But i obviously grew up watching him pursue a passion. My sister did a lot of gymnastics, a bit of dancing, and as a sevenyearold, i asked my father if i could have a go. I wanted to go to a dance lesson, and my mother and father didn t even question any of it bearing in mind we didn t go to the theatre, we didn t go to galleries, or. . . I was not exposed to the arts. But they found a local school around the corner, and we now can fully appreciate that little local school had some of the best teachers you could ever come across. And you had this very rapid rise through your teens. You performed at the opening ceremony of the sydney olympics, and then you started to win international ballet competitions. The first teachers i had unleashed this tiger within me. So, then it was when i was about 13 or 14, which again shows you just how incredible my first teachers were, that they felt they d taken me so far, and it was time to hand me on they introduced me to my teacher in sydney, hilar
Steven mcrae, welcome to hardtalk. We re here at the royal ballet and opera in london, which has been your professional home for many years now, and you re about to go back on stage as the mad hatter in alice s adventures in wonderland. Tell me first how this adventure began for you, the world of ballet. Because you grew up far away from here. Yes. So i grew up in the outskirts of sydney, australia. Probably the furthest you could possibly get from the royal opera house here in london. I grew up in a motorsport family. My father was a drag racer. My father was an incredibly clever man who would create any parts with his own bare hands that he couldn t afford to purchase or to import. But i obviously grew up watching him pursue a passion. My sister did a lot of gymnastics, a bit of dancing, and as a seven year old, i asked my father if i could have a go. I wanted to go to a dance lesson, and my mother and father didn t even question any of it. Bearing in mind we didn t go to the theatre
An extra hour in school for some pupils in wales as heads try out changes to the Academic Year. The Winter Olympics torch relay kicks off in beijing as chinas capital gears up for the games. Good morning. Quite a lot of Cloud Producing Light Rain in the north and east. Not as windy as it has been but it is still going to be mild. Details later in the programme. Good morning. Its wednesday, the 2nd of february. The government will today set out its long delayed Manifesto Plan to level up the lives of millions of people across the uk. The proposals include a series of pledges to improve education, Public Transport and housing in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Labour have dismissed the project as more slogans and strategies. Our Political Correspondent Jessica Parker reports. We are a government committed to levelling up. It is absolutely what levelling up is all about. What were doing is levelling up. Level up across the whole of the uk. Ministers have talked about
An extra hour in school for some pupils in wales as heads try out changes to the Academic Year. The Winter Olympics torch relay kicks off in beijing as chinas capital gears up for the games. Good morning. Quite a lot of Cloud Producing Light Rain in the north and east. Not as windy as it has been but it is still going to be mild. Details later in the programme. Good morning. Its wednesday, the 2nd of february. The government will today set out its long delayed Manifesto Plan to level up the lives of millions of people across the uk. The proposals include a series of pledges to improve education, Public Transport and housing in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Labour have dismissed the project as more slogans and strategies. Our Political Correspondent Jessica Parker reports. We are a government committed to levelling up. It is absolutely what levelling up is all about. What were doing is levelling up. Level up across the whole of the uk. Ministers have talked about
An extra hour in school for some pupils in wales as heads try out changes to the Academic Year. The Winter Olympics torch relay kicks off in beijing as chinas capital gears up for the games. Good morning. Quite a lot of Cloud Producing Light Rain in the north and east. Not as windy as it has been but it is still going to be mild. Details later in the programme. Good morning. Its wednesday, the 2nd of february. The government will today set out its long delayed Manifesto Plan to level up the lives of millions of people across the uk. The proposals include a series of pledges to improve education, Public Transport and housing in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Labour have dismissed the project as more slogans and strategies. Our Political Correspondent Jessica Parker reports. We are a government committed to levelling up. It is absolutely what levelling up is all about. What were doing is levelling up. Level up across the whole of the uk. Ministers have talked about