Dance Legend Adam Cooper
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- čas přidán 26. 06. 2024
- Dance critic Ismene Brown interviews Adam Cooper, legendary as the Swan in Matthew Bourne’s world hit Swan Lake, about his high-achieving and wide-ranging career. Topics include years at the Royal Ballet partnering Darcey Bussell, Sylvie Guillem and wife Sarah Wildor, the move to Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures to star in Swan Lake, Cinderella and The Red Shoes, on to Singin’ in the Rain and Guys and Dolls with Patrick Swayze, and his passion project, a ballet of Liaisons Dangereuses. One of a series of filmed interviews for the students and supporters of the Vyne Arts Centre and Dance Academy, Berkhamsted.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:43-03:03 Film clip Billy Elliot
04:10 The dancing Cooper boys. Early inspirations, early rivalry. Arts Educational School - Festival Ballet Nutcracker.
08:32 Both brothers into Royal Ballet School. “Competition between us was quite fierce.” RBS choreography prize.
11:08 Royal Ballet - high-flyer. Thrown on in Mayerling 1994. Lead roles. The fun of playing villains.
13:30 Partnering Darcey Bussell - Darcey’s comment. “Brilliant” David Drew classes at RBS, Donald Macleary at Royal Ballet. “I’m there for the ballerina.” Learning to be the focal point in a ballet.
16:45 Courtiers v natural soloists. Male competition at RB - “There were so many of us vying for leading roles.”
18:16 Noticed by Kenneth MacMillan. Self-confidence - “my last teacher at school said you’ve got a good brain but you’ll never be a good dancer, so I owe Kenneth a lot.”
19:48 Summoned by Sylvie Guillem, the world’s most talked-about ballerina. Perfectionism and curtain corrections. Herman Shmerman - Jeremy Isaacs’ comment. “Being” sexy.
24:55 How to judge when performance is working. “It’s an unspoken script you have with a dancer.”
27:30 Sarah Wildor - partnership at home and on stage. First pairing in The Invitation. How he and Sarah discuss roles and perform together. “She brings out the best in her partner because she demands that.”
29:40 Matthew Bourne. Creating the iconic Swan. Bourne comment. “Adam’s very manly and he had a mystery about him.” Arm-driven choreography - Nijinsky.
33:40 The “gay” overlay - “The Swan is asexual - it’s a creature, not a man.” New partnering angles.
35:23 Becoming a legend. Success and fame. Sadler’s Wells, West End, Los Angeles, Broadway. "Most eligible bachelor". Being painted for National Portrait Gallery. Working double shifts - Bourne’s Swan Lake and Royal Ballet. Injury.
39:49 Male dancers breaking out at RB. Return to Royal Ballet for Cranko’s Onegin just after wife Sarah resigned. “It was a really awkward time. But we are able to separate our personal and professional lives.” Feeling constricted by Onegin's traditionalism - “I never went back to classical after that.”
45:38 The Bourne identity. Outsider in AMP. Feeling at home, then constricted again.
46:43 The Cooper identity. Singing, dancing, choreographing, acting. Liaisons Dangereuses as conceiver, performer, choreographer and director. Guys and Dolls at Donmar Warehouse with Patrick Swayze, first non-dancing identity.
52:17 Developing skills. Advice to students - take risks, don’t be afraid of being wrong.
53:42 Brother Simon - Rambert Dance for 20 years. Bruce's Cruel Garden. Bourne’s Swan Lake. Dancing together.
55:27 The importance of attitude - Leanne Benjamin comment. Attitude is the magic dust. Spurred on by teacher’s scepticism.
58:21 Lockdown - freelancer vulnerability. Delivery driving. Keeping focus. Not worrying about legacy, not watching the Swan Lake DVD. Finding time for performing. Directing and choreographing opera and musicals in Germany. “I was only in the Royal Ballet for seven years and the list of things I’ve done since then is incredible. I’ve been lucky.” Being brave.
Visuals credits:
Billy Elliot, extract (Universal 2000)
Photographs from Adam Cooper
Related links:
Vyne Theatre and Dance Academy, Berkhamsted. www.vynearts.co.uk
Ismene's site of 30 years of dance coverage. www.ismeneb.com
What an amazingly, intuitive interviewer, she really gets into the jist of the man, beautiful.
