Life in the fast lane: Steven McRae

Steven McRae grew up in the world of motor racing but now he is one of the Royal Ballet’s brightest stars

 

By Jessica Duchen
The Independent
Saturday, 31 October 2009

 

Stranger phenomena may have graced the stage of the Royal Opera House than a balletic prince who takes his inspiration from motor racing, but maybe not many. Meet Steven McRae, the hot young star of the Royal Ballet who makes his debut tonight as Prince Florimund in The Sleeping Beauty. The son of an Australian drag racer, McRae, 23, has been thrilling Covent Garden balletomanes: blessed with a soaring, secure technique, flaming red hair and a disarming charm that fronts terrific drive, he is living balletic life in the fast lane. 

He started dancing aged seven. “My elder sister was a fantastic gymnast and dancer and I used to love watching her,” McRae says. “Then I said I’d like to have a go myself, so my mother took me to a class. She told me later that they thought I’d last a week.” The family lived in the western suburbs of Sydney, where arts were not a priority. “I would watch films – Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire – but we never went to the ballet. We were always at the racetrack instead. To me that was normal, to go to the track, watch Dad race and be surrounded by these incredible cars. I loved it.”

And so his role models, he says, were motor racers. “First, Shirley Muldowney: female racers at the time weren’t accepted, but she became world champion three times. Everyone tried to stop her, yet she wanted to achieve that goal; she kept going and eventually she did. Then John Force: he started with absolutely nothing, but he’s one of the biggest success stories in the sport. He wasn’t handed it on a silver platter. That was a huge inspiration.”

He’s ambitious, then? “Ambition is a wonderful thing,” he declares. “It’s a driving force behind you and it’s a powerful tool. It’s important to keep striving and having dreams and goals.” Growing up in Australia, everything was competitive, he adds. “There were always trophies to aim for in every field, and that competitiveness helps to set you up for all kinds of situations later.”

Images of Billy Elliot may spring to mind, but McRae encountered few problems with bullies as a boy wanting to dance. “When I started high school, a bunch of guys came up and said, ‘We hear you dance.’ I said, ‘I hear I’m not so bad. You should come and have a look sometime, you might like it.’ They never bothered me again. I think when people see a ballet rehearsal, class or performance, they realise there’s more to being a ballet dancer than the stereotypes. Throw anything at us, and we’re a lot fitter than the rest of the world! Besides, if you want to do something enough, then you’re going to do it. It doesn’t matter what people around you say.”

McRae feels he was lucky to have excellent teachers who encouraged him to aim for the top. And the top meant the Royal Ballet. “The whole dance world wants to come to London for the Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School.” It might have seemed an impossible dream at first, but after McRae won the Adeline Genée medal in 2002 and the Prix de Lausanne in 2003, doors swung open: aged 17, he won a coveted place at the Royal Ballet School.

Matters could easily have taken a different turn. Aged 14, McRae danced in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sydney in an extract of the hit show Tap Dogs. Soon after, he was invited to join the show in New York. He could certainly have become a star in musical theatre instead: on YouTube there is a clip of his dazzling James Bond tap solo in the Prix de Lausanne. “But I had already set my sights on the Royal Ballet goal,” he says. “It was a tough choice, but I’m glad I made that decision. Ballet has opened up a whole new world to me.”

 

McRae was promoted to principal dancer this summer. Having cut his teeth on smaller but technically glittering roles such as Bratfisch the coachman in Mayerling and the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, and having had roles choreographed for him by Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon, now he is also facing debut upon debut in the great classical leads. The company’s variety of repertoire is among its biggest attractions, he says; he has about seven roles on the go at any time. “You can be rehearsing everything from The Sleeping Beauty to a brand new work in next-door studios on the same day, and that’s terrifically exciting,” he says. “I’m keen to be as versatile as possible. It keeps you on your toes.”

