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Argentine dancer Marianela Nuñez is considered one of the greatest ballerinas in the world. As she celebrates 20 years of dancing with the Royal Ballet - and prepares to perform not one, but two, roles in a new production of the classic ballet, La Bayadère - she shares what it means to be a leading dancer in today’s world by letting Beaty Rubens into the studio with her.

We join Marianela as she attends specially designed Pilates classes and studio rehearsals with the leading Russian dancer who partners her, Vadim Muntagirov, as well as the great Russian ballerina, Natalia Makarov. There are glimpses of Marianela at home in her native San Martin, a suburb of Buenos Aires, and Beaty discovers what impact a lifetime of dancing at this level has on the feet – leaving Marianela in her dressing room after opening night with her feet in a bucket of ice, and surrounded by bouquets of pink roses.

Produced and Presented by Beaty Rubens

(Photo: Argentine dancer Marianela Nuñez. Credit: Bill Cooper/ROH)