Darcey's Ballet Heroes

Athletic, seductive, misunderstood, complicated -

male ballet dancers don't conform.

After all but disappearing from ballet's centre stage

in the 19th century, in the last 100 years,

the spotlight has dramatically shifted back onto the men.

But how did such a change come about?

This is the story of revolutionary Russian superstars,

the rise of European classical ballet virtuosos...

..mould-breaking new dancers, who challenged the status quo,

and moments that altered perceptions of the art form

that's been my lifetime love and passion.

It's a very personal adventure for me,

a journey into the lives and the impact

of the heroes who transformed ballet.

When I became a principal at The Royal Ballet in 1989,

the male ballet star was a firmly established concept,

but just 100 years before, thanks to the invention of the pointe shoe,

women dominated centre stage.

The men had become mere porteurs,

doing little more than presenting the ballerinas.

The 20th-century transformation of the male classical dancer

can be credited to just a handful of extraordinary performers.

I'm back at my old haunt, The Royal Opera House,

to meet one of my very first star partners, Irek Mukhamedov,

and I'm quite excited cos it's been quite a few years.

Irek won international fame during the 1980s

as the leading male of Russia's Bolshoi Ballet.

While I had spent most of that decade at the Royal Ballet School,

he was justifiably earning a reputation

as one of the best male ballet dancers in the world.

So, it came as something of a shock that in 1990,

during my first few months in the company,

superstar Irek Mukhamedov defected from Russia to join us.

So, where's your room? You were on the right.

'Reunited backstage at The Royal Opera House,

'it seems like yesterday that we were both here.'

-My room was here.

-Oh, so I was next-door to you.

Yes, and then I moved to that room.

-And then we come through here into the stage.

-Yeah.

That's all the set that's surrounding the main stage

but we had to walk right around the edge

-and make an entrance on the side.

-Well, it depends.

-You can go... I go this.

-You just walk over the set.

-Yes. Nobody can stop me.

-HE LAUGHS

I'm trouble.

'In the early '90s, the Royal Ballet company was led

'by the esteemed choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan.'

Was it Kenneth's repertoire that you were attracted to

-about coming to the company?

-I don't think so.

Really, I didn't know anything about the company.

When the company came to Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow to perform,

-we were somewhere else.

-Oh, so you'd never seen it?

I'd never seen the company. For me it was I chose the city to live...

We chose Europe and it's London,

where we can live and start a new life,

but then the second was the company too.

So, I thought, "Which company will be on the level with Bolshoi?"

The first time I saw Irek dance was in the Bolshoi Ballet Spartacus.

The Russian word "Bolshoi" means "big",

and indeed the sheer scale of Irek's movement was breathtaking.

And the centrepiece duets, the pas de deux, were exhilarating.

We'd all seen you as this big star doing Spartacus.

I will never forget you doing Spartacus.

Flying through the air.

I don't actually remember you touching the ground, I don't think.

-And those beautiful pas de deux as well in Spartacus.

-Yep, yep.

And then suddenly you were in The Royal Ballet company.

But I remember what you did for all the men

when you came into class. They were all inspired by you

and anything you said, they were like this.

"What did you say, Irek? Tell us, tell us. How do you do this?

"How would I feel this?"

They were just entranced by your performance

and your quality and your attack, and your energy.

The incredible thing of being a great dancer,

better than just a good dancer, is to have a brain in the head.

You can not only do the technique. When they finish school,

they start as professionals, they call the ballet dancers.

Then, they go into their career in choreography, whatever,

become principal.

After principal, they become stars, and then they become artists,

-and then they become the personality on stage.

-Yes.

Within months of Irek's arrival, Kenneth MacMillan decided to create

a new ballet based on a Russian play that would star the two of us.

Irek had to adapt to the more lyrical style of The Royal Ballet.

For me, it would prove a challenge in other ways.

I was very surprised and kind of really raptured

when he said he would create a ballet for our pas de deux for us.

-That was cool.

-Fantastic.

-And also the story,

Chekhov's Three Sisters, you know?

Based on that play, which you would have a connection...

Of course. We're familiar with Three Sisters.

We learned this at school, so literally immediately for me

there was already no question of what my character is.

-Where I had to go and actually watch the play for three hours.

-Exactly.

I didn't need to do that because I know the story.

The first rehearsal, I think I already felt

that Kenneth MacMillan is absolutely MY choreographer.

I don't know, I'm sure you felt the same thing.

For me, it was kind of the liberation

of everything, what I know.

-How lovely.

-Learning at the same time, so everything was there.

Do you remember what Kenneth said to me,

-I think maybe in our fifth rehearsal?

-What did he say?

He said, "Irek is giving 100% passion.

"Darcey, you're giving 50!" That's when I was like,

"Aah!" I was like, "Disaster! What am I going to do?"

It was difficult to come up to your level.

I didn't... I didn't totally understand at first.

-Later on.

-Yeah.

I suppose any director probably wouldn't have put us together,

with me being tall and just different styles, as well.

For a dance partnership to really work,

there are so many characteristics that must be compatible.

Even lower to start and then it will be there for good...

