David Bintley's Ballet Hoo! speech

A visibly emotional David Bintley, Artistic Director of BRB, took to the stage to address the auditorium following last night's performance of Romeo and Juliet. Here is what he said.

DAVID BINTLEY'S SPEECH

‘Two and a half years ago, we were invited to a meeting with Maverick [TV Production company], with Youth at Risk, and they tabled this extraordinary idea. This impossible dream. And we leapt at it. I have to say we leapt at it, the opportunity to do this kind of project, this massive kind of project, in our back yard, in Birmingham, among our community. And at the same time to dispel some of the myths about ballet. About it’s irrelevance today. About how it can mean nothing to young people, about how it’s elitist and just for the rich. The opportunity to do those two things was just irresistible. And two and a half years later, here we are. The impossible dream has just happened.

(Applause)

‘There are hundreds and hundreds, thousands of people who have been connected with this project. Each and every single one of them deserves to be named, to be singled out, and to be thanked. We’ve got as many as we can in the programme, but if I was to stand here and thank all of those people, all of the people from the local authorities, the politicians, the youth co-ordinators, the life coaches, the technical people, the administrative people, the administrative people, the dancers, the orchestra – we’d be here next Thursday.

‘But as Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet I have to say that I am so proud, I am so fiercely proud of the input that the Company has had. And at the apex of that titanic effort are two people that I just have to name. And those two people are Desmond and Marion.

(Applause)

‘You know, I watched these two guys, as I watched everybody in BRB, from the sidelines. I’ve seen their frustration. I’ve seen their anger, I’ve seen their rage, I’ve seen their resignation, I’ve seen their despair. I’ve also seen their excitement, I’ve seen their joy, I’ve seen their elation, I’ve seen their tears, because like everybody, this project has changed everybody’s lives; Ballet Hoo! has changed our lives.

(Applause)

‘But in the end, and I struggling to keep it together here, this project isn’t about any of the people that I’ve mentioned, this project is about these guys.

‘They’ve made an extraordinary journey over the past eighteen months, and some of them from unimaginable positions of departure, and they have danced Romeo and Juliet. I’d like to paraphrase one of the members of our cast here. His name is Andy, and he was Friar Lawrence tonight. And I’m going to paraphrase him. Tonight these people have shown you - they’ve shown us, and they’ve shown themselves, and in two weeks time they will show the nation - that they are not nobodies; they are somebodies.

(Applause)

‘Just one final thing: This evening would not have been possible if it had not been for this particular ballet, for this  masterpiece. The guy who came up with the idea is a guy called Will Tuckett, he’s a choreographer, and I know he is in the audience tonight, it was a brilliant idea. And we’re very, very grateful to Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s widow, Deborah MacMillan, for allowing us to do this great piece. Which has just made this project. It’s meant something, the narrative means something to these guys, they’re able to take it in, it… it just wouldn’t have been the same if it had been Swan Lake, would it?’

(Applause)

ENDS

Click here to read a full transcript of Lady MacMillan's speech from the evening.