Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A ballerina who joined the Royal Ballet Company.
On the island
Eight records
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado
I love the score, I think it's a marvellous piece of music, but specifically I think because I found it rather funny that when I was training to be a dancer, of course we would do repertoire classes where you would learn all the things that you would be expected to do when you first joined a ballet company, hopefully. And so we learnt endless kind of swans and sylphieds and all those things. And when I did join the Royal Ballet Company, the very first thing I was expected to do was Travinsky's Riot of Spring, which was a rather far cry from all those three, four rhythms I'd been dancing to for the past year.
Isolde's Liebestod (from Tristan und Isolde, transcr. Liszt)
Really only because I wanted some Wagner and I wanted some Liszt and I couldn't have them both, so I decided to combine the two.
New Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Jascha Horenstein
Years and years ago I had a very bad back injury and was at home with my parents. Resting for weeks what seemed interminable ... and my brother was doing his A levels at that tier O levels, I beg your pardon, at that time. ... we used to sit on the lawn and I would test him on his Second World War history and all this kind of thing. And at that particular week, the BBC were doing their composers of the week, and Nielsen was the one, and I'd never heard any of his music before. We both fell in love with this music, and that's really all. I mean, it's it's a kind of recollection of my brother when he was a youngster.
Che gelida manina (from La Bohème)
I'd like to hear Pavarotti. In La Boheme, simply because I think it's quite the most wonderful voice and I love the opera.
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D major
Vladimir Feltsman, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Again, for no particular reason except that I love piano music. It's really my favorite solo instrument, which just as well as I have spent my life listening to it and dancing to it. I hadn't ever heard Kavelowski. and discovered it quite late and did a ballet to his music and uh I found it a joy to listen to.
Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Organ Symphony)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim
Simply'cause I I think organ music is so wonderful and so stirring and uh I have no associations with it at all. Just that I'd love to sit on desert island and listen to that.
Romeo and JulietFavourite
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by André Previn
Fairly obvious reasons, yes. I think it's the most complete ballast score that there is.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:00Was there any special feeling in the family for music and the arts?
Not specifically. I d my mother was uh adored the theatre. I mean, we had small opportunity to go, I think, but when she was a young girl, I think she would have loved to have been in on the stage, but wasn't allowed to be involved in it in any sense. Her her father was very opposed to it. Um, I had cousins who danced, and I think that's probably how I was sent along, because they clearly enjoyed it, and my mother thought it might be fun for me, and I was an only child. I think she also felt it would get me to meet lots of other children.
Presenter asks
4:36What was your first impression on arriving at that lovely school [the Royal Ballet School] in Richmond Park?
Just that, that it was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen. ... Not at all. I had absolutely adored it from the minute I set foot in the door to the day I left.
Presenter asks
11:17What sort of parts did you enjoy most to start with? Were you happiest in classical or character?
No, not classical. I'm I've never considered myself to be a natural classical dancer ... I was always more comfortable in the dramatic roles. When I felt that I had ... something to disguise my defects with, which was playing a real character on the stage, rather than something classical where you are really only displaying your technique in lots of cases. If your technique falls down. Then of course so does your entire performance.
The keepsakes
The book
J. R. R. Tolkien
it has all the things in in books that I like. It has the fantasy and adventure and Lots of escapism. And it's a nice long read.
The luxury
a pair of sunglasses on a chain
Well, um it's not a luxury in the real sense of the word, but it would be a luxury to me, because I can't see anything if the sun shines. I'm absolutely blind. and if somebody came to rescue me I'd never see them coming. So I'd have to have a pair of sunglasses on a chain that I could wear round my neck the whole time.
Presenter asks
13:56Is [the insularity of the Royal Ballet] one of the considerations that led you to resign from the Royal Ballet?
Partially, yes. Partly it was because I was in the new group, and of course there were no classical ballets, and I knew if I was ever going to attempt To Cross this bridge of trying to be an accepted classical dancer and learn to understand that part of my life as a dancer. I had to start soon, otherwise it would be too late, and my nerve would go. ... And also it really was a bit like taking the final step to stop living with mum and dad and set up in the wide world.
Presenter asks
20:34As a partner is [Rudolf Nureyev] easy to dance with?
He's wonderful to dance with, because he gives such an extraordinary amount, I mean, his stage craft and his knowledge of theatre. How to make the best effect from something is quite amazing. And of course, he's a great teacher. And he's teaching you every performance you do. You come off and you've acquired something that you didn't know before.
“You're usually only excited rather than scared. You learn to get scared when you get older.”
“I found it very useful when I was young to have a character to hide behind, and I could concentrate on that in the performance and not get quite so paranoid about a particularly difficult step or whatever by keeping the sense of the story alive.”
“It's trying to meet that challenge, which of course makes the development continue. As long as your nerves hold out long enough, that's the thing.”