'Watching my long-time former dance partner, Jonathan Cope,

'as he coaches two young Royal Ballet soloists,

'it's difficult to resist joining in.'

THEY COUNT TO A BEAT

It's like a fight, isn't it? THEY LAUGH

What they're learning and exploring

are the secrets of ballet partnership chemistry.

Partners must be physically compatible

and the man must be strong,

but there are deeper connections to explore.

A man and woman must share musicality,

feeling the piece of music in the same way.

And you've got to get on, like and respect each other,

or the story simply won't look or feel real.

Just soften the leg slightly as it comes in

so that we see that you're comfortable with him.

You want the man to feel good about it,

besides him making sure you feel good about it.

It's being able to produce these moves to their best.

Perfecting them, basically.

And that won't always work in every partnership,

so when you get to perform with somebody and you know it clicks,

it's like a revelation. It's like a piece of magic,

and that's when you want to hold on to that partner.

For the rest of your career.

In 1962, one ballerina discovered that her chemistry with a new partner

was so magical that it redefined both of their careers forever.

At the age of 43, on the cusp of retirement,

Margot Fonteyn was reinvigorated by a new partnership

with a man two decades her junior

and destined to become the world's first true male ballet superstar.

Just a few months after defecting from Russia,

Rudolf Nureyev arrived and quickly took over the headlines.

He was nothing short of a phenomenon, and almost as well known

for his glamorous lifestyle as he was for his dancing.

His old haunt, an epicentre of the swinging '60s,

The Scotch nightclub in Mayfair, London, still survives.

So, with Nureyev's fame around the world,

he must have given a different view

to what classical ballet was actually about for the public.

Well, I think he's one of very, very few performers

who actually changed the public's idea of an art form.

He was my rock hero and I would go and buy daffodils

-to shower from the gods.

-Oh, really?

-Queue up... Yes, yes.

I had a broken wrist and I got him to write, "Nureyev, get well,"

on my plaster cast.

It was extraordinary in Floral Street, at the stage door,

it would be completely packed.

It became full of groupies.

Nureyev's success was sealed

at a single performance in February 1962,

the day that London's ballet world had been waiting for.

The two most famous ballet dancers in the world -

Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn -

performing together for the very first time in Giselle.

That was a complete sensation. I mean, nobody could get a ticket.

And there were 23 curtain calls, I think.

DARCEY GASPS My God.

Why was he partnered with Margot?

He'd always wanted to partner Fonteyn.

He knew about her, even back in Russia.

He used to smuggle copies of the Dancing Times.

He wanted to come to the West to really absorb different types

of dancing, to absorb different repertory.

It was a perfect partnership, in that they took from each other.

If Nureyev was taking Fonteyn's refinement

and Englishness, basically,

she was learning a whole Russian bravura technique from him.

APPLAUSE

And she'd never have been capable of doing

something like the Corsaire before Nureyev.

-At that age, as well.

-At that age. Aged...40s, and he was half her age.

Together, they were like two halves of a whole

because when you see them dancing

something like Les Sylphides or Swan Lake,

you literally see the symmetry of their fingertips.

They weren't watching each other in a mirror,

it was just purely innate.

-They were meant to be together.

-They were meant to be together.

'Nureyev quite simply changed everything.'

His dancing challenged the restrained styles

that the British audience was accustomed to.

He would inspire and influence male ballet forever.

Rudolf, he is a kind of a pioneer, in a way,

of dancing with emotions.

With that...

It's not emotions coming out...like that,

it's emotions inside, hidden and bubbling, like a bottle.

You need to, with gas... It goes...ssh!

You don't think how great you are,

but you think you have a talent

and you have to exploit it

and show it to full value.

What Nureyev had, he had glamour.

He had sex appeal.

He had the manner, the looks, the hair, the eyes,

the whole intensity of his presence.

He was a great man who actually said to people,

"You've got to come and look at me,"

and they did, and they loved what they saw.

I think Nureyev, the impact he made for male dancers around the world,

was massive, wasn't it?

Yes, he raised the bar for male dancers from here to the moon

because technique has completely changed and evolved.

-Because of him.

-Because of him.

Productions had more dramatic integrity because of him,

something like Swan Lake or Giselle.

-Giving the man also a better part in the classics.

-Exactly.

Making the man as important as the ballerina,

and we now take that for granted, but Nureyev did it first.

20th-century male ballet owes a lot to Russia.

Rudolf Nureyev and Irek Mukhamedov were big stars and big dancers.

But why is Russia such a powerhouse producer of classical male dancers?

The key cultural difference lies in the events of the 19th century.

In Europe, ballet was becoming more like lowbrow musical theatre,

but in Russia the tsars were busy elevating it to a national high art.

By the turn of the 20th century,

Russian ballet had surpassed even French ballet.

Some of Russia's best ballerinas, including Anna Pavlova,

seen here dancing in The Dying Swan,

had already become stars in Great Britain and across Europe.

But men had yet to have their defining moment.

That would come in Paris,

in the shape of an extraordinary young Russian dancer -

Vaslav Nijinsky.

Nijinsky was considered a...a phenomenon.

When you read people who write about Nijinsky,

they often think that he's almost something that came out of the sky,

not so much a shining star as like a bolt out of the blue.

