Ballet News Previews | Darcey Bussell: Dancing to Happiness

BBC Two

Saturday, December 1st 2018

9pm

Darcey Bussell

If you only watch one programme this month, make it this one.

Why ? The emotional depth of the programme engulfs you by stealth; you’re in deep before you know it.  I had to preview in two sessions. It’s not that it’s unexpected – everyone can appreciate the power of dance –  but rather that the research findings, which can often seem dusty and remote, can be seen and heard and most importantly felt.

We know that dance has the power to make us happy, but why ? And why dance, more than any other exercise ?

Dance, as a tool to help mental health issues and as therapy for people living with Dementia and Parkinson’s, can be transformative and in this programme, Dame Darcey Bussell sees first hand just how much. Bussell advocates dance for everyone and has piloted dance classes for schoolchildren across the country, and spoken in Parliament calling for dance to be a key part of the curriculum to help children’s fitness.

In this programme, Bussell meets young people struggling with mental health issues, waltz’s with a gentleman living with Parkinson’s Disease and takes ballet class with some Silver Swans. She watches as the classes transform before her. Young girls with anxiety and lack of confidence, blossom under carefully curated choreography designed to reflect their own experiences. A lady facing a crisis after retirement prompts serious reflection from Bussell, who says that it took her “two weeks to leave the building” following her retirement from ballet because what she missed most was being part of the Company.

These are the moments that make this such a positive and uplifting programme. But it’s not easy.

Darcey Bussell