A Ballet Dancer On The Road With...

previously agreed. Now on BBC News, on the road with a ballet dancer.

Now it is time for On The Road With.... We are joined by Ed Watson,

principal with the Royal Ballet. Edward Watson is the principal

dancer with the Royal Ballet in London. I spent the day with him as

he prepared to play the lead in The Rite of Spring and Romeo and Juliet.

He studied ballet when he was three years old. I wanted to see what

life was like in his shoes. He is making his way back after an

operation he had on a ruptured tendon. We start the day at a

Pilates studio where he is doing some exercises for professional

dancers. This is an important exercise because everything he does

in classical ballet comes from the standing leg and the working leg.

The hip joint has to be very loose, but totally controlled from the

opposite hip joint. Is this part of the job? Yes. I see it as part of

my job to be in the best possible condition. People pay a lot of

money to see me. It is my job to be in the best form that I can. If

that means coming in early and putting in extra time, that does

not really feel like too much effort. It is what my job is.

strong must you be? You have to be strong to be a dancer. Stronger

than I think people realise. Stronger than we look. The look of

a dancer is a long-limbed and hiding what you have to do. It is

deceptive. Do you go to the gym? Yes, sometimes. I do two days here

and two days in the gym. But because of my injury at the moment,

I am just focusing on this, which has been brilliant. It has pulled

my body back into focus very quickly. It is exactly what I

needed. It is off to the Royal Ballet where he will get changed

for morning class. This is the daily board which has the

rehearsals and name calls and the performance information. You need

to check this because it changes all the time if somebody is injured

or if we need an extra rehearsal. This is Elizabeth, a teacher here.

She has known me from when I was 18. I am now 34. I have worked with her

most days. What is he like to work with? He is an acquired taste. He

is a wonderful example to everybody because he works consistently every

day. He will try anything. He is not worried about particular style,

anything. He will give it a go, which is rare these days. We like

each other. Yes. (LAUGHTER). What about class? Class is, at the

lowest level, a warm-up. It is preparing for the performance.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 61 seconds

(MELODIC PIANO MUSIC AND OPERATIC SINGING). There are six levels of

dancers at the Royal Ballet, with the principal being the highest. Ed

is one of four full-time male principals at the company. After

class, he has a rehearsal of The Rite of Spring. He is working with

the director of the Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason, choreographed by

Kevin McMillan. It is unusual that a man is doing that role. But it is

interesting to watch. It is just incredibly physical. What is it

like rehearsing with him? (LAUGHTER). It is very easy because

he works so hard. I am trying to pass on as much as I can. It is a

long time ago but I remember it well because it was made for me. I

want him to have a great time doing it. (PIANO MUSIC FROM 'THE RITE OF

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 61 seconds

SPRING' PLAYS). Do you think there is a stigma attached to being a

male ballet dancer? Yes, but I think that it also comes from a

lack of knowledge, not seeing what we do every day. It is tough.

really see the collapse... Like this. Do not emphasise the hands.

Emphasise your top arm. Yes. Yes. Tell me about the part you are

playing? It is called The Chosen One and it is part, I am part of a

tribe of people. It goes through the ritual and sacrifice of one

person. The feeling of ultimate honour but also terror, the fact

that you're going to be sacrificed to whatever it is. You kind of

dance yourself to death, really. You basically do it to yourself.

Keep going, more body. Yes. Good. Well done. How was that? It was

good because I did everything and tried to apply the things that I

was told weren't so good yesterday. I felt as if I had started to do

that. In terms of stamina, to run something like that you always a

bit of a sense of achievement afterwards. The fact I can get

through it, whether or not it looks awful, makes me feel more positive

going into it. That is one of the worries I get. I do not know if it

is just me, but I worry if I will be able to get through doing

everything I am supposed to. When you know you are on track for that,

you feel more confident. Is it a test of endurance? Yes, it is. It

is able to be done, I am not dead, but you feel exhausted. It is hard.

It is rhythmically hard. You do not go at the same pace. That takes

energy. How closely do you listen to the music? Very closely. It is

absolutely everything. It is like something is making you do it, I am

not in control. In this case, music drives you to push you to do things

that you do not want to. That is important. Can you improvise?

Not really. It has been done by a lot of people. It is written down.

There is a certain way to do things. You can interpret, within those

rules, but you do not improvise and change. You give your thoughts and

musicality to something. Is there a sense of pressure for you doing a

role that others have done before you? Yes, there is always that

pressure with everything. Even with the roles that have been made for

me, you still feel that pressure. Because once you do that first one,

you have to do the show again. is my turn for some coaching. It is

time to try out the ballet shoes. He starts by giving me a beginner's

guide. First of all, when you do a pirouette, you go from this

position, so you need to be able to balance first. Balance before you

turn. Put your right foot behind, turn. You picked up the wrong foot.

Put this foot on the other knee. It happens in one piece. Almost. As

you turn, leave your head and bring your arm in. As you leave your head,

remember to pick up your leg. too late for me to take up ballet?