After all that virtuosity, plus contemporary works that push him to the limit, what is it like to portray a classical prince? The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince Florimund is not only about elegance, McRae insists. “As a character he’s a bit lost, wondering where his life’s going; there’s more depth to him than people might think. That’s important to convey – it allows the audience to connect with the character. He has feelings as well, hasn’t he? That’s what I’ll be working for.” His Aurora is the Brazilian ballerina Roberta Marquez: “She’s beautiful!”

He has also been catapulted into an unexpected spotlight due to a colleague’s injury: in December he will star in The Nutcracker in a performance to be filmed for DVD, partnering Miyako Yoshida: “She’s an icon and it will be an honour to step on stage with her.” Next year he’ll be revisiting Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo, in which role his debut received huge acclaim: “I love dancing Romeo, a role in which you’re challenged within the character.”

And as that weren’t enough, he is taking an Open University degree in business management and leadership. “One day I’d love to be in the directorial side of dance,” he says. “The ballet world is always changing and evolving and I want to be part of that, so I’m doing this degree to back it up. And if you want to do something, you do it, don’t you?” If you are McRae, you certainly do.

 

Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited

The Flier

The Gravity-defying thrill of NYCB’s Daniel Ulbricht

 

By Harris Green
Dance Magazine
June 2008

 

Being short is no handicap for male dancers whose low centers of gravity can be a springboard to airborne virtuosity. Those possessing the artistry and technique to compensate for their stature include Vaslav Nijinsky, Edward Villella, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Herman Cornejo. Whether Daniel Ulbricht can join this distinguished honor roll remains to be seen, but New York City Ballet’s ballet master in chief Peter Martins has such faith in the dancer’s star power that he has created high-flying, technically demanding solos for him in his last three ballets. The decibel count during curtain calls always spikes when Ulbricht takes a solo bow.

Otherwise Ulbricht has failed to follow the usual ballet traditions. Yes, he did join his sister, Heidi, in ballet class when he was 11 years old, but before succumbing to that cliché, he had devoted five years to karate. “The Karate Kid and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made a big impression on me,” he recalls. “I begged my folks to sign me up. Because my teacher, Kathy Marlor, always stressed self-respect and discipline, I carried her lessons over into ballet.” Before he decided to concentrate on dance at age 13, he had earned a second-degree black belt, won two Florida championships in kata—variations on established forms—and found time for gymnastics. It took a knee injury to slow him down—for a while.

He felt fortunate in his ballet teachers, beginning with Leonard Holmes at Judith Lee Johnson’s Studio of Dance in St. Petersburg, Florida, his hometown. “Lenny wisely made me—the only guy—feel at ease by letting me take class in a baseball cap and baggy shorts and T-shirt,” he says. “I could do double tours and entrechats six from the start, but the barre bored me. He taught me how to harness my energy.” Holmes, who had studied at School of American Ballet, gave Ulbricht a foundation in Balanchine style. Private lessons with Javier Dubrocq from the Ballet Nacional de Cuba followed. Ulbricht stood a little over five feet at the time, but he continued to grow and is now about 5′8″. (Heidi’s short stature would eventually rule out a career in dance; she’s now married and has a degree in elementary education.)

Four years of summer study on scholarship at Chautauqua Summer Dance Program in upstate New York led to further Balanchine training under Patricia McBride, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and Violette Verdy (her likening a plié to melting ice cream remains with him to this day). “Soon teachers who were visiting Chautauqua were offering me gigs,” he says. His freelance career began at age 14 with four Nutcrackers: Miami, St. Petersburg, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh. Everyone was suggesting he study at SAB, so in the spring of 1998, he flew to New York with his father for three days.

During that visit, he sneaked into Peter Boal’s advanced men’s class. Boal, now artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet, says he spotted Ulbricht as a “trickster” but he was stunned by how advanced he already was: “I thought: What on earth can I teach this kid? Yet I found him open to any correction. He was a dream student.” SAB offered him a full scholarship, and Martins didn’t wait until he was an apprentice to cast him as the central jester in the last-act divertissements of his Sleeping Beauty. “I was dazzled by Daniel when I first saw him as a student at the school,” Martins says, “and my admiration only continues to grow.”

