An around the world trip often takes months of planning, a heck of a lot of money and many (many!) months of planes, trains and automobiles. But if you have a child who loves to dance, now you can provide a behind-the-scenes look at some of the world’s top ballet companies from the comfort of your home and all within 24-hours thanks to World Ballet Day.
On October 1, 2014 for the first time ever, World Ballet Day will provide a glimpse into a day in the life of what it’s really like to be a world-class ballet dancer. Dancers from the Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet will each live stream what really happens starting with morning practice, through rehearsals and even during ballerina down-time (yes there is such a thing!).
I recently had the opportunity to interview Vancouver-born Second Soloist Jenna Savella from the National Ballet of Canada who is most excited about viewers seeing what actually happens in rehearsals because as Ms. Savella says, “most people never get to see what happens before the show. They only ever get to see the final result.”
World Ballet Day will showcase some of the incredibly hard work that goes into the flawless productions audience members get to see. From morning warm-ups, technique classes and learning choreography, World Ballet Day will give an unedited account of what professional ballet is all around the world.
Each ballet company will take centre stage for 4-hours during the 24-hour live stream. During the 4-hours featuring the National Ballet, Ms. Savella says they will be rehearsing Manon, which opens the in Toronto on November 8 and Nijinsky, which runs November 22—30.
Ms. Savella promises this will be an event not to be missed, especially for aspiring dancers and their dedicated dance moms (and dads!) because this is a no-holds-barre look into “what their life could be like.” What they see during World Ballet Day “could be their daily life – doing something they love every day.”
Jenna Savella in rehearsal for Nijinsky.
Photo by Bruce Zinger
On October 1, 2014 be sure to check out the live stream on the National Ballet of Canada’s website and follow along on social media with #WorldBalletDay.
There are also two very special ways viewers at home can participate in World Ballet Day, first you can use #AskADancer to ask any questions you like for personalized insight into the professional world of ballet and second, you can upload your own pirouette to Facebook and YouTube using #WorldBalletDay for an opportunity for your pirouette to be featured during the live stream.
For a full schedule of events, visit http://national.ballet.ca/worldballetday.