Yes. How old were you when you started? I was three. That was

young. I think a lot of people start between 3 and 5. Most of us.

Not intending to make a career of it at that age, but because it is

fun or because your friends are. But I became serious about it. I

was nine or ten when I knew it was what I wanted to do and I joined

the Royal Ballet School when I was 10. When I was 11, I began at the

Royal Ballet School full-time. That is a big thing from going to one

class a week to doing it for several hours a day with people who

have the same ability and skill with different kinds of

competitions. A different atmosphere. It was totally

different. It was totally alien to be surrounded by everybody wanting

the same thing. Because before I was the only one. When you are

there, it is a whole other level of how good you are. What happened

after the Royal Ballet School? left when I was 16 and joined the

Royal Ballet Upper School when I was 16-18. Then I joined here when

I was 18. It sounds like a progression, which it was, but I

was lucky because very few people have that happen to them. You have

to pass an assessment every year to see if you are improving enough and

if they liked you. You could be asked to leave at any time. To make

it through each year is like an event. To make it from the lower

school to the upper school was a bigger event. To be chosen by the

company is another massive moment. It is what everybody wants. Do you

enjoy being a dancer? Yes, I do. It is not like I wake up every day and

think, I love this. It is something that is part of me. I have to do it.

It is part of who I am. There are moments when you think, I loved

that performance. I love working with that woman. But it is more

Ed is now rehearsing for Romeo and Juliet composed by Prokofiev. He is

playing Romeo. It is a one-on-one session with a Royal Ballet trainer

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 61 seconds

who was himself a principal with the company. Good. Yes. Attitude,

lined up, tuck it behind. Single attitude. Johnny was the greatest

British male principle for a long time. At the Royal Ballet? Yes. We

did some performances together when I was starting. Johnny was a great

inspiration to me and a lot of other people. It is great to have

someone I respected so much looking after me. He has got great taste

and he will not let me get away with looking too dreadful. What do

you two work on together? Most things I do, actually. Ed knows

about me. I teach him most of that. That makes it easier, if I have

taught him from scratch, because he knows what I see the role as being.

We work as an athlete. Later on once we are out making the run of

rehearsals we try to bring the performance side into it as well as

the physical. In the early stages it is very much about uch about al

side. The technique. I am one of those people who is probably

frustrating to work with because I know what the right way is.

interesting artists are up and down. Some days that are good, some days

not. That is just their ability as artists. It is not a formatted look

that is the same every day. I do test Johnny's patience a bit.

Romeo a difficult role? I think Romeo is one of the hardest. It

could be such a fulfilling role. There is so much to the Prokofiev

score and you want to enjoy every moment. The pressure of the

physical side is always at the back of your mind. The stamina needed.

You want it to feel as amazing as it looks and it does not. It is a

tough one. Before his next rehearsal, Ed has a physio session.

His calf is like a bullet and he has symptoms in his heel. How many

large injuries have you had in your career? Two. This one and I broke a

bone in my foot ten years ago. So in ten years it is not that bad.

How long do you think you can keep going as a ballet dancer? I don't

know. I would like to keep going for as long as my body feels good

and I look good and I can still do the choreography the way it is

supposed to be done. I guess it is different for every person. I feel

like I am just starting really in some ways. I am not thinking about

it within the next couple of years anyway. After physio I asked Ed

whether he goes out dancing with his friends. Not really too often.

I am too self-aware. As a dancer you get used to having a lot of

people watching and telling you are doing something wrong so it feels

brave to just go out and dance. A lot of them do, just not me. Do you

have the moves on the dance floor? No, I do not. I get very self-

conscious at the disco. Ed's final rehearsal of the day is the Rite of

Spring again with other members of the cast. At the end of the day we

are off to the O2 Arena. Ed will get a sense of it before playing

Romeo there in Romeo and Juliet. You will be performing here. How

does that make you feel? Slightly terrified by the size of it. It is

a real landmark, isn't it? I can't wait to get inside and see how it

is going to look. I freak out when I see just how many people can get

in there. Ed has brought some friends with him to the arena.

is a lot of seats, isn't it? It is a lot of seats. Do you know how big

the stage is going to be? No. When I actually go onto the stage of the

Opera House when it is not a performance, just to walk across

and you look out and see all the seats that is scary anyway. But it

is like that on a much bigger, kind of... They are everywhere. I do not

know if it was such a good idea coming. They put me right off.

this is a different perspective? Yes, seeing how small people look

down there. You forget when you know people are watching, but when

you watch someone else you realise how they watch everything. It is

sort of strange. It is the wrong way round for me. Is all the hard

work worth it for you? Yes, definitely. For those moments where

everything works and you feel like the work has paid off and you have

done what you set out to do. It is always worth it. There is nothing

quite like the feeling of doing a really good performance. And it is

awful when you know you have done a bad one. It is satisfying at the

end of the day to feel like you have really given everything you've