A ballet that conveys a powerful message to young people to “be yourself”, while making a dig at social media in a story about superficial beauty, has inspired one of the UK’s most famous dancers to perform on the big screen.
Dame Darcey Bussell, a former principal of the Royal Ballet, will dance in a new film based on the classic ballet Coppelia because, she said, it will “resonate” with young people who face intense pressures to change their looks in the pursuit of happiness.
She told the Observer: “Dance is a great tool to touch on a difficult subject and make it easier to accept and easier to understand.”
In the original story, Dr Coppelius is an eccentric toymaker who dreams of bringing his mechanical dolls to life. In the reimagined story, a young woman must save her sweetheart from having his heart used by the charismatic but sinister cosmetic surgeon Doctor Coppelius to bring life to Coppelia, the perfect robot-woman he has created. The lure of superficial beauty poisons a town until its people realise that it has never been more important to be yourself.
