''Big Ballet'' is a 2014 British documentary program that follows Wayne Sleep and prima ballerina

Monica Loughman Monica Loughman is an Irish ballet dancer and teacher, writer, and television personality. She was the first Westerner to achieve solo status with the Perm State Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Russia, where she danced for 16 years. On her ret ...

as they help a troupe of amateur plus-size dancers realize their dream of dancing

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

. The three-episode series, produced by Rare Day and broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, premiered on February 6, 2014. The dancers, referred to in the show as "fat" or "real women", range from UK size 12 to 24 – significantly larger than the norm in classical ballet. Eighteen dancers were selected from a pool of more than 500 applicants to participate in the series.

Cast

''Big Ballet'' features

Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. Choreographer In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...

Derek Deane Derek Deane (born 18 June 1953) is a British dancer and choreographer. Biography Derek Deane was raised in Redruth, Cornwall and trained in the Royal Ballet School. As a dancer, he eventually became a Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet, lat ...

, Patricia Doyle, David Plumpton,

Tamara Rojo Tamara Rojo CBE (born 17 May 1974) is a Spanish ballet dancer. She is the English National Ballet's artistic director (2012–2022) and a lead principal dancer with the company. She was previously a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. She ...

, David Nixon and the

English National Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

Set

It was predominantly filmed at the

Northern Ballet Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet. The company ...

; its final performance was staged at

St George's Hall, Bradford St George's Hall is a strategic grade II* listed Victorian building located in the centre of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Originally designed with a seating capacity of 3,500, the hall seats up to 1,335 people and 1,550 for standing conc ...

in front of 1,500 people.

Episodes

Adaptation

In 2021, an American series based on ''Big Ballet'' premiered on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

called ''

The Big Leap ''The Big Leap'' is an American musical comedy-drama television series created by Liz Heldens, based on the British reality miniseries ''Big Ballet'', which aired on Fox during the 2021–22 television season. In March 2022, the series was c ...

'', which ran for one season. The show adapted the premise of ''Big Ballet'' into a fictional

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

References

External links

''Big Ballet''
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

* {{IMDb title, id=3528894, title=Big Ballet 2014 British television series debuts 2014 British television series endings Channel 4 documentaries 2010s British documentary television series Television shows set in Yorkshire English-language television shows Dance television shows