Dancer's swansong: Star ballerina on heartache at the end of a career

Zenaida Yanowsky faces the dancer's worst nightmare - fighting back to fitness after surgery. But his struggle was not purely physical, a recognized ballerina also came to terms with the intense emotions that erupted by reaching the end of his professional career. Danceworks BBC Four: The Dying Swan follows him in the build-up for his last public show.

Zenaida Yanowsky in Invitation, 2016.

For many professional ballet dancers, their journey begins at an early age. So when Zenaida Yanowsky decides he wants to become a professional at the age of 14, his mother warns him that because of his age he faces upward wrestling. "He said, 'You have to work hard enough because it's a bit late'."

• As a dancer you spend most of your career polishing this very rough stone ... And then you throw it into the river and you go.
  Zenaida Yanowsky.

But Yanowsky worked hard and then became a prize-winning dancer. He joined the Royal Ballet in 1994 and rose through his ranks to become one of their Principals for 16 years, receiving award clutches along the way.

Despite his retirement in 2017, he is determined to recover from knee surgery and resign with his last iconic role. "I am thinking about my long-term future - not just as a dancer, but as a person, I want a mountain-climbing knee and can ride a bike, but for now, in the short term, I want a knee that can perform in a few months."

The show marked the end of a long process of continuous improvement for Yanowsky.

He said: "As a dancer, you spend most of your career polishing this very rough stone.You have this beautiful rock that blinks with a little light, then you throw it into the river and you go."

Zenaida Yanowsky starred Swan Lake as Odette along with Nehemiah Kish as Prince Siegfried, 2011.

Zenaida Yanowsky as Elizabeth, 2016.

Zenaida Yanowsky as The Chosen One at The Rite of Spring, 2013.

Yanowsky, who grew up in Spain, came from a family of dancers. Her parents are professional dancers, like her two siblings.

His mother, Carmen Robles, now runs a dance school in Gran Canaria. And that is the intimate support he is looking for in his battle to get back to the top of fitness, as he did before after the birth of his children.

Yanowsky said they quickly returned to the old pattern: "When I came back to him, I went back to the old stage - he was my teacher and I did whatever he said He still encouraged me to be better and I thought, 'Mum , I'm retired! '

That does not mean Carmen does not banggadengan many Yanowsky achievements. "He feels that I have exceeded his achievements and expectations, and parents want their son or daughter to stand on their shoulders and go further."

The decision to end a recognized career is a difficult one, Yanowsky admitted. "I think what I will miss is to interpret the lives of others, I will forever now be me, play me, and not get rest from me."

But he says the physical demands of professional dancers are harder to fulfill as you grow older. "It's hard enough to follow how you are in your thirties.This is a difficult time because you have more knowledge, but your body can not do how you want it anymore . "

• How to make it in a dance.

Eric Underwood, Zenaida Yanowsky, and Steven McRae outline the skills needed to succeed in dancing.

All three appear as soloists in the 2011 production of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.

Zenaida Yanowsky and Eric Underwood at DGV: Danse à grande vitesse, 2014.

How did Yanowsky come to the conclusion to retire? "For me it was not just one moment, it was a series of moments.There were times when, after the show, I was no longer fulfilled.The balance between my work and my personal life was not right and I did not enjoy one because the others were not in the place right.

"I am, on points, deeply concerned that I am not a good mother, that I am not present enough.I am very concerned in the future they will say, 'You never care, your work is always precedence'."

For Zenaida, there is only one dance option that can be likened to: "I think that's good enough to finish something called The Dying Swan.This is a very, very small part and for me it's like the end of a journey.

"This is a metaphor for death and the end of something very beautiful and subtle and trusting - it is an ideal end to one's career, whose career is to believe."

• The attraction of The Dying Swan.

Dancers continue to breathe new life into The Dying Swan into the 21st century, such as the 2016 show by Cira Robinson on the Thames Estuary:

This four-minute routine was originally created by the legendary Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.

Mikhail Fokine made the choreography of The Dying Swan in 1905 into a piece of music called Le Cygne by Saint-Saëns. It is said to have been inspired by Tennyson's poem by the same name and also by geese in Leningrad (now called Saint Petersburg).

It became Pavlova's signature for the rest of her life, with some estimates saying she performed a 4,000 times routine. One of the versions was taken on film in 1925.

According to legend, with his last words, Pavlova asked for his Dying Swan costume.