He was a prodigy.

Sometimes Nijinsky's body looks to me like the body of a merman

but the degree to which the thighs are heavily muscled

is the determinant of the jump.

The Ballets Russes company was founded

by Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev.

For a season of performances in Paris in 1909,

Diaghilev needed a male star to shine as brightly

as his brilliant lead ballerina, Pavlova.

When he chose Nijinsky,

he was choosing the most talented young man in the Imperial Ballet,

but also, you know, there was the sexual situation, er...

Nijinsky was instantly, within hours, Diaghilev's lover

and therefore he was looking for ballets

in which Nijinsky could shine.

Three years after joining the company, aged 23,

Nijinsky choreographed his first radical ballet

for Diaghilev in Paris, The Afternoon Of A Faun.

I think what's extraordinary, actually,

he looks like the perfect physical specimen,

which I don't think I ever believed he would be,

that it would be more his stage presence

and the way he performed was the thing that you were attracted to,

but his actual physical form is incredibly good.

Afternoon Of A Faun did end with what looks like an act

of fetishism leading to orgasm.

So, of course, that sold a lot of tickets,

but I don't believe Nijinsky did it in order to sell tickets.

Diaghilev framed him absolutely perfectly.

Diaghilev provided what audiences wanted from the Ballets Russes,

which was the exotic.

He had an extraordinary presence.

He also had a very remarkable intelligence.

Dame Marie Rambert, who founded the Rambert Ballet in this country,

and was a great and vital influence, she knew him,

she adored him, she worked with him,

and she said to me that, you know, he had a genius.

Tragically, Nijinsky's mental health declined

and his career was over by the age of 29,

before spending much of the rest of his life in institutions,

but there is no film footage of Nijinsky performing.

This grainy archive is somewhat scandalously a hoax

created by a French artist from a set of photographs.

To think that this is a fake

and it's not even real footage of Nijinsky,

it's just a whole lot of slides put together,

but it really gives you that feeling,

how exciting he must have been to watch dance.

This burning brilliance,

the emotional power of what he did, was tremendously strong

and it conquered audiences

as, one has to say, certain male dancers have been able to do

since then, like Nureyev, like Mukhamedov,

like Mikhail Baryshnikov, for example,

where they go on stage and the audience says,

"I love you."

Mikhail Baryshnikov completed a legacy

of great Russian male ballet stars of the 20th century.

After his high-profile defection in 1974,

he joined the American Ballet Theatre

and was recognised by many as the perfect article.

I went through this experience, I went through this life,

I went through many different,

difficult and wonderful things.

I didn't regret one second.

You saw straightaway that he had the power to communicate,

that, you know, you believed.

Then you saw how damn bloody beautiful the dancing was.

He was so beautifully precise, so clean.

Try to do in slow motion step-by-step,

you will see Misha, nothing changes.

It is still pure, aesthetically correct,

exactly what it should be dance... look like.

APPLAUSE

Russian mavericks Baryshnikov, Nureyev and Nijinsky

had individuality, challenged dancing technique,

and, of course, had real star profile.

But as much as the bold, bravura style

dominated headlines and the imagination,

contrasting great male stars also succeeded with other styles

and within other traditions.

Post-war Great Britain had enjoyed a boom in ballet's popularity,

thanks to the rise in prominence of Margot Fontaine

and the Sadler's Wells company, which became the Royal Ballet.

Founding choreographer Frederick Ashton

defined the English style of ballet -

elegant and lyrical rather than dramatic and grand.

In 1961, the quintessential English-style dancer emerged.

Anthony Dowell became known

as the greatest British male dancer in history.

Refined, reserved and graceful.

By the time that I joined the Royal Ballet

he had become the director of the company

where we worked together for over a decade.

When you first joined the company,

did you appreciate that you were this young talent at all?

Rudolph had arrived in our midst by then and, as a consequence of that,

it put the spotlight very much on male dancing.

Because of such a phenomenal talent

and because the drawing in audiences to the Opera House,

it shifted the spotlight onto the role of the male dancer

being a very worthwhile part of the whole ballet.

The choreographers suddenly looked at male dancers differently,

I think, didn't they?

Well, I think they saw there were more possibilities

instead of being just the partner behind,

enhancing the look of the ballerina.

My big thing was to try and make things look effortless and natural

so I wasn't really a dancer that was

a great virtuoso dancer with a lot of panache.

But you could do the roles, though?

Yes, but in my own sort of way.

When I watch footage of you especially,

probably the most significant was Oberon.

The male dancer now is used to these lovely, soft, you know, slow jumps.

They have that strength,

but you had to jump and move fast and turn and...

The exactness of the angle...

I suppose that's what was unusual about the ballet,

was for a male dancer to be moving fast.

What sort of satisfies me is, now,

when I teach the role to the dancers of today

who are very technically gifted,

um...it still kills them.

Of course it does!

As the 1960s progressed,

equilibrium between the men and women was becoming the norm.

But there was one place in the world

that men had never been sidelined so dramatically.

Denmark.

The Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen

is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world.

Here, the men have long shared centre stage with the women

thanks to an egalitarian ballet style created in the early 19th century

by the Danish choreographer August Bournonville.

