I’d get cortisone injections and be on stage that night – Donald MacLeary
I created the leading role of the Young Man in the Fairy’s Kiss in 1960 so it felt quite nostalgic to see it performed by a different generation.
I don’t think ballet has changed a great deal since I was performing.
Today’s dancers, while incredibly skilled, don’t seem to have the speed we once had.
Ballet back then was fast, so I think we were better on stamina.
Teaching someone Romeo today, they find it really tough. So you can’t say training is any better now – it’s just as physical.
I don’t agree with anyone who says dancers today jump higher or kick higher than we did back then.
Dancing has always been tough and it takes a lot of rehearsing to succeed. We rehearsed six days a week for between six and eight hours.
If you were a principal you could finish at 1.30pm to have a rest then do, say, the four acts of Swan Lake in the evening and then be back in class the next morning at 10am.
I toured a lot when I was younger. In my teens, I did a 22-week tour doing eight shows a week and travelled on my Sunday off.
You’d rehearse three different ballets during the day.
My first big foreign tour was eight months in Australia when I performed Swan Lake with Lynn Seymour.
Back then if you had an injury you had to seek treatment and pay for it yourself.
I was very lucky that I had a naturally strong physique. When I had an injury I just danced with it.
I used to have cortisone injections in the morning and go on that night.
Finally, I had an operation on my Achilles tendon and when they opened my leg the ligament had crystalised and was trapped between the tendons. That was what was causing me so much pain. Luckily I was still dancing at 45. Dancers are much more protected now. In companies such as The Royal Ballet dancers have physiotherapists.
It’s as competitive as ever but now there are more companies to work with, so dancers have more opportunities.
I was very lucky that they asked me to stay on at the Opera House to coach other principals, including Darcey Bussell, and take care of Kenneth MacMillan’s repertoire.
I was with the company for 53 years and retired at 70 but I’ve been going back every now and again to help out.
The Fairy’s Kiss is a particularly difficult ballet to master and this version is very faithfully done.
This was 57 years ago and the choreography still proved a challenge for them so it just shows dancing was just as difficult in those days. Donald MacLeary, former ballet master with The Royal Ballet, performed the lead role in The Fairy’s Kiss. Now 80, he advised Scottish Ballet on their revival.