Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Director David Bintley is swapping the stage of the Birmingham Hippodrome for The Palace of Versailles in his latest TV appearance. ‘The King Who Invented Ballet: Louis XIV and the Noble Art of Dance’ and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s newest work ‘The King Dances’ is set to be broadcast on BBC Four on 13 September at 8pm.
Bintley will present his second programme for BBC Four in 2015, following the success of the March 2014 documentary ‘Dancing in the Blitz: How World War II Made British Ballet’. The King Who Invented Ballet is an hour long documentary showing how Louis XIV’s patronage and passion for dance in 17th century France brought about the evolution of ballet, from propaganda in the French royal court to a professional art form in its own right.
Bintley goes about discovering the roots of classical ballet as it is known. Ballet significantly developed during the reign of Louis XIV; it was central to the lives of the nobility and Louis ensured that it would develop into an art form that could be taught, preserved and shared, commissioning the invention of dance notation and the foundation of the world’s first ballet school – the Académie Royale de Danse.
Also focused on is Bintley’s creation of The King Dances, a new one-act ballet for Birmingham Royal Ballet which received its world premiere at Birmingham Hippodrome in June, and will receive its television world premiere following the documentary. The piece explores Louis’ journey to kinghood, inspired by the Ballet de la Nuit, a 1653 dance work. Featuring an original score by Stephen Montague, costumes and designs by Katrina Lindsay and lighting by Peter Mumford, The King Dances is performed by fourteen male dancers and one female dancer.