Me and Gaby Baars working on just simply walking in the ball. It’s actually quite difficult!!

Just a quick post to let you know what les Ballets de Monte-Carlo is up to! This past Sunday I was fortunate enough to re-work La Belle on our first tour this season in Bucharest, Romania. Like every ballet you revisit, there is a chance raise the level since the last performance. Quite honestly, it was really tough starting the season with such a hard ballet. It takes a bit to get fully back into shape, so by the next time we do La Belle I will have better stamina and shape, and raising the bar will not be so tough! La Belle is really one of the hardest ballets I have ever done - It’s right up there with Swan Lake. Nevertheless, I felt pretty good going into it by the time the day of the show came around, and was SO relieved and grateful to be able to get through it. At the heart of it though, I still have so much to work on. As I explained in my last post about La Belle, by the time third act rolls around, there are only three people carrying the ballet, and this is the major chunk of that I have to work on. Keeping the audience engaged for a full act and just three dancers is not an easy task. I have to be able to show different levels in my dancing, and I have a tendency to keep things square in terms of musicality and choreographic phrasing. I think every dancer does this in order to try be at ease in a piece, but that is the very thing I need to get away from. Otherwise, I will never advance. And what’s the point of repeating something if you’re just trying to make it easier for yourself? Pushing boundaries is what dance is about for me lately, and I am so happy to have this chance. It’s good to be back!!!