:00:08. > :00:18.This is a film about one of the greatest ballerinas and dancers of
:00:18. > :00:25.our time. Hand-picked by Rudolf Nureyev at the age of 19, she was
:00:26. > :00:29.the youngest ever highest ranking female dancer at the Paris Opera
:00:29. > :00:35.Ballet and later the star of the royal beat here in London. Le dancer
:00:35. > :00:37.at the Paris Opera Ballet and later the star of the royal beat here in
:00:37. > :00:43.London. -- the Royal Ballet in London. Throughout her career her
:00:44. > :00:50.career Sylvie Guillem earned a nickname "Madamoiselle Non!". ". You
:00:50. > :00:54.have one life. If you spend your life just doing what people tell you
:00:54. > :01:01.to do, it is not your life. It is their life. I want a life. At 48
:01:01. > :01:07.years old Guillem remains an imperious physical force and is the
:01:07. > :01:11.closest thing dance has to a Hollywood supersubstantial. She has
:01:12. > :01:17.a great presence. With Sylvie there were never any limitations. She is
:01:17. > :01:22.spectacular. She is completely unique. But with an eye on life
:01:23. > :01:26.after dance, Guillem is now reinventing herself as a radical
:01:27. > :01:33.environmental campaigner. Does it make a difference between a tuna or
:01:33. > :01:36.a shark? It kills everything. With exclusive access filmed over several
:01:37. > :01:42.months, this film explores what happens when a force of nature
:01:42. > :01:48.becomes a force for nature. There is not enough fish for Africa and not
:01:48. > :01:54.enough fish for Senegal. And follows Guillem as she continues to defy her
:01:54. > :02:13.own body, confronting the future while remaining one of dance's most
:02:13. > :02:17.mesmerising trailblazers. I've got to get naked? I'm going to
:02:17. > :02:24.cover you up. It is the morning before a major performance of Sylvie
:02:24. > :02:31.Guillem's latest show called 6,000 Miles Away at London's Sadler's
:02:31. > :02:38.Wells theatre. A warm-up process honed over 30 years starts. Mentally
:02:38. > :02:44.it is really relaxing. Usually it is relacking, when you don't have to
:02:44. > :02:49.answer questions. To keep in form it is a lot of work, but I was lucky to
:02:49. > :02:55.have a body that was helping me. I didn't have to force my body to a
:02:55. > :02:58.certain extent. I was, I am supple enough and strong enough at the same
:02:58. > :03:04.time, and I didn't have a lot of injury. I was quite lucky with that.
:03:05. > :03:17.I feel good and I am 48. Maybe it is not normal, but I feel good. I never
:03:17. > :03:27.go on stage without having done everything I could to present it the
:03:27. > :03:33.best I could. Is it being being a perfectionist? I don't know. I go to
:03:33. > :03:41.the maximum that I can give to be ready to present it. Guillem has
:03:41. > :03:47.been doing extraordinary things with her body since she was a child. She
:03:47. > :03:51.started out with a gymnast with Olympic ambitions before joining
:03:51. > :03:54.France's boast prestigious dance school. There was an exchange
:03:54. > :04:02.between the Paris Opera Ballet and the national team of gymnastics. We
:04:02. > :04:06.had been selected to spend a year at Paris Opera Ballet School. I didn't
:04:06. > :04:14.want to be a dancer. I wanted to be a gymnast. I had no idea special,
:04:14. > :04:20.and I discovered dance like that. And I hated the discipline. I said
:04:20. > :04:24.that gymnastics was more fun. I hated the ballet class. I thought
:04:24. > :04:31.the teacher was not very nice, but at the end of this year there was a
:04:31. > :04:38.show. I did the show and I loved it. It was really a trigger for the all
:04:38. > :04:47.the rest. For me it was incredible. I knew that something was there. I
:04:48. > :04:53.really knew. So did everyone who saw her perform. And at just 19 she was
:04:53. > :04:57.promoted by the great Rudolf Nureyev to star dancer at the Paris Opera
:04:57. > :05:06.Ballet. An unprecedented accolade for one so young. Usually when you
:05:06. > :05:12.are an etoile much later, so you start your mistakes much later. You
:05:12. > :05:16.lose time. I was not losing time. This, Rudolf Nureyev knew that. He
:05:16. > :05:19.was fantastic for that. He knew exactly that when you are a dancer
:05:19. > :05:24.it is now, it is when you want it, when you are motivated for it. When
:05:24. > :05:26.you have the will, when your wings are big that you have to go on
:05:26. > :05:37.stage. He was not part of the people who
:05:37. > :05:45.was saying you have to wait and you He was not part of the people who
:05:45. > :05:47.have to suffer and you have to wait again and suffer again. And at the
:05:47. > :06:10.end you lose all the spirit. But the relationship between old
:06:10. > :06:16.maestro and young virtuoso was a tempestuous one. Rudolf Nureyev was,
:06:16. > :06:23.yes, he was difficult. He was a big star. He was very shy. He also had
:06:23. > :06:31.problems to communicate. I was very young. I was very shy and I will a
:06:31. > :06:39.lot of problems to communicate. It was quite explosive. Each time we
:06:39. > :06:43.didn't agree. Rudolf had also a great character and great
:06:43. > :06:48.personality. But when she was dancing with him it was one person.