Ulbricht’s jester, with its brilliant à la seconde turns and uniformly high side-straddle hops, and his leader of the men’s regiment in Stars and Stripes at SAB’s spring 2000 workshop earned him a Dance Magazine “25 to Watch” in 2001. Former City Ballet principal Daniel Duell, who now runs The School of Ballet Chicago, was bowled over by Ulbricht in Stars, a role Duell had danced. “Everything Daniel did was unfailingly musical,” he says, “always on the center of the beat. And he regularly landed in soft plié—a perfect fifth.”

Casting after he joined NYCB’s corps in the 2002 winter season proved a feast-or-famine affair. One Saturday he made two major debuts: as the spunky Faun in the Fall section of Robbins’ The Four Seasons and that evening as the refined Gigue in Balanchine’s Mozartiana. “The Gigue is my hardest role,” he says. “Victor Castelli taught me I must always consider myself a delicate Dresden figurine, which was a stretch.” More often he was, say, a huntsman in Balanchine’s one-act version of Swan Lake. (“If you think it’s easy keeping a straight face wearing a feathered cap while standing between two swan girls, you try it some time.”) Opportunities were limited by his height and the difficulty of finding a regular partner. (His offstage partnership with principal Sterling Hyltin has cooled but they remain chums.)

Waiting his turn at repertoire occurs less often now that Martins is creating roles on him. As Mercutio, Ulbricht danced eight of the first 14 performances of the new Romeo + Juliet last year. He bristled with prankish virtuosity yet died with powerful simplicity. No one else has ever been assigned the midair twists yards above the stage in Friandises. Tiler Peck, his partner, remembers, “Danny would finish rehearsing some really demanding stuff with Peter and then have the energy left to partner me. I felt I could trust him completely.”

Not everyone appreciates the veneer of sunny showmanship in his performances. One reviewer said he looked like he was “auditioning for a Three Stooges routine” as the First Sailor in Robbins’ Fancy Free. “I know I enter the bar walking like Popeye,” Ulbricht says, “but that’s what Robbins wanted.” More newsworthy was his performance of the sailor’s solo with its sensational split landing after a double tour. No one else at NYCB or American Ballet Theatre really goes for it like Ulbricht. Most guys land on their heels, then slide to the floor, but he performs both actions so quickly he seems to have crash-landed on his crotch. “You have to do everything in a split second,” he says.

Now a principal at age 24, with the great Villella roles such as Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and “Rubies” within his reach, he’s concentrating on toning down the showmanship. Villella, for instance, smiled but Ulbricht grins. Fortunately, the grin flickered only fitfully during his first two performances of Prodigal Son last winter. What drove audiences to demand multiple curtain calls was the power of his soaring Prodigal leap, his spiky pirouette of rage, and his embodiment of defeat and degradation. (“You can’t use your legs when you drag yourself off; it’s done with your elbows and shoulders.”)

Tarantella, another Villella specialty, has become Ulbricht’s signature ballet. When City Ballet visited London last March, he impressed veteran critic Clement Crisp with “his exact phrasing and his engaging freshness, as if inventing on the very moment the delights he shows us.” Before rehearsals for the spring season began, he took it on freelance gigs to San Juan, St. Petersburg (Russia), and Dallas. “Tarantella is going to buy me my apartment.”

And his burgeoning side career as a teacher will furnish it. He was invited to conduct his first class three years ago at the New York State Summer School for the Arts in Saratoga, and became so involved he lost his voice. Now that Damian Woetzel has stepped down as head of NYSSSA, Ulbricht and City Ballet principal Jenifer Ringer will share its direction. Ever adept at networking, he has since taught at—and always been asked back by—Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, The Rock School, School of Ballet Chicago, and Indiana University.