The end of Billy Elliot the leap that Adam Cooper performs takes my breath away what an amazing dancer one of my favourite movie moments of all time 3:58
Absolute legend.....Black Swan solo will NEVER be forgotten.....beyond words.
The end of the movie "Billy Elliot" always makes me cry.
Me too
Me too ❤
And get goose bumps.
Same
I do the silly laugh cry, too! Can’t help it. That music swells, tho
So this is who was in the last scene (one of my favorite) in "Billy Elliot" movie. Very interesting interview, thank you for uploading. And I like the interviewer, she did it very well.
One of the very best movie closes of all time. Always brings a tear to the eye.
What a lovely man inside and out. So humble, erudite, complimentary and appreciative of those who encourage and criticised him along his life's path. Hats off to Ismene Brown who knew when to let the man talk and not put words into his mouth. Most enjoyable. (Armchair You Tuber 73 in South Africa)
And very sexy...I know...
I remember the young Adam from Open classes in Covent Garden, and one evening at the Coliseum he went out of his way to greet me when I was feeling exhausted and unimportant. He always had a supportive attitude. I will never forget his black swan solo in Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.
I remember him from those open classes too!
I saw Adam many times in the theater and met him a few times. A nicer,sweeter man you will never meet
His performance is SL is one I’ll never forget. I literally couldn’t speak for about half an hour. It was the most stunning theatre/ballet I’ve ever seen.
I saw Swan Lake in London with Adam Cooper back in the day and the whole thing was the most marvellous magical thing I'd ever seen before or since. Everything about the production was absolutely superb - the set, the costumes, the choreography, the dancers and, of course, the music. Those who didn't see it missed a treat of a lifetime.
Billy said when he’s dancing, he’s like a bird, he’s flying. And he did.
Wonderful dancer. Interesting person. So happy I saw him do the Swan.
Thank you, creator of this channel, for uploading this video and also for a very good work (timeline, good quality of video). Please continue.
Utterly fascinating. Thank you. Robert, UK.
He has been the biggest figure in classical history I can watch him over and over and over and my feelings and emotions always grow higher every time
Das Ende der Szene ist auch meine Lieblingsszene,ich spüre alle Gefühle in jeder Pore,durch jede Ader und habe überall ein Schauer durch meinen Körper. Einfach, Magic! Dankeschön für diesen Film und aller Mitwirkenden,ihr habt eure Rolle perfekt dargestellt. Die Emotionen des Vaters wurden exzellent gespielt. Dafür gebührt euch eine Auszeichnung 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇
He's GORGEOUS!
Was such a great scene..he was such a pretty man.
58.20 where the interviewer talks about the effect of lock-down on the performing arts community is just chilling. One of my children was a singer in the same position and had to look around and think "what now?" also with a family to support. He's now working in IT and has not gone back to opera. Just how many freelancers had to step away from their chosen profession for which they had trained hard for so many years?
Yes, chilling. And then today’s hostility to performing arts careers. I hope young dance and music performers of talent will barge through these discouraging times, bringing audiences with them, possibly in new ways.
A fascinating and compelling interview.
Adam was amazing in Singin' in the rain. Great musical!
I have a granddaughter that entered live performances. At a tiny 4 feet 8 in. tall, she had more zill and passion than energy to support it. She would walk off stage at the end of a perveance, in perfect grace, just out of sight, and collapse. She would have to be physically revived. If anything in the performance had been off by seconds she wouldn't have made the curtain. She showed me what these performers endure to make it look easy.
I wish we have more
He's my friend's dad :-:
Is he this handsome in person?
yeah i guess@@blue3381
Beautiful, beautiful Adam 🎼🎶
Loved it ❤❤
This movie is phenomenal. Superb.
He is very handsome, a real man, a sexy man, and I love him so much...
Awesome.
Bravo !!
Magical dancer.
MUY EMOCINANTE!!!!!!!
Best part ever 😢
I love the time we used to talk every night...I'm in Spain and he in England...we need to stop our love because was impossible...this was about 3 years ago...but was incredible romantic...he used to sing for me about our impossible love...😢
? 😵💫
N'étant pas un angliciste chevronné, j'eusse aimé que cet entretien fût au moins sous-titré. Merci quand même.
Vous pouvez activer les paramètres de surtitre dans la fenêtre de visualisation CZcams et je suppose qu'ils seront par défaut dans votre langue maternelle.
@@balletlegendsinterviewed Merci, je l'ignorais, c'est très aimable.
u mADE englis