Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Ballet dancer, best known for her performances in classical ballets such as Swan Lake.
On the island
Eight records
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582Favourite
favourite: true
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:58What would you be happiest to have got away from?
Should I say ballet critics? No, that would be unfair. Ballet magazines. I don't think I should say those things because they're half joking and half serious. ... The telephones, I'd be delighted to get away from that.
Presenter asks
5:33When did you start to learn dancing?
I suppose about six when I had my first dancing lesson.
Presenter asks
5:48Did you show outstanding ability very early as a child?
Well, I think those would be two strong words to use. I think that I showed a natural aptitude and I enjoyed the dancing.
Presenter asks
6:30Can you remember any particular inspiration by any dancer or by any performance that gave you a longing to make dancing your profession?
The keepsakes
The book
Marguerite Yourcenar
I think that a book I would take that I find beautiful writing, beautiful literature, is Hadrian's Memoirs by Marguerite Josana.
The luxury
I thought a mask that skin divers use. I love swimming in any case and I would have a whole new world too. explore underwater if I should by any chance get tired of my life on the island.
Well, I saw so little, you see, until I suppose when I was twelve when my mother and I came back to England for a short visit to see my brother who was in school. And I saw the Camargo Society. It was the first ballet performance I'd ever seen. And I saw Markova dancing. And I saw Lisa Feed. I saw some of the early performances at the South as well. I think from that moment, I knew what ballet was and then knew that I would like to try to do it, though I never thought I had any possibility of succeeding.
Presenter asks
13:02In the main, do you prefer classical ballet to character or modern ballet?
Classical ballet is much the most difficult to do. So one wouldn't say one prefers it. It's absolutely essential to do the classical ballets, I think. It's the standard by which one's judged.
Presenter asks
15:50How frequently do you give a performance that satisfies your own standards?
Oh, well perhaps one in twenty. Not more.
“What I've always looked forward to most in my life would be an old age on a desert island just playing gramophone records all day long.”
“I took it terribly seriously, very, very seriously, I remember, always terribly anxious to do exactly what I'd been told to the extent that in my concentration I would almost always stick my tongue out the side of my mouth, trying so hard to get everything right.”
“She kind of pushed us all into the gap to try to fill it. We didn't quite fill it, but between us we made an attempt.”
“Oh, well perhaps one in twenty. Not more.”
“I suppose I would have to choose the one that could best stand being heard and reheard hundreds of times. Which would bring me, of course, to the one most complex and perfect in form and construction.”