The teenage boys in Ulbricht’s advanced men’s class at SAB, where he began teaching last winter, would be surprised to learn how their teacher regularly clowned around in company class. Now while he gives them a challenging barre, he prowls the classroom, singing the counts like a nursery rhyme while stressing the beat with finger snaps and open-palmed thwacks to his thighs that go off like pistol shots. Once, however, he did a barre wearing the head of a Nutcracker mouse. Inspired by the production manager’s backstage instructions to his stage crew (“Housewarmers cue—go”), Ulbricht would amuse—or annoy—nearby classmates by whispering, “Sous-sus cue—go!”

He tells students that thorough preparation conquers fear, and that the barre should be treated as a performance. Yet he can’t remain solemn for long.

“You’re introducing yourself every time you step onstage,” he says. “But if you stand like this”—the posture sags, the neck disappears, the shoulders grotesquely hunch up to the ears—“it’s like you’re saying”—in the squeaky voice of an adenoidal robot—“Hi, I’m Daniel.”

Then the posture straightens, the shoulders subside, the neck elegantly lengthens, and all caricature vanishes. In his normal light baritone, Ulbricht says, “Hello, I’m Daniel.” And now everyone grins.

 

© 2008 Macfadden Performing Arts Media LLC

Bolshoi Ballet Academy 7th Grade Character Dance Exam (video)

Posted to YouTube by Ilyaballet

 
Playlist (4 videos): Bolshoi Ballet Academy 7^th Grade Character Dance Exam

 

 

More videos

Bolshoi Ballet Academy Year 6 Pas de Deux Class (video)

Posted to YouTube by Ilyaballet

Year 6 students are 15-16 years old.

 

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev (videos)

More videos from Ilyaballet:

 

Playlist (22 videos): Mikhail Baryshnikov

 

 

Playlist (9 videos): Rudolf Nureev (or Nuriev, better known in the West as Rudolf Nureyev)

Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet Exams (Videos)

The Crew
Guest Contributors
August 26, 2009

 

We are five 10 year-old boys. We have known each other since preschool. Our parents call us “the Crew.” Boys and Ballet is our blog. You can read more about us here.

 

One of our favorite channels on YouTube is  ilyaballet.

Ilya is better known as Ilya Kuznetsov. He attended the Bolshoi Ballet Academy from 1984-1992. After graduating, he was a soloist for the Bolshoi Theatre (’92-’94) and the Moscow Classical Ballet (’94-’95).  In 1996 he was a finalist in the Nuriev Ballet Competition and the International Ballet Competition. Mr. Kuznetsov  was a principal soloist for the Imperial Russian Ballet (’95-’98) and the San Diego Ballet (’98-’02). He has been a classical ballet teacher at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy since 2002.

Mr. Kuznetsov has uploaded videos of student from Vaganova and a large number of shorts of current and former Russian dancers and teachers.

The Vaganova Ballet Academy videos are well worth watching. The boys demonstrate each level of the Vaganova syllabus through grade five (Grade 4 is currently unavailable. Perhaps Mr. Kuznetsov will upload it later).

 

Playlist (8 videos): Vaganova Ballet Academy Boys’ 1^st grade Academy of Russian Ballet Exams (10-11 year olds)

 

Playlist (5 Videos):Vaganova Ballet Academy Boys’ 2nd grade Academy of Russian Ballet Exams (11-12 year olds)

 

Playlist (8 videos): Vaganova Ballet Academy Boys’ 3rd grade Academy of Russian Ballet exams (12-13 year olds)

 

 

 Playlist (17 videos): Vaganova Ballet Academy Boys’ 5th grade  (14-15 year olds) 

 

Petit Rats de l’Opera

khir johari
Associated Content
January 21, 2009
 

 

The Ecole de Dance de l’ Opéra National de Paris is the place where it all begins for the Petit Rats girls and boys lucky enough to be chosen by the prestigious ballet school. Their lives are a day-to-day struggle. Mind over body. Body over mind. All that matters is the final perfected product. “I must be the best. I must be the better than everyone else.” One choreographed pose after another. The muscular manipulation. Every second  every day is dedicated to one ultimate goal; to become a Danseur Etoile (the most prestigious title a dancer can attain) and reach the giddy heights of stardom. Those who succeed find their own definition of glory. A glory that is drowned in the most elegant sweat imaginable. A path paved in psychical exhaustion and determination.

