Hot on the pointe heels of Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Black Swan’, BBC Four have produced a new three part series following the prestigious English National Ballet company over a one year period. Essentially, the programme is an upper-middle-class adaption of ‘Pineapple Dance Studios’ that aims look beyond the tutus and examine the darker side of the ballet world.
The first episode – albeit no skin sprouting feathers in sight – was so dramatic at points that it actually made ‘Black Swan’ seem rather coy in comparison. Going through the motions, we watch the dancers at English National Ballet as they perfect every arabesque and plié for their impending performance of ‘Swan Lake’ at the Royal Albert Hall. In a refreshing twist, the documentary makers have tried not to get too caught up in theatrics of it all, and instead have made a marked effort to keep the show’s focus on the issues faced by the company’s dancers.
Our Prima Ballerina, Daria Klimentová, is one of the show’s most likeable characters. Despite several serious leg injuries and a pregnancy Daria is still, rather admirably, dancing the lead at the ripe old age of 38. Drafted in to help rehearse as the Swan Princess, alongside aloof Russian Swan Prince Vadim, Daria is pressured by the company’s chief staff to push her body to the limit; well at least until world famous ballerina Polina Semionova can make her way over from Berlin to fill her feathery costume and steal the show just in time for opening night. Though, far from feeling ousted Daria shows she is under no illusions about the way ballet works, “You think I’ve been doing this for twenty years and I’ll do one opening night and be a star? Haha, I don’t think so, that’s not how it works...I just want to enjoy myself now, the less pressure the better.” The cringe inducing phrase “You go girl!” springs to mind. If nothing ‘Agony and Ecstasy: A Year with English National Ballet’ proves that not every ballerina is a pirouetting cliché of contrived bitchiness.
However, in spite of the BBC’s best efforts there is one man who stands in their way, the company’s head choreographer Derek Deane. Derek franticly tries to portray himself as the Simon Cowell of the dancing world, weaving his way through lines of terrified swans in rehearsals and screaming “DANCE FOR ME, can’t you hear that noise?! Feet like ELEPHANTS!” Sadly, a good twenty minutes of the show consists of Derek stomping around like a petulant two year old moaning at anyone who will listen. His several attempts to sabotage the efforts of Daria come back to bite him in the arse when Polina fails to make the opening night. So, when Daria completes the coveted 32 consecutive turns of the Swan Princess perfectly on the Royal Albert Hall stage one can’t help but revel in the delicious irony of it all – not sure about Agony but there sure is some Ecstasy going on in the English National Ballet.
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