I have always been in love with good narrative ballets. Luckily, growing up in Toronto I was exposed to ballets like Macmillan’s Manon, Ashton’s A Month in the Country, James Kudelka’s sumptious Nutcracker and of course, Cranko’s Onegin. Later, the Kirov Academy opened my eyes to the beauty and thrill that dramatic russian classics like Bayadere or Raymonda have to offer. Recently, of course being in Stuttgart I have become familiar with most of the great Cranko ballets and have also become one of the greatest admirers of someone like John Neumeier’s method of storytelling.

I often come across characters that I would love to play. Some, of course, are men from the most well known literature, others are very obscure and may be from a short story written recently. A character I dreamed of playing for a long time was Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I loved the idea that there was so much going on with him… Confusion and indifference that I couldn’t help imagining playing if I ever got the chance. Incredibly, this particular opportunity came sooner than I thought when Kevin O’Day cast his first full-length story ballet earlier this year. I went into the summer holidays knowing that I would have the chance to play this dark character but had no idea how it would come to fruition for it’s October premiere.

Working with Kevin O’Day was a truly absorbing process. He is the current artistic director of the experimental and very successful company in Mannheim, Germany and grew up in ABT and with Twyla Tharp. It was when he was a member of the White Oak Dance Project that his aptitude for choreography was noticed by interested directors which lead him to Europe. I was really impressed by the way he could come up with a solid frame for a solo or pas de deux in just a few minutes in the studio. The anatmony of the ballet just sort of developed before our eyes in a very short time. We are accustomed to working at a fast pace but often one feels like one’s head is going to explode from the amount of steps that are crammed into a phrase. It wasn’t like this with Kevin. It was so simple and organic that the with his efforts and our work the piece almost seemed to grow on it’s own. It was also new for me to work with someone who was not heavily influenced by the european greats of the last half century i.e. Kylian, Van Manen, Bejart. His route to Stuttgart was a different one by way of Tudor, Robbins and Tharp.

with Katja Wünsche as Ophelia in Kevin O’Day’s HAMLET.

It was the storytelling journey that I was most eager to embark upon though and the experience with Kevin also proved special in that respect. He cast me as Hamlet along with another Canadian, Jason Reilly, who performed the premiere of the ballet. Jason and I are very different in our style and approach when it comes to … pretty much everything. It didn’t take long to realize that this was all part of Kevin’s plan. He gave us both steps at the same time and became engrossed as we both did our own thing with the choreography. I was so impressed that he gave us this freedom from the outset rather than just creating on one person. Since Hamlet is central for the whole piece it gave eager audiences a chance to see two virtually different ballets if they came to see both casts! On nights when Jason played Hamlet I played the role of Laertes which was a different challenge altogether! It was the first time I have ever been able to play both a character AND his foil in a story ballet which was a wonderful task. While Hamlet is melancholy and reflective, Laertes is passionate and fast-acting. Also, my goal portraying Hamlet was for me to be onstage the whole time but still hopefully give the audience the feeling that there was more behind my movement left to be imagined by the beholder whereas with Laertes I wanted to totally reveal the extent of my zealous nature with the little stage-time that I had. (Laertes spends most of the play away in Paris only to come back and find his sister Ophelia has been killed.) BUT there was another task at hand on the mechanical side of playing Hamlet and his foil : the fact that the two men end up in a violent, bloody sword combat at the ballet’s finish. After giving my debut as Hamlet, I found myself on the other side of the quarrel just a few hours later when we had our second show of the day with a different cast. I really did have to be careful that I didn’t re-write Shakespeare by doing any accidental stabbing. Seriously.

as Laertes with Alicia Amatrian as Ophelia / as Hamlet in Kevin O’Day’s HAMLET. (Stuttgart Ballet)

It’s always a truly inspiring experience being involved in the creative process. The group of Hamlet shows are over for now (with more in February) BUT have interestingly enough afforded me a brand NEW opportunity to play a well known character AND his foil(whom I have already played) coming up soon! An exciting challenge that I couldn’t be more thrilled about….more on that soon.

and now it’s off to JAPAN!…