:06:48. > :06:54.Rudolf was very impressed by that. He said, she is so young and she
:06:54. > :07:00.wants to be like me. She is on stage and I feel I'm not alone, she's
:07:00. > :07:08.there. She has a presence, a very great presence. The difference of
:07:08. > :07:11.age was quite a lot. Of size too. But it was being on stage with
:07:11. > :07:27.Rudolf Nureyev. Nureyev also encouraged Sylvie to
:07:27. > :07:30.work with modern dance choreographers, nurturing a passion
:07:30. > :07:37.that endures to this day. It was great for me, because I really
:07:37. > :07:44.started to see how big the world was. We wanted to show a lot, to
:07:44. > :07:48.open that door, to go through that window. Those experiences for me
:07:48. > :07:56.became really important. That's what I wanted to go on doing. The. Those
:07:57. > :07:59.experiences for me became really important. That's what I wanted to
:07:59. > :08:03.go on doing. The seal -- this zeal for new challenges has repeatedly
:08:03. > :08:12.driven her to seek out the world's most experimental dance talent. She
:08:12. > :08:18.is spectacular. She's has has a flexibility that you rarely see, an
:08:18. > :08:20.an aesthetic through ular. She's has a flexibility that you rarely see,
:08:20. > :08:21.an an aesthetic through her body - beautiful feet, beautiful legs,
:08:22. > :08:24.an an aesthetic through her body - poise through her upper body and
:08:24. > :08:33.arms so that the positions that she makes are really quite beautiful.
:08:33. > :08:41.Sometimes you see something and think, God, I would like to be part
:08:41. > :08:46.of it, to try that. To experience it with something with maybe you don't
:08:46. > :08:51.know, you haven't seen, or it is a way of saying things differently,
:08:51. > :08:55.and you want to experience it. To work with Russell Maliphant was
:08:55. > :09:17.that. I wanted to be part of it. In order to love something you have
:09:18. > :09:23.to question it. I think that's something that she really, she has
:09:23. > :09:25.that thirst for questioning things, to constantly visit new places,
:09:25. > :09:37.visit new areas through her body. When it comes to perfection she is
:09:37. > :09:45.annoying. She just annoys the hell out of me. When we are super-tight
:09:45. > :09:49.and we've done loads of shows she is still fussy about this little
:09:49. > :09:53.movement. I keep on saying to myself, who is the director of the
:09:53. > :09:56.show? Shouldn't I be the one? In a way, she sets the example. That's
:09:56. > :10:09.why she is who she is partly, way, she sets the example. That's
:10:09. > :10:14.because she is a perfectionist. So sustain such impeck possible
:10:14. > :10:19.standards Sylvie follows a strict performance day routine. I have to
:10:19. > :10:27.eat, sleep, go back and start to warm up and try to fix everything
:10:27. > :10:35.before the show. Come on, I'm hungry. During the day, the hours
:10:35. > :10:39.before the show, they are terrible, because you know what you are going
:10:39. > :10:43.to go through. It's the knowledge that makes you scared. When you
:10:43. > :10:49.don't know anything you are not scared. When you do, you are.
:10:49. > :10:56.The only thing I know is that it is needed. One day I was not afraid, I
:10:57. > :11:02.danced. It was very difficult. Even more than usual. And I didn't have
:11:02. > :11:12.the pleasure. So I said, next time I'm not afraid, I don't go on stage.