The Paris Opera Ballet School is the oldest school of dance in the western world; Louis XIV, the infamous Sun King, is linked to its creation. The school’s oldest known document dates from 1792 and tells about the 16 young girls and 14 young boys who made up the first ballet class. Few members of the original class were gifted enough to earn their desired dance diploma. It is due to the mediocrity of the original dancers that the term “little rat” (petits rat) was coined. Who are the Petits Rats? A document dating from 1863 explains; “The ‘rat’ is the pupil of the ballet school and it is perhaps because he is the child of the house, because he lives there, nibbles there chatters there because he scratches and wrecks the decor, damage and commits a score of naughty acts, secretly and by night that he has received this incredible name ‘rat’. The ‘rat’ is very young, badly; fed, dry and black like a little creature that warms itself at the smoke of the lamps.” Today ballet schoolchildren differ from their predecessors. The Paris Opera Ballet School has become a world immense talent and hard work. Claude Bessy. An ex-etoile, has been the director of the school since 1972 Claude convinced the Ministry Of culture to construct the school in Nanterre, a nearby Parisian suburb. The initial construction began in 1985 and the inauguration took place in 1987.

When Claude arrived at the school, she immediately developed a system where any student could benefit from a formal multi-disciplinary education. Apart from classical dance classes, student also had to study old dance, folkloric dance, modern and jazz dance, mime, music classes’ ear training as well as the history of dance. Ex solo dancers of the Paris Opera, teach all of these classes. Each teacher tries to transmit his or her love for dance to the students and give them a means of judging their talents and correcting their weaknesses. The students learn discipline and rigor. They are monitored and met with, routinely, to discuss their development. In the beginning of the 20th century, there were hardly any dance classes; an hour and a half of dance in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Between 1920 and 1958, Carlotta Zambelli helped the dance curriculum evolve. After world war 11, the school’s primary objective was to ensure an excellent general education for the school’s students. In 1963, a sixth grade class was created and then a seventh grade. The Ministry of Culture then allowed other high school classes to be created. Eventually, the baccalaureate (high school diploma) was added to curriculum.

These days, students follow normal schooling in the morning hour, from eight until noon, then from one until four they dance. At the end of the afternoon, the students have their history of dance, anatomy, music, and complementary dance classes. At the end of each scholastic year, a test decides which students continue onto the next year, which students must repeat a year and which students must leave the programmed. The selection process occurs progressively. There are many students in the first level of classes and fewer as the search for elite dancer narrows. There are only12 students in the last year of classes at the school. The school prefers teaching small numbers of students, as more time can be spent weeding out those who are not good enough early rather than later on, when the rejection becomes harder to except. It is the belief of the school that it is better to let someone down young than ruin an adolescent’s dream of a career in ballet. It is also harder for the older students to re-integrate themselves into a normal scholastic program after leaving the ballet school.

Today, the school receives state subsidies that help finance the ex-Etoile dancers who make up the staff. There are also classes available to outside students. If an outside student during a two-year period can prove that they have the necessary talent to become a professional dancer, the school will let them take an exam to enter into the Corps de Ballet. The director and instructors make these decisions.

Each year the students put on a show for parent and professional alike. Until 1977, the Petits Rats only performed occasionally on stage, in small roles, in the Palais Garnier Opera House. Today, there are many roles and entire performance help test the student’s progress. Most of the works performed were created specifically for the students.

