Laurretta Summerscales sits next to me on a snug loveseat in her dressing room, curled up under a pink shawl. The English National Ballet principal has just completed the second show in a series of gala performances in Singapore. Performing five shows in 3 days while dealing with jetlag left most of the performers fairly tuckered out by the end, but even though she had just stepped off the stage 15 minutes ago, Laurretta still sparked with energy, a warm…
The instagram video of Ashley Bouder performing multiple pirouettes while 6 months pregnant may seem extraordinary to us mortals, but it’s par for the course for her. Ashley is known for her quick-footed and explosive dancing ability, and sometimes her falls – affectionately known as the ‘Bouder falls’ – because it’s impossible to defy gravity so spectacularly without taking a tumble once in a while. Her high-octane onstage persona is just as much a reflection of what she’s like offstage:…
Gillian Murphy is an icon of American ballet. A principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater for more than a dozen years, she and her then-boyfriend (now husband) Ethan Stiefel were considered ballet’s golden couple when they danced together and Gillian is, in her own right, supremely accomplished – a slew of accolades are a testament to this, as are the glowing reviews for her various performances. Her potrayal of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake is considered particularly special, so much so…
It’s strange to hear someone describe themselves as old when they’re just a smidge over 30, but Marijn Rademaker does so, matter-of-factly and without a hint of irony in his voice. It’s true, in a manner of speaking. While no one would seriously consider a person to be old at 33 years of age, ballet, like every other highly athletic occupation, is progressively unkinder on one’s body as the years go by. Not that anyone would think Marijn’s age is any limit on…
Keenan Kampa is the coolest. Watch a video of her dancing onstage, and she radiates the loveliness of a classically-trained dancer. All effort and hard work is hidden beneath a veneer of calmness and grace honed from years of ballet training, and refined in the notoriously exacting Vaganova Academy in Russia. Offstage, she exudes another sort of coolness – an effortless, off-the-moment chicness of someone who marches to the beat of her own drum. One only need to look at her breadth of…
Partway through my interview with English National Ballet’s Jeanette Kakareka, we got sidetracked with a conversation about the latest season Survivor (verdict: not so great, but addictive nonetheless) and the difficulties of foam rollers (#foamrollerproblems). If anything, that should tell you something about her personality: friendly, down-to-earth and easy to talk to. She also has a great sense of humour, occasionally documenting the lighter side of life with the ENB with series of instagram snaps entitled Dead Jem, which feature her friend and fellow…
Part 2 of my interview with Carling Talcott, in which a professional ballet dancer and an adult ballet beginner discuss eating disorders and recovery.…
Carling Talcott and I come from very different worlds. She’s an American living in Denmark, and I’m a Singaporean living in, well, Singapore. She’s a professional ballet dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, while I’m an adult ballet beginner who totters off to class once a week. But there are a couple of things we have in common, like a love of pizza and burgers, and being able to find humour in the mundane and the things we love, such…