:11:12. > :11:16.But fear alone has never been enough to stop Guillem doing exactly what
:11:16. > :11:21.she wants. In 1989 she shocked the dance world by abandoning Nureyev
:11:21. > :11:28.and the Paris Opera Ballet. I started to be invited here and
:11:28. > :11:32.there. I realised that I was very tied to Paris Opera Ballet in the
:11:32. > :11:37.kind of an administrative way. You had to ask for permission to go
:11:37. > :11:43.outside, and they could say yes or no. I said to them, give me the
:11:43. > :11:50.freedom or I leave. No-one leaves Paris Opera Ballet. In fact I did. I
:11:50. > :11:58.wanted to make my own choice. I wanted to take responsibility for my
:11:58. > :12:03.life basically. The world's most excite young dancer chose London as
:12:03. > :12:09.her new home, becoming principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet.
:12:09. > :12:13.It is good because I have 25 performances after I'm free I do
:12:13. > :12:21.what I want. I like London, because of the town and of the people. It is
:12:21. > :12:25.very charming. But it was here she earned the nickname "Madamoiselle
:12:25. > :12:29.Non!". When Sylvie first joined the Royal Ballet I wasn't sure how the
:12:29. > :12:33.relationship would go. I was thrilled she was there but it wasn't
:12:33. > :12:40.long before some of my suggestions for getting her into a different
:12:40. > :12:48.repertoire was met with a rather blu n non. I suppose in the Royal Ballet
:12:48. > :12:55.and the British spirit of don't make a wave, and be polite and avoid
:12:55. > :13:02.confrontation, that was not in her repertoire. I was not going to start
:13:02. > :13:07.again the same mistake that in Paris Opera, where you have to do what
:13:07. > :13:11.they tell you to do. If they offer you something and you don't that
:13:11. > :13:15.that something and you say no. They were a little bit upset by that.
:13:15. > :13:22.First because it was a no and maybe the way I said it. Maybe I should
:13:22. > :13:29.have said it nicely. I said just no. A lot of feathers were ruffled at
:13:29. > :13:31.times, but what you got on that stage, if that's the way she got
:13:31. > :13:59.there, it was worth it. I can't feel happy with compromise.
:13:59. > :14:14.I never could do things that I didn't feel.
:14:14. > :14:22.She had this ability to lift her legs very high. She is so strong she
:14:22. > :14:26.was able to hold those extensions securely at that height, which I
:14:26. > :14:29.don't think anybody else could do. She was probably the first to be so
:14:29. > :14:40.extreme. The thing that sticks out in my mind
:14:40. > :14:47.is the double flips that she does in the air. She seemed to be able to
:14:47. > :14:58.get more height than anyone. She would be three or four feet above my
:14:58. > :15:03.arms. Sylvie was more intense than other partners. You felt you were
:15:03. > :15:11.getting deeper into the role. I think because of her commitment to
:15:11. > :15:16.it. To be on stage it is a person, it is not only a dancer, otherwise
:15:16. > :15:23.why me? Why me on stage at that moment? It's really personal.
:15:23. > :15:38.APPLAUSE This year has already seen Guillem
:15:38. > :15:42.perform in Australia, Russia and Italy, with upcoming dates in
:15:42. > :15:54.Singapore and Japan. But when not touring home is high up in the Swiss
:15:54. > :16:01.mountains. I guess I'm sensitive to this kind of environment. Strong,
:16:01. > :16:05.beautiful, quiet, except for the water. There are some places where I
:16:05. > :16:11.feel comfortable and this is one of them. It's good, because it replaces
:16:11. > :16:16.you a little bit among these big things we are part of. It's not only
:16:16. > :16:21.controlling, I need to go, there I need to do that. No, here it is like
:16:21. > :16:31.OK, you are not the one who decides all the time. She's going to smell
:16:31. > :16:38.terrible, because she found some, what kind of... No, time. She's
:16:38. > :16:41.terrible, because she found some, going to smell terrible, because she
:16:41. > :16:43.found some, what kind of... No, no - OK, I time. She's going to smell
:16:43. > :16:47.terrible, because she found some, what kind of... No, no - OK, I don't
:16:47. > :16:50.have kids - I have dogs. It's fine. I didn't especially want kids. OK.