A style left unaffected by the whims and fashions

that changed ballet in the rest of Europe.

This is called the Old Stage.

It's incredible to think that just over 200 years ago,

August Bournonville premiered his first ballets here

and they're still performing them today.

The Danish Ballet, without making any fuss, just got on with it

and Bournonville provided them, over a period of 50 or 60 years,

an extraordinary richness,

and the Danes are not such fools

they don't know that this is a great national treasure.

Even now, it's wonderful to watch a Danish-trained male dancer

because of the different qualities they bring to the ballet technique

and the different way in which they occupy the stage.

They are fantastic jumpers,

but it's not all about the big leap that seems to hang

for three seconds in the air.

It's very quick, sharp, very musical, tiny, tiny steps.

And even when they do big jumps,

there's a kind of elasticity that's almost...

It makes it look like it's almost an unconscious thing.

It's not a big preparation and off he soars,

but it's just part of the phrase, part of the music.

Bournonville didn't just favour joint prominence of men and women,

he created a completely unique style.

Intricate feet, yet understated upper body movements.

I can't believe they're all getting up to have sweets!

A helping hand to keep going.

The task of continuing the long tradition of the Bournonville style

in the Royal Danish Ballet Company

is now in the hands of the artistic director, Nikolaj Hubbe.

From your back, yes?

Could you just say

what the characteristics are of the Bournonville style?

-A big question.

-I know, sorry!

It really is the epitome of the height of romanticism in ballet.

He grew up in Denmark and I think the modesty,

the small world of Copenhagen at that time,

I think, influenced him greatly.

You kind of have it in Danish architecture, in Danish furniture.

This kind of very understated, nice, proper, beautiful use of material,

but not ostentatious at all.

Everything is rounder and more intimate.

Hence, let's say you go tendu front croise.

Now, let's do it like you were in the Bolshoi.

-It would be grander.

-It would be bigger.

Maybe you would even be like that.

Showy and open.

And Bournonville would be like...

that.

And you can see the difference in how one is...

-You can even do that.

-Yeah.

But it's not that it's more contained or closed,

-it's just much more soft and...

-It's also softer, yes.

-Yeah.

-But it's more human.

-Yeah, in a way.

That's really nice. Yeah.

You wouldn't go around like this, would you?

What is significant about Bournonville

is that he was a very good dancer himself.

Do you think, because he was such a good dancer,

he gave the male dancer such good roles in his ballets?

He, of course, promoted his own career on stage, but I also believe

that his technique was so well designed for the male dancer.

If you can hack it, it really shows the dancer off,

but I think it's a little bit for the insider because it isn't flashy.

Some people call him a dancer's choreographer, if you want.

Despite centuries of tradition, it wasn't until the 1950s

that the world saw Denmark's first male ballet star.

His name was Erik Bruhn.

After a critically acclaimed American debut in 1955,

he became an international ambassador for the Bournonville tradition

and Danish Ballet across North America and Europe.

Erik was the first great international male dancer

after probably Nijinsky.

It's as if he made male dancing more intelligent.

He was more articulate, he was more poetic.

The line of the body, the precision, the elegance.

He took male dancing a huge step forward.

He had great physical beauty.

The kind of blonde, beautiful, Nordic beauty

that reads so wonderfully on stage.

And audiences loved him.

Bruhn's international success paved the way

for a second truly great Danish dancer to enter the world stage.

There's a lot going on in this park today. We have martial arts,

there's a bit of tennis over there...

..and a fitness instructor over there working somebody very hard.

And, I think, round here...

we might have a bit of classical ballet.

How unusual in the middle of London!

Everything nice and smooth, soft on the legs. Yeah?

Peter Schaufuss is part of a dancing dynasty.

His parents were Royal Danish Ballet stars

and he became a star in Russia, America and in London

where he now meets to train with his son, Luke,

who has followed in the family footsteps.

-Hi.

-Hi!

Sorry to interrupt. I'm actually really jealous.

I have to say, coming to meet you in the middle of a park,

I thought would be really weird, you doing your exercises

or working on classical steps. But I'm really envious

because to have your father coming to a space like this,

not in a studio with mirrors all around you, it's lovely.

We work on other things which you couldn't in the studio.

-No, of course.

-We work on strength, flexibility, speed, space.

-Yes.

I am really envious.

I wish I had a bit of that when I was dancing.

Well, we're here tomorrow at nine o'clock. Come tomorrow and join us.

I think you'd kill me!

LAUGHTER

I was watching. I don't think I could do any of that now.

In the 1970s, audiences had become accustomed to bravura performances

from male ballet dancers.

But Peter Schaufuss added another dimension to these movements.

Jumps and turns,

which thanks to the purity of Bournonville training,

were delivered with extraordinary control and Danish cleanliness.

In Denmark, you have a direct link,

which you might not have in many other places.

-Now Bournonville taught his star pupil, Hans Beck.

-Yes.

Hans Beck taught a teacher called Hans Brenaa,

-and Hans Brenaa taught me.

-Yes.

-So, it's a wonderful... Yeah.

-And I taught Luke.

So, you're only four people away from Bournonville.

So, what roles have you actually shared together?