 

 

The schools hundred students are chosen from girls aged from eight to 11½ years old, and boys [younger] than 13. All students must be French nationals, though foreigners are admitted if places go unfilled. The students are chosen through an entrance competition, and are re-evaluated at the end of each year. Teachers who are all ballet masters or maître de ballet teach these amazing children. The students who make it through the six challenging years get a certificate and are eligible to enter the exam competition, which allows them to officially enter the Paris Opera’s Corp de Ballet. Once in the crops, a new member must wait until another dancer retires from the stage to take their place. The new members are permitted to remain at the school until 18, and then they must fend for themselves.

These kids are lucky; they not only know what they love, but they are able to actively to pursue it every day of their young lives. Theirs is a life dedicated to hard work, they are pre-professional athletes; they have made an active choice to sacrifice all the freedom that youth provides to achieve what is almost an impossible dream. The road is long and hard. If these Petits Rats plan to make it, they are going to have to struggle with all the might that their perfect little bodies can conjure up and maybe, one day in the distant future, they will make it to the top.

 

 

Related articles: L’ecole de ballet, opera de paris(3)

                         The French Have a School For It

Interview with Darren Christian McIntyre

Focus Magazine, Australia
No author or date

 

 

After growing up on the Mid-North Coast dancer Darren Christian McIntyre is now a principal dancer with the Ajkun Ballet Theatre Company in New York. We catch up with Darren for a chat about his career.

 

> You grew up on the Mid-North Coast what do you remember most about the area?

I was born in Glen Innes, NSW in 1980 and my family moved to Port Macquarie in 1987. Growing up in Port Macquarie was truly memorable and a fate that I cherish.

Port is just such a beautiful, friendly city and through this vibrant community I was introduced to dance, the arts, and the opportunity to pursue them.

I still joke and laugh with my family and friends to this day, as I just couldn’t imagine it if my family had not moved. I would most likely be a farmer, which I admire a lot, but because I had the destiny to become a professional dancer, a dream I was fortunate to choose and realise, makes me the wealthiest man alive.

 

> How did you become interested in Ballet?

I think I was about 10yrs old when I went to see a ‘Christmas Revenue’ by Parry’s School of Dance at Settlement City. I was just in the clouds, I was like WOW, I want to do this glamorous life that looked like a Hollywood MGM Musical movie!

So I asked my parents and with their support, I enrolled in Jazz and Tap classes.

Then Glynn Ianno and Mrs. Parry (my dance teachers) asked me to join ballet classes, as they needed boys to help do pas de deux (partnering) classes. Eventually ballet just became an addiction and well, look at me now… How many people can say, “I have a healthy addiction!”.

Over my years of dance training in Port, I got to work with and appreciate many different teachers. I believe that Elizabeth Polson-Galloway and Andrea Glennon-Rowsell, were instrumental in building up my classical technique and artistic passion for ballet. The support and encouragement I received from all my teachers and the entire dance community in Port certainly prepared me for my journey ahead; being accepted into and studying in prestigious full-time dance institutions like Ecole Ballet Studios in Sydney (1996) and The Australian Ballet School in Melbourne (1997) from where I graduated, receiving my Advanced Diploma in Dance in 1999.

This foundation most certainly became an asset to my success in my career.

 

> When did you think that you would be able to make a living from Ballet?

I never really thought about it, I guess (or knew) that dancing was/is my passion, and I am fortunate to be able to make a living in something I love doing so much.

In the beginning I just couldn’t stop dancing as it was just so fulfilling, fun and I was good at it. By the time I even had a second to think about it becoming my career, I was performing with The Australian Ballet Company in “La Bayadere” and receiving my first paycheck. This is when I realised it was my job, as it never really felt like my occupation before (and still doesn’t.) Although it is a career full of hard work, sacrifices and dedication, I really enjoy every second of it. I strive to improve each day and my emotions explore and cascade to movement, my body knows no limit, not even the sky, and dance is my way to communicate to a diversity of cultures with no boundaries – it is a language interpreted and understood by all.

 

> Joining the Ajkun Ballet theatre company in New York in 2005 you were promoted from Soloist to Principal Dancer. What is it like being part of a major professional company?