:16:50. > :16:56.No problem. Less problem in fact. Not to have any kids. It's hard
:16:56. > :16:59.enough to take care of yourself and on top of that if you have to raise
:16:59. > :17:06.kids, especially in the world we are living in. I don't think they are
:17:06. > :17:10.going to have a nice life. There are others that feel the same and this
:17:10. > :17:14.cynicism springs from a recent environmental awakening that's
:17:14. > :17:19.offered a timely new focus for Guillem's unyielding passion. She's
:17:19. > :17:24.become an ardent supporter of a controversial marine protection
:17:24. > :17:35.society called Sea Shepherd. The group's founder, Paul Watson, is a
:17:35. > :17:40.hero to many. But also the world's most wanted eco-warrior, famous for
:17:40. > :17:44.using direct action to expose and confront destructive whaling and
:17:44. > :17:47.fishing practices. You are in a whale sanctuary and you are
:17:47. > :17:52.assisting in illegal activity. Remove yourself from these waters
:17:52. > :17:57.immediately! They are on the spot, at sea, or where the problem is to
:17:57. > :17:59.try to stop it. It is less communication, more action and it is
:17:59. > :18:03.try to stop it. It is less more like me. It is more what I
:18:03. > :18:08.think. After a while you have to do things otherwise you can't just sit
:18:08. > :18:16.and wait for these things to be worse and worse. She's come to
:18:16. > :18:20.Senegal in West Africa, as part of a Sea Shepherd recce to discover more
:18:20. > :18:26.about the human and environmental impact of illegal trawler fishing in
:18:26. > :18:30.the country's waters. The fishermen here, they can't compete with those
:18:30. > :18:32.huge boats who are taking everything. Destroying life at sea
:18:32. > :18:43.huge boats who are taking and life here. The situation is
:18:43. > :18:54.quite critical. Traditional fishing communities give Sylvie an insight
:18:54. > :18:59.into the scale of the problems. He is the President of the artisan for
:18:59. > :19:04.the fishery and he wants to say the problem they have is all the
:19:04. > :19:09.countries who can't have any fish in their own country they come and fish
:19:09. > :19:11.here. In Senegal the only thing they have to live. Those people, they
:19:11. > :19:15.don't even come legally. They fish have to live. Those people, they
:19:15. > :19:17.without licence, without paying anything, and they just empty the
:19:17. > :19:22.sea. So it affects the whole anything, and they just empty the
:19:22. > :19:25.population, the way that economically they can't survive.
:19:25. > :19:31.There's not enough fish for Africa and there is not touch for Senegal.
:19:31. > :19:34.Way that economically they can't survive. There's not enough fish for
:19:34. > :19:43.Africa and there is not touch for Senegal. -- not enough fish for
:19:43. > :19:50.Senegal. They said that now they are reduced
:19:50. > :19:52.to fishing the small fish instead of letting them grow, so they are
:19:52. > :20:06.fishing their future basically. Illegal fishing causes other
:20:06. > :20:10.unwanted side effects, and the Senegalese Minister for Ecology is
:20:10. > :20:17.taking Sylvie to see a Spanish tuna trawler that's run aground just off
:20:17. > :20:25.the coast. So the problem is that this boat, it hit the island here
:20:25. > :20:29.and it is sinking is, but there is some gas oil in it. They are pumping
:20:29. > :20:33.the petrol out. They are trying to take off the net. An enormous net
:20:33. > :20:38.that doesn't make the difference between a tuna or a shark. Shark. It
:20:39. > :20:50.kills everything. It is better if it is out of the sea. So they are going
:20:51. > :20:56.to take care of it. Here we have two tanks of gasoline. We put here the
:20:56. > :21:01.first pump and we take the gasoline, because we need that, they don't go
:21:01. > :21:09.to the sea. It is difficult, because here we have some waves, the boat is
:21:09. > :21:23.moving. We have to go fast because the sea can be strong. With limited
:21:23. > :21:27.resources at his disposal the Minister is hoping for Sea
:21:27. > :21:32.Shepherd's assistance in the future to help patrol and survey Senegalese
:21:32. > :21:38.waters. Sea Shepherd can help, because they have a strong
:21:38. > :21:44.experience for survey. We need to survey our sea, because we have a
:21:44. > :21:48.lot of big boats who come in Africa, who take fish. We need help for
:21:48. > :22:05.survey that. I think that Sea Shepherd is strong for that. We need
:22:05. > :22:10.that help. MJ is pulling that cable through...
