Ballet fans, meet indie fans. Indie fans, this is ballet… When delving for musical accompaniment for the English National Ballet, ArtsWom imagine it’s rather rare for one to discard the classical works of Chopin, Ravel and Stravinsky in favour of a popular indie outfit usually more interested in careening to the top of the charts, than providing a soundtrack for one of the world’s most classical artforms. Not so in this case however, as a team comprising the aforementioned ballet company, Sky Arts and leading fashion designer Giles Deacon, have moved to sign up regular NME coverstars Bloc Party to provide the music behind their latest project, in a magnificent coming together of these two mutually-exclusive genres.

Airing throughout the Christmas period, and lasting for just fifteen blink-and you-miss-them minutes, the innovative ballet, choreographed by English National Ballet’s 22 year-old Artist of the Company Jenna Lee, is set to be a modern tour de force. Fusing all the excitement of contemporary dance with ballet’s classic tradition of strength and fluidity, each of the ballerinas will be decked in magnificently alluring costume, all created by the unconventionally brilliant fingers of Giles Deacon.

What’s more, the generous producers have even thrown in a brief behind-the-scene documentary that reveals all of the inspiration and secrets behind the making of Ballet Rocks. Which is kind of them… Make sure to catch it!

Broadcast times
Sat 22 Dec 2007 12:45AM - 1:00AM
Fri 28 Dec 2007 11:45PM - 12:00AM
Mon 14 Jan 2008 10:30AM - 10:45AM
Sat 26 Jan 2008 5:45PM - 6:00PM