BBC Dancing in the Blitz How World War 2 Made British Ballet 720p HDTV x264 AAC mkv

David Bintley, director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, explores how the Second World War was the making of British ballet and how fundamental the years of hardship and adversity were in getting the British public to embrace ballet. Bintley shows how the then Sadler's Wells Ballet Company, led by Ninette de Valois and featuring a star-studded generation of British dancers and choreographers including Margot Fonteyn and Frederick Ashton, was forged during the Second World War.

It's the story of how de Valois and her small company of dancers took what was essentially a foreign art form and made it British despite the falling bombs, the rationing and the call-up. Plus, it is the story of how Britain, as a nation, fell in love with ballet.

Using rare and previously unseen footage and interviews with dance icons such as Dame Gillian Lynne and Dame Beryl Grey, Bintley shows how the Sadler's Wells Ballet company survived an encounter with Nazi forces in Holland, dancing whilst the bombs were falling in the Blitz, rationing and a punishing touring schedule to bring ballet to the British people as an antidote to the austerity the country faced to emerge postwar as The Royal Ballet.

Technical Spec
Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L4.1
Video Bitrate: CRF 19 (~2711Kbps)
Video Resolution: 1280x720
Video Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frame Rate: 25 FPS
Audio Codec: AAC-LC
Audio Bitrate: Q=0.47 VBR 48KHz (~128Kbps)
Audio Channels: 2
Run-Time: 59 mins
Number of Parts: 1
Part Size: 1.20 GB
Source: HDTV
Subtitles: Merged