October 1 marks a first as five of the world’s leading ballet companies host World Ballet Day.
Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet will each stream a live behind the scenes performance from their rehearsal studios online.
Starting at the beginning of the dancers’ day, each of the five ballet companies will take the lead for a four hour period streaming live from their headquarters starting with the Australian Ballet in Melbourne. The live link then passes across time zones and cultures from Melbourne to Moscow to London to Toronto to San Francisco.
The day will give viewers a glimpse into the rarely seen backstage lives of performers, throwing a spotlight upon the differing styles amongst the five companies as they practise a very similar routine with differing approaches in cheography and performance.
Starting with morning class to warm up the body with different exercises, moving on to rehearsals for their upcoming performances the day will be a celebration of dance; the athleticism and unparalleled dedication of all those involved in creating a world-class ballet company.
Viewers will be able to engage and interact with dancers, choreographers and coaches who live and breathe ballet every day of their working lives, asking questions throughout the day as well as having the opportunity to contribute by submitting a film of themselves doing a pirouette wherever they are in the world. These will be edited into a film celebrating the worldwide appeal of dance.
The day’s streaming will be repeatedin full on YouTube so that viewers around the world can catch up on any parts of the day they missed. Edited highlights will then be made available for further viewing.
World Ballet Day is a development from Royal Ballet Live which was a nine-hour live streaming via YouTube and The Guardian website in March 2012. This unique event achieved 200,000 views of the live stream and repeat broadcast and a total of 2.5 million views of YouTube Royal Ballet Live material to date.
It is, however, the first time that four of the five ballet companies are taking the cameras backstage to reveal the sweat and determination of these talented dancers.
Highlights from The Royal Ballet will include Principals Marianela Nuñez andFederico Bonelli rehearsing for their performances of Kenneth MacMillan’s masterpiece ballet Manon which opens at Covent Garden on Friday, September 26 and is screened live into cinemas across the world on Thursday, October 16.
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