ballet Principal Dancers Sophie Martin and Christopher Harrison.
This year the content for all five international companies will be shown on a newly launched website: www.worldballetday.com and will be hosted on BBC Arts Online for 30 days after Thursday 1 October.
ENDS
Dance Anywhere Contest
Viewers are invited to submit a video or photograph of themselves dancing in front of regional landmarks, using #WorldBalletDay and featuring the title card available at www.worldballetday.com Content posted to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram prior to Thursday 1 October may be shared during the live segments.
About World Ballet Day LIVE
The first World Ballet Day LIVE was held on 1 October 2014. The live broadcast attracted a total of 502,823 views from dance lovers around the world who watched for an average of 27 minutes. Allowing unparalleled, behind-the-scenes access, the streaming project revealed each company’s approach to class and rehearsals, illustrating the unique personalities that characterize five world-class companies. As the first event of its kind, the 20-hour streaming project garnered critical and viewer acclaim with the New York Times declaring it an “unprecedented bout of internationalism” and the Toronto Star calling it a “milestone event.” World Ballet Day LIVE was inspired by Royal Ballet Live in 2012, a nine-hour live streaming via YouTube and The Guardian website.
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