:22:10. > :22:15.Senegal's problems seem a long way from the bright lights of the
:22:15. > :22:19.international dance world, but back at Sadler's Wells theatre in London
:22:19. > :22:22.Sylvie Guillem is using her 6,000 miles away show to raise awareness
:22:22. > :22:26.and funds for Sea Shepherd's campaign as. Yet behind the scenes
:22:26. > :22:31.the pressures of performance remain the same. We were in New York and
:22:31. > :22:37.Rudolf asked me, are you afraid before you dance, before you go on
:22:37. > :22:42.stage? I said to him, yes, I am very afraid. He looked at me with his
:22:42. > :22:48.little shiny eyes and he said, you will see it is going to be worse and
:22:48. > :23:00.worse. He was right. He was right. It's getting worse and worse. But
:23:00. > :23:07.once I am on stage it's over. Her first performance of the evening is
:23:07. > :23:12.a duet called Rearray created by American choreographer William
:23:12. > :23:15.Forsythe. A lot of it is improvisation, so you can't let
:23:15. > :23:25.yourself go. You have to have the concentration.
:23:25. > :23:34.You have to use your brains. It is very tiring. Improvisation can be
:23:34. > :23:37.good one day and can be reterrible the other day. It is very tiring.
:23:37. > :23:39.Improvisation can be good one day and can be reterrible the other day.
:23:39. > :23:48.-- really terrible the other day. But it is interesting, because
:23:48. > :23:53.really about the moment. And also it is very difficult, because the music
:23:53. > :23:59.is not easy. Usually we get the music to help us. It takes a part of
:23:59. > :24:08.the body, doing the things without really noticing it. But this one we
:24:08. > :24:11.really ody, doing the things without really noticing it. But this one we
:24:11. > :24:13.really have to - I don't know how you say ody, doing the things
:24:13. > :24:17.without really noticing it. But this one we really have to - I don't know
:24:17. > :24:38.how you say it in English - to tame it.
:24:38. > :24:44.APPLAUSE Her final piece is a more intimate
:24:44. > :24:54.creation by Swedish choreographer Mats Ek. The piece of Mats Ek, which
:24:54. > :24:58.is the solo, is different in respect that it's a character that Mats
:24:58. > :25:18.imagines being inspired by maybe me. I think he had a very precise idea
:25:18. > :25:28.of what this solo should tell. It's a story of a woman. I feel that
:25:28. > :25:31.there is many women in that solo. Solo. There is someone that didn't
:25:31. > :25:49.really grow up. And someone who doesn't like to turn
:25:49. > :25:57.pages but someone who has to turn pages. Some people see it as a
:25:57. > :26:02.little girl who has a kind of a great time, a crazy time on stage.
:26:03. > :26:18.And some people see it as a woman facing age and time. I would say
:26:18. > :27:06.something like 48 years of reaction of a woman and the experiences.
:27:06. > :27:17.I didn't need that solo to know that things have an end. A love store,
:27:17. > :27:23.all have an end. I know that for a long time. But it's a nice way to
:27:23. > :27:27.put it. And also to face the things directly, sometimes it is much
:27:27. > :27:41.better than to put your head in the sand.
:27:41. > :27:49.Some moments, even if they are great, have to tend at one point.
:27:49. > :27:54.And to start something else. A trance is has to be made. That's are
:27:54. > :27:56.great, have to tend at one point. And to start something else. A
:27:56. > :28:00.trance is has to be made. That's for sure -- a transition has to be made,
:28:00. > :28:02.that's for sure, but I have the things, the fact that I made Sea
:28:02. > :28:07.Shepherd and the association and I'm really into those kinds of things.
:28:07. > :28:15.It helps you to take another direction. I can't just stop and cry
:28:15. > :28:22.all the tears of my body because I'm going to stop dancing. That's it.
:28:22. > :28:27.That's the way it is. Is. Everything has a time. I did it the way I
:28:27. > :28:33.wanted all those years. I'm still doing it for a few years the with
:28:33. > :28:39.way I like it, best I can. But I know that I want to do it that way
:28:39. > :28:51.and not going downhill and trying to just get a grip on that hill. I
:28:51. > :28:57.prefer to use it to go up again. To use it as a springboard. Voila.