Tag: Big Picture

When we began the RAD podcast in 2021, with the UK still in lockdown, we had no idea if it would work. Could we make a podcast? Would anyone appear on it? Would anyone listen? 

We lucked out with our producer, Sarah Myles: creative, patient and very encouraging (and very fond of pets, an invaluable icebreaker for several guests). Sarah made the unknown seem less scary. When we sought a title, she asked, ‘what’s the podcast about?’ I guess it’s about why dance matters, I replied. ‘Well that’s your title,’ she said. 

Our first season launched with Xander Parish, and his astonishing journey from neglect in the corps de ballet to renowned principal dancer. Subsequent landmark dancers have included Darcey Bussell, Carlos Acosta, Tiler Peck and David Hallberg. We’ve also met star choreographers, RAD teachers and students, and people from other fields whose lives have been indelibly shaped by dance. All people to whom dance matters on a fundamental level.

Working on Why Dance Matters has been so fulfilling; the generous-spirited guests and immensely collaborative team help.

But more than that, it’s been the opportunity to tap into people’s passions, hear their stories, share their joys and fears. We have been welcomed into intimate conversations which use dance as a prism for the things that matter to us all – expression, confidence, community.

Since the launch, we’ve had over 28,000 downloads from listeners in over 100 countries, been ranked the UK’s top dance podcast, and received heart-warming appreciation from very kind listeners (plus the person who pointed out that my laugh was unbearable. Sorry!).

Marking our 50th episode is a conversation with Olga Smirnova. One of the world’s great ballerinas – her recent Giselle was broadcast to international cinemas in January – she made headlines in 2022 with a courageous, life-changing decision to leave Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, where she had spent her career, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Two years on, Smirnova has found a new home at Dutch National Ballet. Here are highlights of a wide-ranging and thoughtful conversation:

Dancing in the smartphone age Now that smartphone cameras are everywhere, each one of your performances is recorded and posted on social networks. You are conscious that you will be seen by millions of internet users, and this recording will live forever. This is a new era of being a ballerina.

Starting ballet I do not come from a ballet family, and my family was not wealthy enough to take their kids to a ballet performance. I didn’t dream of becoming a ballerina – gradually, I learned the endless beauty and harmony of ballet.

Stage fright I’ve never felt fear of the stage. Never. Later, when you are a ballerina and people expect to see some quality from you, of course there is some pressure. But once I do the first step, I become very calm. I’m just enjoying being on stage and being my character, and I’m not nervous anymore.

Leaving Russia The decision was obvious for me, so this made it easier. But of course it meant huge changes. I never lived in a foreign country before. A new language, new country, new traditions, new company – all of that was a big challenge. But I was lucky to find great support – I can confidently say that Dutch National has become my home. 

Contact with former Bolshoi colleagues Not many, just with a few people. I think they feel weird not to be able to tour or share their experience with the world, or have choreographers coming to work with them. But people don’t want to talk about it, or might be afraid to share their honest opinion.

Why does dance matter? I like to think about my body as a tool, which helps to reveal and express different emotions and share these emotions with the audience. I believe that the more people share their emotions with one another, the better they understand one another, which helps create a better and more harmonious world. Art helps us find the inspiration to exist – I just want to share this inspiration with the world.

Dame Beryl Grey, RAD Vice President and former ballerina, died on 10 December at the age of 95.

Beryl Grey joined Sadler’s Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet) in 1941 aged just 14. In 1957 she made history as the first British ballerina to guest with the Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets, and in 1964 danced with the Peking Ballet. Later artistic director of London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet), her numerous honours included the RAD’s Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in 1995.

For several years, Dame Beryl was also the Dance Gazette agony aunt, alongside David McAllister in a popular column called David and the Dame. She drew on her own matchless experience for advice that was notable for its compassion but also no-nonsense candour. Here are some highlights.

My bored and badly-behaved pupils ruin the class for everyone.

