The Painted Veil

Hello, I'm Amber and you're listening to bbclearningenglish.com.
　　In Entertainment today, we step into the dynamic world of contemporary dance.
　　We hear parts of an interview with two of the world's leading dancers: Sylvie
　　Guillem and Akram Khan. We meet them backstage at the Sadler's Wells
　　theatre in London. They talk about dancing together in a new show called
　　Sacred Monsters. The piece is a 'duet' (a dance for 2 performers) accompanied
　　by a live band. And watch out - Sacred Monsters is about to go on a world-
　　wide tour!
　　As we'll hear, the show is an exciting challenge for both dancers who trained
　　in very different styles of classical dance.
　　Sylvie Guillem is a ballet dancer, a ballerina. She caused a sensation at the
　　Paris Opera when, at the age of just 19, she was promoted to the role of star
　　dancer by her teacher Rudolf Nureyev. She then caused a storm of outrage in
　　her native France when, just six years later, she left the Paris Opera and joined
　　the Royal Ballet in London.
　　Akram Khan was born in the UK and is of Bangladeshi origin. From a young
　　age he was trained in the Kathak style of dancing (the classical style of north
　　India) and he is now one of the most innovative modern dancers working in
　　Britain.
　　First here's Sylvie Guillem talking about why she was drawn towards
　　contemporary dance and away from the classical 'repertoire', the complete
　　range of ballet works. As you listen, try to catch the expression she uses to
　　refer to the fact that she began performing classical ballet roles when she was a
　　very young dancer.
　　Sylvie Guillem
　　'I already decided for a long time not to dance a lot of roles from the repertoire because I
　　started classical very young and I had time to do all of the repertoire and many, many, many,
　　many times! So I was born on stage and I was really asking myself: But what am I doing here?
　　Because there was a lack of weight in what I was doing and then it was only physical, and so I
　　was not interested by that any more. I spent sometime doing that, and now I want to spend
　　some time doing something else.'
　　Amber:  Did you catch it? Sylvie Guillem says 'I was born on stage'!
　　Listen again and notice the expressions 'to spend time' doing something, and
　　'a lack of weight'. Sylvie says she was drawn towards contemporary dance
　　because she felt there was 'a lack of weight' in her classical ballet. In English,
　　if we say something is 'weighty', we mean it is serious or important.
　　Sylvie Guillem
　　'I already decided for a long time not to dance a lot of roles from the repertoire because I
　　started classical very young and I had time to do all of the repertoire and many, many, many,
　　many times! So I was born on stage and I was really asking myself: But what am I doing here?
　　Because there was a lack of weight in what I was doing and then it was only physical, and so I
　　was not interested by that any more. I spent sometime doing that, and now I want to spend
　　some time doing something else.'
　　Amber:  Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan have very different bodies. Sylvie is
　　famously tall with very long limbs, and Akram Khan is smaller and stronger.
　　Here's Akram talking about how his body remembers the very many
　　complicated moves in the show Sacred Monsters – he says it's his 'muscle
　　memory' at work as well as his mind! And the dancers have to be sensitive
　　to each other's movements so the piece does not become too 'mechanical' –
　　as if it were being performed by machines!
　　Akram Khan
　　'I think it's the muscle memory, but your mind is also working. If it's not working, then the
　　piece doesn't live – it becomes mechanical. And so we're constantly thinking - always
　　adjusting and negotiating with each other. If it's too perfect, or if it's mechanical, then it
　　doesn't live and so the piece has to live.'
　　Amber:  So the dancers are constantly 'adjusting and negotiating' with each other – they
　　make small changes and they work around each other successfully.
　　Now here's a list of the language we focussed on in the programme today.