Well, Romeo in Ashton's Romeo And Juliet.

-And of course, there's a family history...

-Yes.

-..for that, that my mother was Ashton's original Juliet.

-SHE GASPS

-That's wonderful.

-And Luke's grandfather, my father, was the original Mercutio.

And we also shared, er, La Sylphide.

For me, it's incredibly special to see that your father was

a great Bournonville dancer. Your grandfather, now your father.

Do you sometimes think that maybe you would be a different dancer

if you didn't have that pressure?

THEY LAUGH

Well, you know, when I was younger, I remember thinking to myself,

"Ah, you know, I just wish that, er,

-"I had parents that were just like everyone else's parents."

-Mm.

But today, I'm very grateful

because I think I have been presented with a great opportunity.

-Erm...

-That's lovely.

-Yeah!

You're being scrutinised because a lot is expected from you

because of your name. So, you know, good luck!

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Dad!

-Na-na, na-na, na!

My daughter wants to dance. That's what worries me! And she's only 11.

Is she talented?

Um, she has all the facility, nice feet, nice legs, you know.

Let her dance. Because she has the possibility.

I know, but if she goes to The Royal Ballet School, there's a studio named after her mother, you know?

-It's a bit difficult.

-You survive.

-You think?

-He survived.

-Honestly.

-He survived! He survived!

-It's OK.

-It's OK?

-It's OK, yes, it's OK.

Thanks to the success of Peter Schaufuss and Erik Bruhn,

the Bournonville tradition and the elegance and equality of its men

made a dignified and important impact on 1960s and '70s ballet.

Bournonville coexisted alongside the flash and brilliance

of bravura Russian noise.

Both styles were admired and embraced.

But appreciation and mutual respect also led two of these stars

into an intense and long relationship.

I think it was a... The Clash of the Titans!

Talent is attracted to talent.

And I think also, of course, they both had huge egos, no doubt.

Nureyev knew all about Bruhn in Leningrad

because he'd seen photographs of him in The Dancing Times.

And he saw exactly the kind of

very long, lean silhouette that he wanted for himself.

So, he went to Copenhagen and he found out where he lived.

He rang the doorbell. Erik Bruhn opened the door

and outside was Nureyev, with his suitcases. And he said,

"You are Erik Bruhn, I want to dance like you."

For me, he's a tremendous actor. A tremendous dancer.

Tremendous creator.

And I think I never met, never seen any man on stage,

so great, so inspiring.

Bruhn was definitely the love of Nureyev's life, without question.

All through the years that people thought

Nureyev was having an affair with Fonteyn,

he was actually writing passionate, passionate love letters to Bruhn.

And, you know, he called it a curse.

And never wanted to love in that way again.

There was a great rivalry between the two of them.

If I were his age,

I probably wouldn't be able to accept him being around.

But I think their hunger for knowledge

and the genuine interest in the art form, the technique,

how to achieve more with the physicality,

all that, that goes beyond ego.

That was, I think, for both of them, some insatiable need.

There's something very fitting

about the meeting of fire and ice in this love affair.

The revolutionary defector who embodied big and bold male ballet,

alongside the international star,

who epitomised the very definition of reserved classical style.

While these two stars were destined to change

the visibility of ballet men in Europe,

on the other side of the Atlantic, in the late '50s,

a dancer had emerged whose presence on stage

was a visible challenge to something far bigger.

DISTANT SIRENS WAIL

In the 1950s, ballet in America was relishing

the work of the visionary choreographer, George Balanchine.

He had established the New York City Ballet,

which had enjoyed great success for a decade,

before the moment came that he made a controversial casting decision.

Though the struggle towards equality was gaining momentum,

America was yet to undo the vile wrongs of racial segregation.

And against this backdrop, a young ballet dancer prepared

to make his debut for Balanchine's company.

He was the first black classical ballet dancer.

And, in America, was just when American ballet was taking off.

He was part of that.

-Arthur! Hello! Thank you so much!

-Hi! how are you? I feel that I...

I do feel like I know you, but I don't, obviously.

I know lots of people say that to you. I'm sorry, I'm very excited.

-No, I feel that I know YOU!

-Aw! Come in, come in!

How and why did you start classical ballet?

Racism was very high at that time.

I would go to auditions and I would think I was very good.

And they wouldn't take me.

And I said, "What can I do that would make me so good?"

Cos I could do jazz, I could do tap,

I could to modern, I could do African.

And I figured that if I took the classical ballet,

that would make me unique.

And I said to Mr Balanchine,

"I want to do this, but there's a caveat."

There's no publicity - "Negro breaks barrier."

Opening night, the audience went berserk.

And someone said, "My God, they got a..."

SHE LAUGHS

I thought, "Oh, God, I have to deal with this now."

But then there was this thing in the audience,

so people, "Be quiet! "Oh, he's very good, da-da, da-da..."

And by the end I got a standing ovation.

Did you appreciate that you were changing people's perceptions?

Yes. Well, because, you know, it was interesting

because when I was dancing,

I wasn't dancing for myself, I was dancing for my people.

-Mm-hm.

-So that responsibility was on my shoulder.

It meant an awful lot that I HAD to be good,

I HAD to be one of the best.