If these children don’t want to learn and aren’t interested, then I don’t think they should continue. They shouldn’t be in a ballet class. It’s sacrilege. It should be like going into church – there should be respect, awe and discipline. When I was a little girl no one even considered disrupting a class. I think it’s been cheapened too much.

The teacher leading my school is strict and old-fashioned. Should she update her methods?

The young should be prepared to learn from older people. Youth is impatient, but I wouldn’t presume to tell an older person how to teach. As for her being strict – well, that’s no bad thing! Ballet is such a hard discipline, and it also requires tremendous self-discipline. Fashions may change, but fundamentally, teaching is a gift.

My daughter wants to take ballet classes – but will the work and criticism upset her?

When I was a child, I worked extremely hard – I went to very few parties! I didn’t have a fun life, but I wanted to do it more than anything. Quite frankly, a child has to learn how to take criticism. I’m from the old school, where you learned you have to take the rough with the smooth. 

I have started a relationship with a dancer in my company. Do love and work mix?

Loving relationships are very important to dancers. You bare your soul on stage, so you must have someone behind you. Dancers are highly emotionally charged – for them, it is all or nothing at all. Personally, I always kept my friendships outside the company – which was partly curiosity about the world outside, and about other art forms. 

My pupil longs for a professional career, but I am sure she will never be good enough. 

You cannot possibly tell at 14 whether someone is going to make it. I was only 14 when I joined the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, but my partner, David Paltenghi, didn’t start dancing at all until he was 19. Your doubts may act as a wonderful incentive – the girl may work even harder because it’s a challenge.

My promising student is held back by her father, who says ballet is a waste of time.

Families can be funny, and very unreasonable. This father must be handled very carefully – take a softly, softly approach. If you make him angry, he might even take it out on the girl. Men do still think of dance as an insecure profession – I suspect that at the back of their minds they imagine a dancer will only get on if she sleeps with someone.

I teach my daughter – but now she wants another teacher. 

It is always difficult to let go of a talented pupil – especially if she is your own daughter – but it is vital. She wants to explore and learn; she is growing up and becoming her own person. Nurturing can become smothering: I’m keen that there is a break, and not too late. 

My students complain I’m picking on them when I correct them!

Dancers have to learn to take corrections. It can be very upsetting, but you can never see yourself as others do and without corrections you can slip into bad habits very easily. The teacher has to be completely honest. Being an artist isn’t a comfortable career – and it’s quite a lonely one, although wonderfully fulfilling. On stage, you’re all alone – you are baring your soul – so gather up all the advice and correction you can.

My teachers say I am talented – can I have a ballet career and a life?

If you have any doubts, you must give up a career in dance. To be a principal dancer is a wonderful privilege. I became a principal when I was 14, but I never thought that one gave up anything. If you want to get to the top, you don’t do everything that other people do. If you’re going to become, in a way, unique, there is a price to pay. Partying is a very empty life – it doesn’t lead anywhere at all, but everything you put into your training you get back a thousandfold.

WATCH

For years, West Side Story was inextricably linked to Jerome Robbins’ choreography. On both stage and screen, the iconic finger clicks, bent knees and flaring skirts created an unmistakable movement language of simmering violence and romantic frustration.

Recent stage productions have allowed new choreographers to tackle this juicy material – including Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker on Broadway and Aletta Collins in Manchester. For Steven Spielberg’s new film, it’s Justin Peck, who as resident choreographer at New York City Ballet has danced in many Robbins’ ballets. ‘I’m standing on the shoulders of giants by taking this on,’ he acknowledges.

His grandfather and father watched the original stage production of West Side Story together, and when years later the young Peck saw the film in San Diego, it hit him, he said ‘like a gut-punch.’ Creating dance for Spielberg’s film he could draw on a cast that included not only Rita Moreno – who played Anita in the original film – but a new generation of vivid dancers. This time, Anita is Broadway star Ariana DeBose, who in 2020 told Dance Gazette about her approach to creating a character. ‘It all starts with movement,’ she said, ‘point blank, end of story. Because body language is everything.’