Joining the Ajkun Ballet Theatre in 2002 was both an opportunity of a lifetime and a blessing. When I first joined the company I was so impressed by the level and commitment of their dancers and artistic staff. I was now performing and working with some of the worlds best in the field, I must admit that I was very nervous, but was just happy to be offered this opportunity. In 2005 after a performance of ‘Mozart, Epilogue of The Genius,’ choreography by Chiara Ajkun, where I was dancing the role of W.A. Mozart which had been created for me, I was promoted from Soloist Artist to Principal Artist; a dream that I had aspired since my journey began way back in Port Macquarie. I remember calling my family immediately as I got home, I treasure that moment of excitement, the adrenalin that was accomplished from years of hard work, and now I had finally reached the top and had the title that went with it.

Becoming a Principal Dancer at such a young age was very challenging and at times difficult to believe… being ranked as a soloist didn’t entail as much responsibility at being multi tasked as you require to be a Principal Artist, which is what I was about to experience and find out. Being a Principal Artist is kind of like you become the center of attention on every tour you go on. The hardest thing about that, is definitely that now it no longer only matters how I dance, it also matters how I dress, speak, communicate and the list goes on…

 

> You have had lead roles in productions such as: Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet and Swan lake to name a few, which has been your favorite character to perform?

I find every role to be portrayed a challenge and an innovative journey. For me being able to explore, feel and portray a character’s emotions is really an amazing sensation.

I was once told by my coach and dear friend, Chiara Ajkun, that any dancer can come out on stage and dance a role and fake it with good technique, but a real artist will become the character emotively, not fake it, and this is something you must be born with. This advice certainly inspired me to seek this bliss in my ability. I remember that I was dancing the role of “Romeo” in Romeo and Juliet, that Chiara had choreographed and coached me in, during the final Crypt scene pas de deux I had just swallowed the poison, but I remember having a black out when I was looking at Juliet awaken in my arms as I was dying. During the curtain call I couldn’t remember how we got to the end of the ballet.

Chiara came to me after the performance and said Darren; you were certainly born with it and walked away with a tear. I think to date my two favorite roles I have danced are “Romeo” (Romeo and Juliet) and “W.A. Mozart” (Mozart, Epilogue of The Genius, choreography by Chiara Ajkun).

 

> In 1999 you choreographed you’re own original ballet, “What May Come” in collaboration with the Anti – Cancer Council of Australia, is choreography something you would like to do more of?

“What May Come” was not a project I had planned or even thought about, it just happened. It was a way for me to deal and cope with the loss of my Grandmother. She had lost her battle to cancer, and we had been very close. I guess people cope with the passing on of loved ones differently. My only way at that time to communicate my sorrow and to deal with the empty feeling I had inside was to let it all out, and for some reason I started creating a ballet, which evolved into a 20 minute dance piece. Ms. Marilyn Rowe OBE (Director of The Australian Ballet School) took a strong interest in the piece and I was awarded The Dame Peggy Van Praagh Award for Choreography, and the piece was premiered at The Australian Ballet Centre on July 2nd, 1999. I wanted to contribute in the international fight against cancer by raising funds and awareness and so in collaboration with The Anti–Cancer Council of Australia the premiere of ‘What May Come’ became a benefit performance.

I still enjoy the art of choreography and although at this point in my career I am 100% focused on my dancing, I still choreograph here and there, which is certainly an avenue I will explore more when I am in the transition from being a performer to other career facets in the field.

 

> You have created the Marianne McIntyre Memorial International Ballet Scholarship, in memory of your mother which fosters young dancers education through grants to study locally and overseas, this sounds like a great event?

