What is your favourite ballet and why?
The ballet closest to my heart is Giselle. It is filled with powerful emotions. There is a lot of drama in it – love and despair. Although the story ends tragically, it is true love. Albrecht, who does not know how to deal with his feelings, and the wounded Giselle, who dies of despair because of her weak heart. However, this love lasts even after death. In the second act, Giselle, now a ghost, saves Albrecht from the Wilis – the ghosts of girls whose hearts have been broken. I think this ballet is the one I identify with the most. I would like to dance it one day and give the main character my own interpretation.
How do you feel when you go on stage?
I feel euphoria the most. Then there is no room for stress. That’s when I feel most alive as a dancer. When you go on stage, that’s when life really comes into you and you become extremely sensitive, sensitive to everything around you. You absorb the present moment with your whole being.
When you are on stage, what would you like to convey to the audience?
I don’t think about it, I think more about what my role is and who I am in ballet. For example, when dancing classical ballet, you have to be extremely focused, you simply have to strip yourself of your own character and embody the given role for dancing or acting on stage, and you have to devote yourself entirely to it. But if I think about what I would like to convey to the audience… I would like them to forget about their everyday lives for a moment and immerse themselves in a dream, in the world of the land presented, where they can forget about their sadness and worries.
You mentioned getting into character. What does that look like? How do you prepare for it?
Most often, rehearsals for a specific dance or a specific part of a ballet begin at least two weeks before the performance. However, dancers prefer to prepare better and have more time. Two weeks is the minimum. However, a few days, maybe even a few hours, are enough for the role itself. You have to think about how you want to present the role and who you really want to be in it. Do you want to be a good character or a bad one? What do you want people to remember from this performance?
Does this role stay with you after the performances?
Yes, it stays, but it’s kind of dormant. Usually, it’s still unpolished. It’s very easy to come back to it later, because you already know what to do. But it’s a constant search for what the role still needs. What was too much and what was too little. The point is to balance the character and come up with your own interpretation. To create the character from your own imagination. This process takes many years. Some dancers are still not ready for certain roles.
So it’s about presenting the role in the best possible light, but at the same time ensuring that there is a part of you in it?
Yes, that role is most interesting when all the elements of classical dance are retained and the character of the individual is added.
Who was a particular inspiration for you on your journey to becoming a dancer?
Leonid Sarafanov was my greatest inspiration. At that time, I didn’t really know what ballet was, and that was crucial. That’s why he was my biggest idol at the time. I didn’t know that there was someone else who enjoyed dancing as much as I did. He showed me that on stage. You could see from the expression on his face that it gave him enormous joy. I was very happy then that not only I, but also someone else enjoyed it so much – such unbridled joy. At that moment, I felt that we were very similar and I felt a special artistic connection with him.
While studying ballet, you started living independently at an early age. What were the biggest challenges for you at that time? I am referring to your departure for ballet school in Munich at the age of sixteen.
There were many challenges, but in reality, I set most of them for myself, because life was not a problem when I was dancing. Going to the ballet school that guided me was like going to a second family. It was something completely natural. We were all like one big family there. I didn’t feel like anything was missing. There was harmony, everything was as it should be. I really liked the fact that I had dance right next to me, really, really close. I lived in the building where the ballet studio was located, and the second ballet hall was in the building next door. In a way, you could say that I felt even better than at home, because there was so much dancing there that I didn’t really miss anything. I was perfecting what I loved and I knew that this was what I would do in life.
What are you most grateful for at this time?
I am grateful for the number of serious productions we danced on the big stage at Bayerichestads Ballet, or when we went on tour to Toronto, Canada, with a beautiful repertoire. I am most grateful for the people around me who knew how to guide me. They were there for me when I took my first steps on stage. And then, being on stage was so obvious to me. They planted that seed in me. And that is why I am very grateful that this breakthrough was not so stressful and sudden.
If you had to go through that period again, would you change anything?
