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Ballet and Dance on BBC TV


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While setting my recorder for the Boat Race and Formula 1 this coming weekend I noticed that the Darcy Bussell programme 'A Ballerina's Life' is being repeated again on Freeview Channel 301 (BBC RB 301) on Friday 4th April from 20.55 to 04.00. This programme is the one which first appeared immediately after her 'Ballerina Heroes' programme, without much advance notice. It is about 30 minutes long, so suitable for those who missed it before and for insomniacs as it will probably be repeated on a loop throughout the night.

I was thinking I could record it, but as you say it seems to be on a continuous loop, so I guess I'll just have to take pot luck and hope.

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Interesting: I wondered where they got all the bits of footage from, because e.g. the Bayadere extract wasn't from the Royal's production, and I don't remember any of her Manon being filmed.

 

Actually, Norman, can I ask how you got the Red Button information?  I find it very difficult to keep track of these things.

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Actually, Norman, can I ask how you got the Red Button information?  I find it very difficult to keep track of these things.

It's not easy to find out what's on there. Probably the best way is to go to the Guide page on your TV or Recorder, scroll down to Channel 301 and then scroll across through the week's programmes. This will only give you a brief title, so then press 'i' or 'Info' which will give a little more detail of the highlighted programme. Also glance at 302 and 303 which might be used occasionally.

 

These broadcasts are mainly related to sports, music and state occasions, so if you follow a particular sport for example you get to know whether it is worth while looking there. There might be a short reference on the BBC website page, for example on the Formula 1 page it says that today's BBC2 Qualifying Highlights programme is being repeated tomorrow at 12.00 on the Red Button 301 channel. I find these useful if I miss a broadcast, and sometimes there are broadcasts which are only shown there or which are in a 'Raw' version. For instance sometimes broadcasts like Trooping The Colour or State Opening Of Parliament may be shown raw, without the commentary and without the interviews so that Foreign broadcasters can add their own. It's a bit like seeing behind the scene and you see additional footage. Last weekend there was footage from F1 showing just the pit lane action plus lots of statistics and related info.

 

For 'A Ballerina's Life' I only knew about it when they said go to channel 301 (or Red Button) for this extra programme at the very end of the Heroes broadcast. I don't know whether there was an accompanying webpage on this occasion. The repeats I saw when I was scrolling through as above. It seems this material was recorded when they were preparing the season of ballet, but they must have decided not to wrap it all up, so just put on 301 as an extra. Perhaps if there is another ballet season it would be worth checking for something similar.

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Thanks for the detailed reply, Norman. I frequently try and see whether there's any sport on the red button, but keep forgetting how to find it. I think it may be under the sports headlines on the text feature, but am never sure.

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Thank you for the information about the red button. I really enjoyed the extra programme. I was curious to hear Darcey's comment about her first appearance with Sadler Wells when she appeared as a skeleton - does anyone know which ballet she was referring to?

I also loved the tiny footage of her in Birthday Offering - a glimpse of an arabesque which she appeared to hold for ages.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Can't find a mention of this anywhere so apologies if I have missed it. Anyway, there is a programme on Channel 4 at 7.30pm this Friday - Good Friday - called Unreported World, about the students of Iraq's only school dedicated to ballet and music and the struggle to keep it going against the threat of religious extremism and sectarian violence.  

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  • 5 months later...

Apologies if this has already pointed out, but I've just noticed that there's a programme on BBC 4 tonight at 10.45 titled "Dancing in the Blitz: How World War 2 Made British Ballet" (narrated by David Bintley) which doesn't appear to be  a repeat of the programme shown last year on roughly the same subject.  Here's the link to the programme details:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01s4z2h.

 

Happy viewing, everyone!

Edited by Ann Williams
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Thanks for the alert, Ann.  This is the same programme that was broadcast in March of this year (you can see all the dates on which it has been broadcast if you scroll down the page).  I'm glad it is being repeated.  I hope this means that Tamara's programme on Swan Lake will be broadcast again soon; it was part of the same short ballet season on the BBC in March.

Edited by barton22
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  • 6 months later...

And for the little ones don't miss Northern Ballet's Elves and the Shoemaker on CBeebies, Easter Monday at 11am and 5 pm. This is Northern's third short ballet specially for children. The Ugly Duckling will be repeated at the same times on Tuesday 7th April followed by The Three Little Pigs on Wednesday 8th.

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  • 2 months later...

Another repeat of "Dancing in the Blitz" tomorrow evening, 8 pm BBC4.

I hadn't seen this before and really enjoyed it. Did anyone else notice the influences that  'The Prospect before Us' (De Valois) appeared to have on 'Les Borgeois' (Ben van Cauwenbergh) - or was that just me ? 

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Interesting: I wondered where they got all the bits of footage from, because e.g. the Bayadere extract wasn't from the Royal's production, and I don't remember any of her Manon being filmed.

 

Alison, I think the clip from Manon is from a documentary made around 1997/8 when the Rb was not at the ROH due to the redevelopment.  She was filmed performing Manon with Zelensky at the Coliseum.  Birthday Offering was at the Festival Hall with Inaki Urlezega (hope I've spelled his name right).  Incidentally whatever happened to him?  He went back to Brazil (or was it Argentina) around 2005 and I haven't heard anything about him since.

 

Linda

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  • 2 months later...

Yes, Alison, I often watch The Next Step as it's my granddaughter's favourite programme- even though she's just given up ballet lessons!

It's not unlike Fame, although it just focuses on dance, both ballet and contemporary, not the other arts. The dance levels are fairly high. There's a lot of emphasis on personal relationships, both rivalry as dancers but also boy/girl relationships.

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  • 5 months later...

Borrowing from another thread: 

 

"

I have just received an email informing me that Northern Ballet's 1984 will be shown on BBC4 on 28th February!
Susan

 

Yes, Sunday 28th February on BBC4, 7.30pm till 9pm and then followed by the Storyville presentation of the Bolshoi Babylon documentary."

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Borrowing from another thread: 

 

"

SusanR, on 18 Feb 2016 - 5:02 PM, said:snapback.png

I have just received an email informing me that Northern Ballet's 1984 will be shown on BBC4 on 28th February!

Susan

 

Yes, Sunday 28th February on BBC4, 7.30pm till 9pm and then followed by the Storyville presentation of the Bolshoi Babylon documentary."

 

 

Reminder: this is on in 90 minutes!

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