Football (Soccer) Ballet
The Times: “High-kicking new life into beautiful game”
Think you’ve seen Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God”? Of course you have. But probably not as danced by a tiny ballerina in a short frilly tutu, raised high into the air by men in tights, slapping an imaginary ball into an imaginary net. To the strains of Nessun Dorma.
…
“You’ve got to be a highly polished athlete as a dancer and as a footballer. You need discipline, technique, teamwork and a few players of genius, and both careers are short,” Wayne Eagling, the artistic director of the English National Ballet, said.
Eagling’s company has created The Beautiful Game: A Football Ballet, a 15-minute work commissioned by The New Football Pools to showcase ten iconic moments as voted for by 20,000 visitors to the Pools’ website.
(Emphasis mine.)
The (understandably) England-centric moments reproduced in the ballet include:
(Sadly Fortunately, one of the most memorable moments in goalkeeping history has been snubbed also been featured. I refer not to England’s Gordon Banks denying Pele in the 1970 World Cup — the so-called greatest save of all time — but to Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita’s scorpion kick in 1995.)
Thanks to A for the link.
EDIT: fixed the above — the scorpion kick was, indeed, reproduced 
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What an amazing idea! How could the scorpion kick save not be in there? The hair alone makes it worth it.
Matt
2 Oct 08 at 3:23 am