When I was in grade 11 at the National Ballet School, Beverly Miller, our history of dance professor, showed the class a video of Lynn Seymour dancing Sir Frederick Ashton’s Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan. When it was over I sat in stunned silence at my desk. At a time in my life when two of my favorite ballerinas were Gelsey Kirkland and Natalia Makarova, Lynn Seymour was a revelation. Every inch a ballerina but also believable as a real woman who drew you into the exalted mystery of her dance.

Now 25 years later, I walked into the National Ballet’s studio where Lynn Seymour, one of the greatest dance actresses of all time, would teach me those steps in rehearsal for my final performance with The National Ballet of Canada before my retirement this June.

When I saw her I let out a little gasp. I am a dancer but also a student of dance and she is a towering figure in its history. The dance takes place with the piano on stage and she was directing Ernie Abugov, our stage manager as he and Ed Connell, the pianist, pushed the piano from one side of the studio to the other. She was much smaller than I had imagined and in fantastic shape. She sat Ed and myself down and pulled two books about Isadora Duncan out of a plastic bag. She gave the books to me to gain inspiration from and then she spoke a bit about Isadora and her fearless break with the conventions of dance during her day. She was just as bold in her personal life with her disdain for marriage, her scandalous views on birth control and passionate advocacy on behalf of her own genius!

We worked for two hours a day for the next seven days. It was the hardest I had worked since the birth of my son Henry last July and I was in real pain around the fifth day but it felt so glorious. As Lynn kept saying the ballet may seem very free and feminine but it is in fact a very “meaty” and muscular work. She explained how expressive the torso and shoulders must be to dance Ashton. It was evocative of Glen Tetley’s work and its unrelenting physicality. Lynn was always saying that if I was doing anything I had danced before it was wrong. That it should all feel completely strange and original.

She was a font of knowledge and wisdom. She told me about Ashton, about how much he loved the glamour of being a famous and revered choeographer but also how disciplined he was. Apparently he would map out his dances on paper similar to an architect. It reminded me very much of Balanchine – the unstinting craftsmanship he always spoke about.

On the third day Lynn taught me the famous petal dance. The image of the dancer walking toward the audience with her arms outstretched strewing petals in her path is one of the most beautiful in dance. As she demonstrated it to me I found it impossible to concentrate on learning the steps. It was an extraordinary moment for me to witness - she still moved as beautifully as any dancer on the stage today and her unique alchemy of musicality and physicality was undiminished by time. She kept saying “do you want me to do it beside you again?” and I kept saying “yes please.” It reminded me of how hard it had been to learn the Preghira or prayer from Balanchine’s Mozartiana from Suzanne Farrell many years ago. I became a starry-eyed audience member in my own rehearsal.

Originally Ashton had had Lynn exit after the 4th solo where she would gather the petals in her hands for the final dance while in the wings. After Ashton’s death Margot Fonteyn told Lynn she felt that he had made a mistake having her exit. She suggested that it would be more theatrical to stay on stage and gather the petals from a bowl placed under the piano. This then gave Lynn a beautiful arc to trace as she walked to center up stage to start her final dance.

After I had learned the ballet and we had started run throughs Lynn was very insistent about how important the pauses were between the dances. She sensed that I didn’t want to be indulgent but assured me the audience found them very interesting. She asked me if I had ever seen Rudolf [Nureyev] give a curtain call. To her his bows were an expression of his appreciation for the audience - it wasn’t about him she said, it was about them. I had never thought of that before. What a wonderful perspective.

On the last day of our week of rehearsals I was preparing to do my final run-through for her. We had been discussing musicality a lot. Although in the first dance she had stressed how important it was to be exactly on the music and perfectly in sync with Ed, in the final dance she wanted it to be freer, more spontaneous. She spoke about Alfred Brendel and how he makes notes become music. She said it was not about the individual steps but their inspiration, the moments between the steps and the surge of movement, the urgency, the dynamic vitality of dance. It sounded very much like an artistic credo. I am profoundly lucky to have worked with such an amazing artist.