And we'd go to the South and we would do a television show

and they would say, "Oh, there's a black kid in there."

And Balanchine said, "If Mitchell doesn't dance, we don't dance."

-And when he did Agon, oh, my, can you imagine?

-The audiences...

-1957!

-Yeah.

To put ME with a Caucasian woman - and Diana Adams is very pale.

But it's also very sexual as well, isn't it? It's very suggestive.

-Well, you know, it became a sexual pas de deux.

-It became one!

But, you know, it's like, I would go...

-But you did, the stroking...

-Right.

-All those details.

-The skin tone was part... See, if you do this...

-Everything was crossed, Yes, exactly.

-Right!

And choreography, part of it was the skin tone.

But it was everything because you were virtually wrapping yourselves.

What I notice is that constant, it's like that pull, tug and pull.

Feeling the weight of the dancer.

And then, see, I've got long arms.

Ah, you know, and it's really interesting because it doesn't work

if you don't have a guy with long arms. And it's really frustrating!

-Because all that stretching across...

-Exactly right.

-And balancing.

So, that's so funny you say that.

And that elasticity gave the piece a wonderful project.

This was a ballet that I performed.

And it was one of my most favourite roles ever, Balanchine.

That's why it's such a thrill to meet you. Because it was created on you.

-I want to thank you so much.

-My pleasure.

-That's really great.

-No, it's a pleasure meeting you, sweetheart.

-For a long time.

I feel like I should have met you 20 years ago. But there we go.

-We'd have been good together!

-Oh, my God!

If I had been in your time...

I would have been very happy.

Arthur's contribution to ballet history is immense.

He rose to the top but also shifted mindsets

and broke barriers at a vital moment.

Since then, around the world,

the increasing accessibility of ballet has changed lives.

And there's no greater living proof of that than the story of a man

who has travelled a lifetime, from childhood poverty

and hardship in the back streets of Havana, Cuba.

Carlos Acosta's passage to global fame began in the early 1990s,

while he was just a teenager.

After he joined the Royal Ballet at the age of 25,

he and I danced together many times.

And ultimately,

he was also the perfect partner for my final performance.

So, we're waiting for Carlos. He's had a full day of rehearsing.

Really tough schedule at the moment,

because he's producing and choreographing

and performing in his swansong for the Royal Ballet, Carmen.

Ah, here he is!

-Here's the man.

-Mmm!

-I've been waiting!

-SHE LAUGHS

-How are you?

Very well.

Oh!

You were first known very much

-as a street dancer in Cuba, isn't that right?

-That's right.

That's right. I began break dancing in the '80s.

-I love it!

-And that's where I end up.

Of course, being in Cuba, dance is pretty much part of our culture.

The discipline of classical ballet,

going into that genre of dance, for you,

did you feel restricted sometimes?

Because you came from so many other strengths?

Ballet meant, for me, it meant free meals and it meant, as well,

-going...take me away from my rough area into the city centre.

-OK.

So, that can't be bad. Er, that's one thing.

But of course it was very restrictive.

And for a nine-year-old boy kid, going back to a Barrio bar

and just do all this tedious movement,

you know, I wasn't feeling it.

-But once you get past that...

-Yeah.

And then you see the repertoire and you see the professionals

and the wonderful music.

And then you realise that this was going to be you

in a few years' time. And I think it took me a while.

But once I get it, and then it all makes sense.

Did you know straight away what your strength was? Was it the jump?

Was at the turns? What was it?

I become known for somebody who could leap and could turn

-and could do the tricks.

-So, out of all the roles...

-Mm...

..which role, obviously, is your favourite,

but which do you think defined you as an artist?

Well, that's a tough one! Er, I don't know.

Don Quixote is the role that I have done the most.

You know, I won the competitions,

then I ended up choreographing for the Royal Ballet and so on.

So, it's something that is very close.

But at the same time, I connected more.

Because it is closer to my roots.

The roles that I had to project a portrayal of a prince or royalty,

-I had no clue. You know, because...

-I think you were a great prince!

-What are you talking about?

-Well, from Cuba, you know, I mean,

what is a prince supposed to look like? Or behave like? You know?

And so, for me, it was like, "Wow, be a prince?

"How do I do that?" I like things that are more physical and...

-You're quite earthy as well.

-..and complex, you know

and sometimes acrobatic and...

But I try to... Also emotion is important to me.

Carlos had a rare wow factor - he had fiery sex appeal

and incredible technical ability.

But what really impressed

was his extraordinary athleticism and strength.

London audiences had rarely seen such physicality in male ballet before.

-JUDITH MACKREL:

-There are some male dancers who are great athletes,

where you're just seeing the athleticism,

you're just seeing the ego.

Whereas, with Carlos,

he did bring to the English stage a very exotic presence.

Both as this great male virtuoso, but also,

just with that sort of heat and fireworks of Cuba about him.

You are in your last year as a dancer.

Is there anything you didn't do that you wish you had?

I don't have any regrets. I think I've had a lot of fun.

I think that because the career that I've been able to make,

-I gave my family a great life.

-Mm-hm.

All I feel is gratitude for all the...everybody who are helping me.

-And also, I just go with a lot of love, no regrets.

