(Thanks to Marc of TenduTV, for sharing this article with me this morning!)

Clearly, this time, ballet dancers are both artists and athletes.

Wearing football shirts and tutus, dancers in The Beautiful Game, a new work by the English National Ballet (ENB), recreate ten of the most memorable moments in football history (that’s “soccer” to you American readers).

A Football Ballet

The Beautiful Game –A Football Ballet premieres on Tuesday, September 16 in Liverpool. As The Guardian reported today, the New Football Pools commissioned the ballet to celebrate its 85th anniversary. The experience of working together has shown both dancers and football players a thing or two about one another’s work.

Jenna Lee, The Beautiful Game’s choreographer, said, ”They both require so much strength, flexibility, coordination,” when The Guardian ’s Helen Pidd asked whether ballet or football is more “technically difficult.” “I’d say they’re sort of on par with each other, really.”

When Pidd asked the same question of footballer John Barnes, he replied quickly, “Ballet.” He added, “There is no right or wrong way of playing football…people can dribble differently, they can do whatever they want. Whereas with ballet, you have to be not only technically proficient, but you have to do it in a particular way.”

High Points

The Beautiful Game recaps events like Diego Maradona’s infamous “Hand of God” goal in the 1986 World 

Cup, and David Beckham’s free kick against Greece in 2001, which sent England’s national team to the World Cup finals. As the dancers recreate these moment, a screen behind the stage plays footage the actual event. The end result cleverly combines media, art, and sport, allowing any audience member to appreciate the ballet’s theme.

High Points

As dancers replay some of football’s most poignant moments, The Beautiful Game becomes not only an archive of sports history, but also a tool for contemporary cultural connection. Putting ballet dancers in football gear, and putting football on a ballet stage, makes for an inclusive and disarming work. It’s a ballet for people who are, or are not, ballet-goers.

Photo Source: The Guardian