Not really. Sometimes I wonder how my life would have turned out if I had been somewhere else at a different time, if I had chosen something else. But I am very grateful for the people who surrounded me. It was really important that these decisions were made with people who had already achieved something in life.
You are currently dancing in London with the Royal Ballet. Can you tell us what a day in the life of a dancer in such a theatre and such a company looks like?
A dancer’s day begins with a daily lesson from 10:30 to 11:45. At 12:00, rehearsals for performances begin. Then there is a break for lunch, followed by more rehearsals and a performance in the evening.
So theatre is like a second home for a dancer…
The former, really. We don’t really have time for anything because we are constantly striving for perfection, and it is unattainable. We start the day with a warm-up, then we usually have two or three hours of rehearsals. Then there is a break for lunch, followed by rehearsals for another production or ballet. We finish rehearsals at 5 p.m. and start preparing for the performance, so there is no break for anything. You have to eat something, you have to rest when you have a moment, prepare yourself properly, for example, put special tape on your feet so that they hurt less when you dance or to support your muscles. At full speed, you return to the dressing room and apply your make-up – your new face – and become the character you are to play or dance today. We enter the stage at around 7:15 p.m. – the red light goes out, so you can enter the stage – the performance starts at 7:30 p.m. If it is a full ballet with two twenty-minute intervals, the whole thing lasts three hours, so we finish at 10:30 p.m. After removing your make-up and hanging your costume on a hanger, you return to who you really are. You start taking care of your body right after the performance. You put ice packs on your ankles, prepare a protein shake and electrolytes, because you know that tomorrow is another day and you have to get up in the morning and do the same thing, exactly the same thing. Regeneration immediately after the performance is very important.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement so far?
Perseverance – mine.
You are a dancer, but also a choreographer. How do you create your choreographies, where do you draw your inspiration from?
Usually from nature. From nature, or something not entirely clear, from topics that are not fully explained or known. I really like space and the galaxy. It inspires me, precisely this cosmic immensity. When it comes to the idea of choreography, I don’t like to present the audience with a “ready-made cake with the ingredients written on it”. I don’t like it when everything is explained. I like it when others don’t fully understand what I’m creating, because then it’s more interesting. I’m a big fan of abstract art. I force the viewer to come to something on their own.
Is choreography more about self-fulfilment or a desire to convey something to the world?
It is simply a form of communication and reflection on what is happening in the world at a given moment. Choreography is not my primary focus either. By nature, I am a dancer who is simply very creative, so the vast amount of knowledge that I already possess is somehow reflected and returns in other forms, which I can then convey by creating my own style.
Do you have any other interests?
Music. It inspires me to create. Music compels me to express it, and that is why I dance, because I want it to be not only heard, but also seen. I want to show music to people. That is why I do not recognise creations that are made without music, or where the music is alienated from the dance. It makes no sense to me, because dance is born through music.
What is the most valuable thing in your life? What do you value most in life?
What I value most in life is when a person finds themselves in the place they were meant to be. Everything then begins to feel very natural. I also value when people are able to recognise authenticity in a person – authenticity in the art they are involved in.
What do you value most about yourself?
I value passion and authenticity in myself. Even though I play certain roles, I never really act. Even in roles that I am not naturally suited for and that seem to have been thrust upon me, I have to find myself. From that moment on, the role is mine and I can do whatever I want with it until it becomes real, alive and danced or played as if I were born with that character, as if I were made for it. I never act, I try to be real in whatever I am, whatever I do. This applies to every role. It is up to you whether the role is big or small.
What do you dream about?
I dream of becoming the principal dancer in a prestigious ballet company. To be able to fulfil myself in dance roles that have been inside me since childhood. I would very much like to embody them and show the world my interpretation of these characters. I would also like to show my love for dance and ballet through these interpretations. To transport the audience, together with the plot of each ballet, into the world of the stories being performed.
