When you dance, what elements of your own do you try and bring to a role?
With the artistic side of dance, I am always getting into a little bit of trouble because as a dancer I am quite opinionated and I do like to offer my own interpretation of things. For me everything comes down to the music, and how I feel about the music will determine how I want to respond. A lot of what I do comes from what I observe in people in normal life. It might even come down to the way people walk, or how they are when they are emotional. I am always doing research because I am always observing people. It is that process and how I go about interpreting the music.
Of course if I am given directions, or given certain ideas about a role, I will do my research, I will work on those ideas, the directions of how a character might be portrayed. I will also talk to the other dancers I am working with to see how they feel things should be interpreted. But as I said I do like to offer my own interpretation regarding each role.
Do you create your own work?
I do a lot of choreography, and that means that I am always thinking about how to portray themes and ideas. I create work which is often about how I see things in my brain. I have created work on Chaos Theory, on the evolution of life, and on White Noise; quite obscure topics in many ways.
I don’t want to create work which is really black and white, or is just pretty. I want to work in that area where things are a little obscure. I don’t want the audience to have it too easy. I want the audience to have to think about things in the work. I would rather the audience has to think about the piece. That is what enthuses me as a dancer.
Would it be reasonable to say that your work would be part of a reinvigoration of ballet?
We wouldn’t want to say that the old style of ballet is dying, but ballet is definitely moving forward with the times. Lots of different approaches and styles are coming in. It isn’t just Sleeping Beauty or The Nutcracker any longer. I like the orientation that lets more imaginative approaches emerge.
Ruairdhri Maguire (a local ballet dancer) is a good example of someone who is doing different things with his choreography. He is adding in new ideas, new movements and timings, thinking outside the box. And there are many choreographers who are bringing new ideas to ballet. It is wonderful to see these changes taking place.
In our youth company, Arles Youth Ballet Company, there are a number of new pieces, they last for around 20 minutes and they have incredible timings, and the movements are interesting as well. It really is amazing work and wonderful choreography.
Is your aim to end up being a choreographer?
I have thought about that and I have considered that I should dance for around ten years, have my ballet career, and then look at moving into choreography. I don’t want anything I do to become stale. I don’t want to lose my passion.
I am meeting a lot of choreographers at the moment and I look at what they are doing and I am learning from them and hopefully I am developing my own approach and my own style. Eventually I want to produce my own work and get that produced by ballet companies.
What about fitness. That seems to be something that is vital to being a ballet performer?
Right now I am working so much, 6 days a week, rehearsing all the hours we can manage, I can’t even go to the gym at the moment. I tend to strike a balance between the gym and Pilates. I use Pilates for inner strength, injury prevention, and I work with weights. I work out like bodybuilders do, only with much lighter weights. So, yes, fitness is essential.
Where to now?
As I said, I am dancing with the Arles Youth Ballet Company and it is incredible. I think this is one of the best companies around at the moment. We do really challenging pieces and we learn a lot of work, we have learned 3 full ballets in the last 3-4 weeks, so it is very intense. It is a wonderful opportunity and I really feel that it is a period of transition before I move to a major company.