-A lot of love.

-And you can still spin on your head, can't you?

-No, no way!

I'd kill myself! On my back a little bit,

-but I don't know...

-Not on your head.

With Carlos, men completed a century-long transition.

Audiences had seen male ballet reimagined by Nijinsky,

revolutionised by Russian superstars

and perfectly performed by classical virtuosos.

Yet somehow, in Carlos, all of this came together.

Individuality, athleticism and technique.

You'd be forgiven for thinking male ballet could not evolve

any further in the 21st century.

But in 2006, a new choreographer from a contemporary dance background

arrived at the Royal Ballet and began to blend classical and modern styles.

PIANO PLAYS SOFTLY

In the hands of choreographer Wayne McGregor,

company principal Edward Watson has become one of the most

radically different dancers the Royal Ballet has ever seen.

So, this is brand-new. They haven't even started working...

-Ooh!

-Come from here.

His ability to distort his body into extraordinary shapes,

whilst retaining a classical line, is unsurpassed in the ballet world.

There's something about the length of his limbs.

He's got very unusual flexibility, especially in a guy.

And there's something very kind of human

and kind of quite vulnerable about his physicality.

PIANO PLAYS SOFTLY

-What's up, world premier? Very good! Very nice.

-Agh!

-How do you remember all that?

-There we go, that's a phrase.

That's very impressive!

I think you changed the audience's view of a classical male dancer.

You've kind of set the male principal in a different bracket now.

Your body is able to do what often the women could do as well.

Often, when working with a new choreographer,

you'll be in a room and they'll start with a phrase of movement

that everyone does, men and women. You all learn the movement.

So, you all find the way it works and move in a similar way.

And I think that's become, you know, a way quite a few people work.

-It doesn't matter any more, does it?

-I don't think about it any more.

I just think, "Oh, we've all got to move, so let's do it."

I remember I felt that actually, I had to compete! HE LAUGHS

Well, that's what I was feeling!

But it was that wonderful element where you could do exactly what

I could do, but then I had to be as strong as you as well, so it was

really hard, I mean, it was great, it was a great challenge for me.

-Oh, me too! I did find it quite hard, where I fit in.

-Yes.

I felt like I didn't fit in for a long time.

-And then I realised that I didn't have to.

-Is it confidence?

-Finding that confidence.

-It is.

And knowing that you can and it's OK.

-You can, you know...

-Be weird. HE LAUGHS

I wasn't trying to be different or reinvent what the British style was.

I was actually trying to do it properly.

-But it just never came out.

-I don't...

No, it's true, I tried really hard to do as I was told

and do how I thought it should be,

but it didn't always come out like that.

It's a very different way of looking at what the male dancer is.

-Yeah, I think...

-Especially in British ballet.

Especially in the last ten years, it's changed a lot.

You know, what's being asked of us. What's being expected. You know?

And people are ready also to see anything, to be surprised.

Just as McGregor and Watson play with the traditional roles

of male and female, contemporary and classical...

..the moulding of styles and genders have also led to one of the world's

most high-profile, mainstream, new representations of male ballet.

It all began with a radical reinterpretation of a ballet classic.

This production redefined the public's view of the male dancer.

It really ruffled some feathers.

MUSIC: Dance Of The Little Swans, Swan Lake

-To be there in 1995 was just brilliant.

-It can be that, you know.

-I cried watching your ballet.

-Did you?

-I did.

Well, does the music do it? It's the music, isn't it?

No, no, no! It was very much about how you represented the characters.

-Oh, well, that's great.

-The feeling.

I mean, at the very end, it was just, like, heartbreaking.

I almost had tears running down my eyes.

MUSIC: Dances Of The Swans, Swan Lake

-When you were coming up with the idea...

-Mm.

Your influences for this role, I mean, obviously,

-you enjoyed the classical ballet itself.

-Yes.

Did you notice the change that the male dancer was going through?

I think at the time of making it,

I was very conscious of wanting to make strong roles for men.

I felt that in the classics in particular,

-they didn't get a very good look in.

-No, they don't.

It wasn't all about showing the masculinity and strength of the male dancer.

I wanted to show that they can be many things.

So, within that story, you get a different...

you get different aspects of men.

So, you can show different sides of male dancing as well.

The lyricism and the beauty, as well as adding in those...

the stronger moments. And also, the more ungainly kind of movement.

One of the big influences on the movement of the piece

originally, I used the pictures of Nijinsky. Which I had always loved.

-Photographs of Nijinsky.

-Here we have him on the wall.

-Well, there's the classic swan position.

-There it is! Yes. Exactly.

-We do that all the time.

-That is it. And that's where that came from.

When you talk about the costume

and how you wanted them to look and, you know, how that...

-The now famous fluffy pantaloons.

-Can we get them out?

-Yes, there's some here.

-Is that all right?

-Just there.

-I got it out of the archives to show you.

-HE LAUGHS

-Well, this does feel a little bit like a fluffy sheep.

-Yeah.

From a visual effect, when you're watching,

they did actually look slightly like feathers.

But just slightly coarser and harder.

The next day in the newspapers were pictures of Adam

-alongside Margot Fonteyn, in the swan costumes.

