Documentary Ballet

What is it like to be a male ballet dancer in the modern world? Is there still a stigma for boys who enter what is commonly seen as a female domain? Award-winning film-maker Richard Macer hopes to find out as he gets invited to film with a golden generation of talented young male dancers at the Royal Ballet.

The Royal Ballet gives full access behind the scenes for a landmark documentary as they prepare for the season's yuletide production. This year's Nutcracker marks the debut of one of Britain's brightest young stars, Francesca Hayward, in one of the most famous roles in ballet (and every little girl's dream) - the Sugar Plum Fairy. We follow her as she prepares to dance the role that made her want to be a ballerina when she was just three years old.

Film exploring the life and work of celebrated yet controversial choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan whose pioneering creativity unleashed over sixty new ballets that changed the dance landscape forever. Weaving together stunning specially shot performance footage, never-before-seen family super 8 home movies and MacMillan's own voice from the archives, alongside those who were closest to him, the documentary reveals MacMillan to have been a complex figure who lit up the ballet world with his bold choreographic genius while struggling privately with alcoholism, anxiety, and depression.

Katie Derham introduces highlights from the past ten years at the Royal Ballet. Presented on location in Covent Garden at the iconic Royal Opera House, Katie weaves the history of ballet through carefully curated excerpts from the past decade of performances and goes behind the scenes to see what it takes to be a dancer in the company of the Royal Ballet as they prepare to take to the stage.

Darcey Bussell and Ore Oduba introduce Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling from the Royal Ballet. Based on the true story of the death of Crown Prince Rudolf and his young mistress Mary Vetsera in 1889, Steven McRae and Sarah Lamb take on these challenging roles in a dark and intense ballet.

On a cold night in Milwaukee high art meets pop culture as award winning choreographer Margo Sappington (OH! CALCUTTA!, BILLBOARDS) premieres her latest ballet, "Common People", set to the music of William Shatner and Ben Folds from their album, Has Been. GONZO BALLET explores the genesis of this unique artistic collaboration by fusing the music, poetry, and dance of "Common People" with interviews of the creators, dancers, and audience members.

David Bintley, director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, explores how the Second World War was the making of British ballet and how fundamental the years of hardship and adversity were in getting the British public to embrace ballet. Bintley shows how the then Sadler's Wells Ballet Company, led by Ninette de Valois and featuring a star-studded generation of British dancers and choreographers including Margot Fonteyn and Frederick Ashton, was forged during the Second World War. It's the story of how de Valois and her small company of dancers took what was essentially a foreign art form and made it British despite the falling bombs, the rationing and the call-up.

Tamara Rojo, dancer and artistic director of English National Ballet, explores Giselle - the first great Romantic ballet, and a defining role for any ballerina. Through two radically contrasting 2016 productions - a traditional 19th-century recreation, and a gritty reimagining of the work by celebrated Anglo-Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan - Rojo examines the cultural and social background to the ballet's genesis in 1840s Paris, and the spiritual themes that have fuelled its success over the last 175 years. Giselle is the story of a young peasant girl who personifies all that is good in life, and ultimately forgives the aristocrat who has seduced and betrayed her.

September 2015 marks the 300th anniversary of the death of King Louis XIV of France and this documentary looks at how Louis XIV not only had a personal passion and talent for dance, but supported and promoted key innovations, like the invention of dance notation and the founding of the world's first ballet school, that would lay the foundations for classical ballet to develop.

The Royal Ballet performs Tchaikovsky’s magnificent classical ballet in a brand new production by the brilliant young choreographer Liam Scarlett, with sumptuous and evocative designs by John Macfarlane.