Darcey Bussell on Astaire, Fonteyn and Michael Jackson

On Christ­mas Day the BBC2 will trans­mit Dar­cey Bus­sell Dances Hol­ly­wood, a trib­ute to the great film music­als. Bus­sell talked to the Radio Times’ Alexia Skinitis about the dan­cers who have inspired her:

Fred Astaire

As a little girl, I didn’t dream of being a bal­let dan­cer, I dreamt of being a movie star like Ginger Rogers and dan­cing with Fred Astaire. I used to watch the Sunday double-bills on TV and Iong to be part of what seemed a per­fect Dis­ney­land world. Astaire was a genius.

Cheek to Cheek from Top Hat was his iconic dance with Ginger Rogers and it was such a joy re-creating it — although dan­cing in heels was very hard for me. He made everything look so easy, but trust me, it is not!

He had a unique style and iden­tity on stage and brought his own per­son­al­ity to everything he did, which is an amaz­ing qual­ity that has inspired every dan­cer who fol­lowed him.

Audrey Hep­burn

She always wanted to be a dan­cer, and in all her films, whenever there was an oppor­tun­ity to dance, she would embrace it and you could see the joy in her eyes. She had the most amaz­ing, iconic look and was always so per­fect. She just couldn’t look bad and had such a grace about her. I always aspired to be like her in that way.

Michael Jack­son

When I was a teen­ager, I used to watch the Mak­ing Michael Jackson’s Thriller video and try to fol­low the steps and do the Thriller moves in my bed­room. That was the most incred­ible dance sequence. And actu­ally, you can see that Jack­son was hugely inspired by Fred Astaire in the way he cho­reo­graphed his music videos. He was hungry for inspir­a­tion and loved every dance and every song. He was born to be on the stage.

Svet­lana Beriosova

My mother loved the bal­let and Svet­lana was her favour­ite baller­ina. I was lucky enough to be coached by her one sum­mer at the Royal Bal­let School’s White Lodge in Lon­don. As soon as I got there I was awe­struck. She was the per­fect image of a baller­ina and I wanted to be exactly like her.

Mar­got Fonteyn

I never saw her dance, but I was coached by her when I was 20, pre­par­ing for my first per­form­ance as the prin­cipal in Swan Lake, and I remem­ber every single word she said to me. It was ter­ri­fy­ing and she was very stern. But she had such a depth of know­ledge, I tried to absorb every little bit of it.

via Radio Times 

Dar­cey Bus­sell Dances Hollywood

The former Royal Bal­let star steps into the shoes of her Hol­ly­wood her­oes to cel­eb­rate the leg­acy of clas­sic dance music­als, rein­ter­pret­ing four of her favour­ite routines with renowned cho­reo­grapher Kim Gavin, and reveal­ing the secrets behind their endur­ing appeal. First, she tackles the chal­lenge of imper­son­at­ing Fred Astaire in Put­tin’ on the Ritz, which was a high­light of Blue Skies, before play­ing Ginger Rogers in a rendi­tion of Cheek to Cheek from Top Hat. These are fol­lowed by num­bers from Singin’ in the Rain and The Band Wagon. Dar­cey also talks to con­ductor John Wilson, who has recon­struc­ted the ori­ginal scores from these films.

Decem­ber 25, 6:30pm — 8pm BBC2, BBC HD

Repeat Decem­ber 30 — 7pm BBC4; Decem­ber 31 - 3:25am BBC4

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