The director of audiences at the Royal Albert Hall, Louise Halliday, and the artistic director of the English National Ballet, Aaron Watkin, discussed their worries with News while ballerinas wowed the crowd with their rendition of a classic.
Finances and policies are crucial. They’re essential,” Watkin says in reference to upholding the standing of British culture.
Few dance groups worldwide have the capacity to present a presentation of the caliber of the one that is currently on view at the Royal Albert Hall.
Even non-dancers know Swan Lake, but when it’s rearranged for an in-the-round setting, the choreography is astounding—the massive swarms of it.
We bring in an additional sixty dancers for this show,” says Watkin. “You’ve got over 100 performers on stage, so it’s just the sheer size of it.”
Essentially, he says, the “massive undertaking” consists of “taking three Swan Lakes and putting it into one.”
It’s hard to even find enough changing rooms. “The sheer amount of people coming onto the stage is mind-boggling,” Watkin says.
It is quite demanding, with dancers on stage virtually the entire time for lead principal Francesco Gabriele Frola.
Although he’s accustomed to leaving the stage following solos “to breathe a little bit,” he acknowledges that it’s much more difficult to “stick around and not look tired.”
