Agony and Ecstasy - English National Ballet

[RustyRainbow]

Did anyone see this last night? First of Three...

How could anything be soooooo badly organised? - esp wrt the leading ladies visa....Makes me think my DSs primary school is not so bad after all

oooh yes I watched it, marvelous. I had to snigger at the visa things, the young leading guy couldnt be arsed to get his either could he!

I did feel for the ENB leading lady though - she is the same age as me (37) - looked older than me i think but then i couldn't do one spin let alone 32!!!

...and it was annoying that the director was up the other ladies arse so much she was all he could talk about - even though she wasn't there.

i missed this but wanted to see it - is it worth catching on iplayer??

i did, am looking forward to the series

really liked cinderella after too - especially the lizards

sad about all the cuts affecting them too

Definitely worth catching up on - i found it fascinating...

watched it on iplayer yesterday - found it fascinating but was beyond irritated by Derek Deane! Hated the way he spoke about the female lead after the dress rehearsal.

But agree - how disorganised are they!! they had advertised that the other female would be the lead but didnt think to sort her visa out!!

looking forward to the next episode!

I loved this, too. I know this sounds absolutely pathetic, but I didn't realise there was so much sweat on stage! It's their fault for making it look so effortless!

The visa was ridiculous - how long had they known she'd be coming over, for god's sake! And that boy, well, marvellous dancer but could have done a little bit more to help himself. Twenty minutes late after a gruelling training in Russia - he knew he should be early, never mind on time! Do you think he thought he was a star now so could do what he wanted.

Shouldn't laugh, but when the director was showing them what to do and couldn't quite make it himself and was then shouting at them for not doing it properly, well it did make me :)

She was never going to be as good as the one that didn't arrive on time to him was she? He criticise her just because she wasn't who he wanted.

He seemed an arse but then if he's been dealing with 'creative' types for years maybe you have to be to get anything out of them...

(anyone else wonder if Harry Hill was watching?)

I really enjoyed that. If anyone knows about ballet, how come most of them seem to come from abroad. Is there something wrong with the way we teach it?

we aren't as agressive as some other countries are we - we don't beat the pupils for starters!

so what happens to ours that have worked so hard? dont they get the big parts?

Its not much of a life though, is it?

"Its not much of a life though, is it?"

I think you answered your question yourself there.

I did ballet as a child, but was never really good and when it came to competitions later it was really hard work. as I got too tall, I had to quit when I was 10 (started when 6) so was never professional ballet type.
and now am the clumsiest person alive

my friends daughter is obbsessed with it and it very good. I just think its but nicer to keep it as a hobby.

much nicer

surely if someone is employed to do a job it's up to them to get themselves to the right country?!? Or maybe I'm being naive...

anyway, it's great to see how much dedication and commitment goes into putting on a show. maybe we need more Deanes in this country to get more british dancers in the spotlight!

yy sea same with gymnastics

And there bodies are buggered by the time they're in their late twenties too...the human body isn't meant to do that day in day out.

Darcey Bussell is English of course - she was principle dancer of Royal Ballet for years. I have no idea what the difference is in the Ballet companies or which one is generally considered the better one.

DB is Australian i think

C&P from Wiki:

Darcey Andrea Bussell CBE (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pembleton Crittle[1] on 27 April 1969 in London) is a retired (former) English ballerina who was previously a Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet

Darcey Bussell was born to businessman John Crittle and his English wife Andrea.[2] After the couple divorced when Darcey was three, her mother remarried and Darcey was adopted by her mother's new husband, Australian dentist Philip Bussell. The family spent some time in Australia, where Darcey attended school before they returned to London for Darcey to be educated at the Fox Primary School.

So she did spend alot of time there Sharbie...and that's a hell of a name she was born with

you gotta love marnie crittle - i would have kept that name i knew she had an aussie accent

Oh fabulous. I blinking love ballet. Especially the classes and rehearsals etc.

Going to watch on iplayer.

Just watching it now, I went to see them doing Romeo and Juliet about 10 years ago, Daria was Juliet, it was brilliant. Fascinating to see behind the scenes, feel sorry for Daria in this, being treated as second best now she is getting older.

I didn't think she had a great attitude to be honest. She was quite flippant as if she couldn't wait to retire. How much can s brilliant ballerina earn do you reckon?