-Brilliant.

You know, like, the new swan.

It was the swan, the image of that swan

that captured the imagination of the public.

I feel we played a part in that, with the male swans now.

It's an ambition for a lot of young men to want to be in this show.

-Because your show was in the actual film.

-It was in the film, yeah.

Can you tell Billy Elliot that his family's here? (OK.)

That was great for us because it made us known

internationally a little bit as well.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC SWELLS

The release of Billy Elliot in the year 2000 had an unexpected,

yet tangible impact on the future of male ballet.

For the first time in its history,

The Royal Ballet School admitted more boys than girls.

New male ballet stars have credited the movie

as a key influence on their choice of career.

And, internationally, a stage musical keeps the legacy alive.

What you've influenced, by doing a film like this,

and then obviously the musical, is that you've given boys the power

and strength that ballet also gives.

You changed boys' lives, thinking that this is acceptable.

That's what Billy Elliot's done.

-Well, I don't...

-You have! No, I'm so sorry.

-I wouldn't put it THAT far!

-You really have!

Why did the classical ballet have to come into it?

I think it was the classical ballet because he, in the end,

had a dream of going to somewhere

so different from where his background was.

-That it was so extreme...

-OK.

-..the cultural difference.

And indeed there was going to be an automatic prejudice against it,

that it felt, that was going to be more interesting to explore.

What's the amazing thing, I've always felt, about being

backstage in the ballet, is that you watch this incredible beauty

and physical gesturing, I mean, it's so...

And then, if you're in the wings, and people come off and go, "Eugh!"

As if, literally, they've just climbed Everest!

You know what I mean? They're just so...

Then they pick themselves back up and go back on.

Superstars, swans and movies. Male ballet has rarely been more popular.

And its leading men are enjoying

creating and performing a diverse repertoire.

But what direction will male ballet now take?

A glimpse of the future can be found in two rising stars,

dancing extremely different styles.

Eric Underwood came to London from Washington DC.

He trained with Arthur Mitchell

and is now an acclaimed soloist at the Royal Ballet.

In a telling sign for male ballet's popularity,

he is also a successful model.

Do you feel you're part of a new male generation?

I think things are evolving, things are changing.

I think ballet's become a lot more relevant

-and more appealing to people that might be into pop culture.

-Mm-hm.

Because now they're seeing things they can relate to,

hearing music they can relate to.

I think if, you know, you get a seven-year-old child

and you show them something that happened in the '60s, a ballet,

I just think it's too... it's too far. It's too far.

But if they see something that Wayne's created

-to contemporary music, by, say, The White Stripes...

-They get it.

-They love it! Yeah.

-SHE LAUGHS

-But tradition in ballet...

-Yes.

-Do you think that's a negative?

I don't think it's a negative. I think tradition's great.

But I also think that, er, we don't want to be dated in, sort of,

holding on to tradition. It can date us.

-I think it's important to move forward with the times.

-Mm-hm.

While Eric presents a welcome new aspect of male ballet,

can the traditions of classical ballet styles retain their appeal?

The rise of a second young male star is reassuring.

Alban Lendorf, from Denmark,

recently joined the American Ballet Theatre as a principle.

A prodigy of Nikolaj Hubber and trained in the Bournonville style,

Alban is a champion of continuity and tradition.

Did you find, coming from your Bournonville style,

and it not being the showman of the dance world,

that you had to change that, if you know what I mean?

-Yeah, yeah, exactly. Here, they expect you to...

-Do the tricks.

..finish it and, like, own it more.

Why do you think now, at this particular time,

that the male classical ballet dancer is suddenly incredibly fashionable?

When you're on stage,

you have to accept the fact that sometimes we are being judged.

-You can't just dance well and please everyone.

-Yeah.

Masculinity also can have sensitivity, poetry, lyricism...

But it has to... it has to stem from...

..the male sex.

It's always been the female and, you know, objectified,

-all that stuff.

-Yeah. Lust. SHE LAUGHS

I think maybe now, it's happening for the men as well.

A male dancer, I think, is extremely sexual.

-I mean, we're wearing white tights and...

-It's very physical.

-Yeah.

If there is one thing to be drawn from the last 100 years

of ballet history, it's that men have claimed centre stage.

And thankfully, they are there to stay.

They have also challenged and progressed the art form.

And ballet is better for it.

I don't think we're ever going to lose the appetite for that

super-high level of virtuosity, to see those record-breaking jumps,

you know, to almost be counting along,

how many pirouettes can this man do?

I mean, that is one of the great thrills of ballet.

-EDWARD WATSON:

-The rules are always there

but there are now other rules as well.

People are making new rules at the same time as really honouring

the rules of classical ballet as well.

So, I think it's kind of a positive thing

that those two things can be used to say something new.

You mustn't forget, it's not just training, it's who they are as people.

That's what makes people up there special.

We're all taught the same steps.

But we do them in different ways

because our own personality comes across.

Where we are with male dancing now, in an odd way,

is slightly where we were at the beginning of the 20th century,

with a dancer like Nijinsky, who was breaking the mould

of those classical princes, and was really pushing the box.

MUSIC: Waltz Of The Flowers, The Nutcracker