Performance Memories

Given the amount of time I have on my hands at the moment, I thought it would be fun to share some of my favourite onstage moments and why they are special to me. I am someone who holds the pieces I have performed very close to my heart, and the memories of my time performing these roles are some of my happiest and proudest memories.

Concerto Barocco, November 2019.

Firstly I'll share some memories of dancing the Adage girl in Concerto Barocco. I remember when we first found out that Concerto would be part of our 2019 Graduation Season, I went and watched a video of it on YouTube and thought how amazing it would be to be in it. I was happy to dance any of the parts, as long as I got to do it onstage! Concerto Barocco is a 20 minute long ballet choreographed by George Balanchine. Those 20 minutes are intense, with the 8 corps de ballet girls never leaving the stage. In addition to these 8 girls, there are two soloist women, the Allegro girl, and the Adage girl. When dancing apart, their styles are quite different, yet they often come together to dance the same steps, sometimes in a canon, one after the other. The ballet is split up into 3 movements, with the first and third movements being upbeat and fast, whilst the second movement is slow and elegant. It is during the second movement that the single male dancer enters the stage, to begin a pas de deux with the Adage soloist. I won't forget how lucky I felt when I learnt that I was going to get to perform as the Adage girl in this ballet - I was just so grateful for the opportunity to tackle such a technical challenge. Dancing Concerto is thrilling, and nothing could beat that feeling when you had truly given it your all. Dancing this role onstage was the most in control I have felt whilst performing: I knew I was capable of doing it and I think that is why it is my favourite role I have danced as I just enjoyed every second of it.

After The Rain, November 2018.

I performed After The Rain at the end of my first year at the New Zealand School of Dance. We only had it staged for us two and a half weeks before the Graduation Season opened, which wasn't much time for me to process what a masterpiece it truly is (however I realise that now). Set to Arvo Part's Spiegel im Spiegel, this beautiful pas de deux by Christopher Wheeldon is all about the connection between the male and female dancers onstage. Looking back, I often wonder whether this opportunity was wasted on me as a first year student, a 17 year old who hadn't experienced too much and hadn't quite got her technique fully under control. Yet somehow I also realise that this pas de deux played a huge part in helping me realise what kind of artist I want to be, and that dancing it when I did opened the door for me to begin to explore what it meant to be an honest performer. I didn't feel as though I had to try and be artistic throughout this piece, but that the feelings came to me quite naturally as I felt so connected to the music and what it meant to me. To this day I still listen to the music often, it tells such a story but can be interpreted differently by each individual. If I am lucky enough to become a professional dancer, it would be a huge dream of mine to revisit this with more emotional maturity and life experience. This pas de deux holds a very special place in my heart.

Giselle's Solo, Act 1 - April 2019.

Part of me has a love/hate relationship with this variation, as I performed it many times between June 2017 and April 2019 and don't really want to do it again for a long time! However some of my favourite memories of my time at NZSD have come from when I performed this solo in different places. This variation is about a minute and a half long, and is Giselle's solo from Act 1 of the ballet. She is a bit shy, yet she has a great love for dancing, even though she has a weak heart. This is one of the few competition variations where artistry really plays a huge role in whether it is done well or not. In October 2018, I went to Auckland with two other boys to compete in a competition that the school had entered us in. I hadn't been onstage since December 2017, so felt a bit out of practise in terms of dealing with the bright lights and the slippery wooden floor at the theatre we competed at. Whilst I didn't do this solo 100% perfectly in the first round or the finals, the accomplishment I felt just enjoying myself and trying to let the artistry take over while I performed was what made it so memorable. I ended up winning a special award for Best Artistry at this competition, and that meant a lot to me at the time and boosted my confidence. I also performed this solo at the Alana Haines Awards in April 2019. It is a massive competition, with dancers coming from all over Australia and New Zealand to compete. I remember wishing everyday for weeks leading up to the competition to do well and to not let my teachers down. It was a great feeling to dance this solo onstage again and feel stronger than when I had last competed in October. I ended up making it to the semi finals, which was down to the top 13 dancers out of around 220 dancers in my age group. This was far beyond what I had hoped for, I remember being in shock when they announced me as a semi finalist. This was also when I received my scholarship to go to Canada's National Ballet School for four weeks, which also included my flights and accommodation paid for. Going to Canada was one of the greatest experiences I have had in my life, and so that is why I do secretly love Giselle and the doors it opened for me.