The Marianne McIntyre Memorial International Ballet Scholarship was established in 2001. I really wanted to contribute to and help assist young dancers to further their dance education, as over my early years in the industry as a professional dancer, I realised how important and valuable it was to have a solid foundation and an open door to be exposed to inspiring artists. I wanted to target especially those dancers who are not from the Big City (I.e. Sydney, Melbourne etc.) who may not have had the opportunities to pursue what they love. There is also an amazing level of undiscovered talent in the country and therefore I discussed with my Sister, Korrina Goodwin, and my whole Family on possible ideas to bring to Port Macquarie. Through my contacts I had made over the years in the industry an event that would offer firstly opportunities to young dancers to travel to experience major Dance Institutions worldwide to further their knowledge and dance education for a few weeks etc. And secondly to bring to Port Internationally acclaimed Artists to perform and adjudicate this event.

We established The MMM Scholarship Fund, which to this day (5 years later) offers $20, 000 worth of scholarships and grants to young dancers each year to enhance their dance education. Young dancers are offered the opportunity through the support of many major dance institutions to travel to New York City to experience The Ajkun Ballet Theatre; to three major institutions in Italy, Austria, New Zealand, The Australian Ballet School and other major Australian institutions. The support we managed to receive was just amazing. What I had originally planned to be a small competition in Port to help few dancers turned into one of Australia’s biggest ballet competitions receiving interest this year from many people overseas as well. The future of this event is certainly being discussed as the success that has been achieved from the scholarship fund now sees past recipients excelling all over the world in Companies and major dance institutions.

Over the past five years we have also brought to Port, with the support of the Hastings Council, several world renowned artists to adjudicate the event (Dr. Chiara Ajkun, Mr. Colin Peasley, Ms. Dani Brown, Ms. Rebecca Martin, and Ms. Sophie Northam), bringing a series of workshops, master classes and performances only offered and seen in major cities worldwide.

We had never intended for this event to have grown so big, attracting dancers to Port for the weekend long event from all over Australia, and it makes us proud and excited that we can help the youth of today to become the stars of tomorrow.

I am also thrilled that I am able to hold this event in Port, where it all started for me and I know that my mother would be honored and so happy to know that her inspiration and commitment to the young aspiring dance community still lives on…

Website Link – http://groups.msn.com/TheMarianneMcIntyreMemorialBalletScholarship

 

> You are a frequent guest teacher in Australia and overseas, do you have any free time to come home often?

I am a guest teacher, choreographer and performer annually at “Performing in New York”, The Ajkun Ballet Theatre International Trainee Program, The Dance in Italy Festival, and at various dance institutions worldwide for Workshops, master classes and summer intensive programs. I really enjoy working and investing time into young dancers as I believe that my career was asserted by people helping me, and so being able to contribute back now to helping these young aspiring dancers to fulfill their dreams is just a blessing. I really enjoy this mentoring role which is a major part of a Principal Dancer’s responsibility. Education and outreach is vital to the growth of our industry, but on the side of that it is so rewarding to help these dancers to become successful in whatever they desire to aim for. I enjoy watching them all grow into amazing individuals and artists.

My career and life as a principal artist certainly keeps me busy, and I do wish I had more time to spend at home in my vacation periods, but I guess that this is not always possible. On top of returning home once a year to hold the MMM Scholarship in Port, I also serve as the Australian and New Zealand Advocate for The AjkunBT Scholarship Fund and also hold the position of Assistant to The Artistic Directors of The Ajkun Ballet Theatre.

These roles require and enable me to tour around Australia auditioning, performing and guest teaching, and this year I will also be returning home for the first time in many years for a Aussie Christmas and New Year’s spending some quality time (vacation time) with my family and friends.

I am really looking forward to that, as when I normally come home it is generally a full schedule of work, but work that I love doing.

 

> In your career you have numerous awards including The Dame Peggy Van Praggh Award for Choreography, and distinguished by the American Guild of Music Association as an Artist of Extraordinary Ability, what do you wish to achieve in the future?

I have been fortunate in my career and I am overwhelmed that I have managed to achieve through much hard work many of my dreams that I only thought would ever remain dreams… It is just so hard to say what comes next as I always enjoy challenges and my dreams and the reality just keep getting bigger and better…

I am still very young and have much to achieve, I believe that I have only just started….

> Thank You for your time Darren.

 

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