[Photos: Jennifer Fournier in rehearsal with Lynn Seymour by Bruce Zinger]

I feel very lucky to have had backstage access to photograph the dancers from the wings. It really is a documentary photographer’s dream to have this kind of behind the scenes access and ‘fly on the wall’ perspective. Many of my favorite images that I have taken for the ballet have been captured in this place and will be on display as of May 1^st, 2008 in my exhibit Turning Pointe: Photographs of the Artists of The National Ballet of Canada.

There is an excited calm that permeates the air backstage and the last time I shot there I was struck by how very quiet it was. It seems that each person that plays a part back there is extremely aware and respectful of one another’s space and their individual duties to be performed. It’s a specialized and memorable environment, focused and precise with a controlled buzz of energy.

I was amazed by something that I observed on my last shoot in the wings; what seemed like mere minutes before the curtain went up, I saw dancers marking their steps on the stage, some of them still in their warm up gear. I remember thinking they better hurry up!… but also how professional and prepared they were because the next thing you know, there they are, out in front of the audience performing the real thing!

In terms of photography, lighting can be pretty tricky back there at times. When I am on one side of the wings shooting directly across the stage toward the other side, there are often huge spotlights staring right back at me. However, when a dancer or two obstructs these lights, I often really like the effect; silhouettes, blasted out white light and blackness. Personally, I think that the drama and intensity of the light adds to the overall atmosphere of the shot and I have always appreciated photographs that display this kind of loose and edgy imperfection. I’m the kind of photographer who loves to capture what’s real and natural.

Shooting backstage is an addictive environment for a photographer because, much like the dancer, it’s a place for me to perform with my camera and no two shoots are ever the same. Of course, and as always, I can’t wait to do it all again to see what beauty I can capture the next time.

[Photos: From top to bottom, Juri Hiraoka, Andreea Olteanu and Brett van Sickle by Sian Richards]

Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Shanghai. The reason? A fashion show celebrating the 80^th anniversary of the Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo. My partner, Italian ballet star Roberto Bolle, is the representative for Ferragamo, so he asked me to dance something with him on the runway of the fashion show. Of course I was thrilled not only to be a part of such an exciting event, but also to get to go to mainland China for the first time.

They spared no expense and built a huge structure on the river Bund specially for the event, complete with red carpet, a nightclub for the after party, go-go dancers and fireworks. They flew in DJ Coleman from New York and celebrities like Christina Ricci showed up to see the new collection. Roberto started off the show, walking the runway in a gorgeous Ferragamo tuxedo which led into our pas de deux that was created for this occasion. I must say, it’s quite bizarre to dance on a catwalk. We also closed the show performing Jirí Kylían’s Petit Mort on the stage they built for us. In Italy, it’s not unusual for dance to be a part of all kinds of events and even though the audience was not strictly a ballet crowd, they LOVED it. Word was that we even eclipsed the fashions… Well, I don’t know about that, but I do think it was a welcome addition to the show.

After all the cocktail parties, dinners and the fashion show, I finally got a chance to see a bit of Shanghai. I only had half a day to explore so I booked a private tour to take me to some of the most important sites. What a phenomenal city; beautiful old traditional Chinese houses and new European style buildings right next to each other. And the shopping!! One could do some serious damage. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time.

I feel so lucky to have had such a fantastic experience and to have met so many wonderful people. I hope to visit it again someday with my future husband, First Soloist Etienne Lavigne.

[Photos: Top, the catwalk for the Ferragamo show in Shanghai. Above, Greta Hodgkinson and Roberto Bolle. Photos courtesy of Wallpaper* magazine]

I think one of the best aspects of the job of dancer is definitely the bonus
of getting to travel. I’ve been especially fortunate in the last couple of
years because I’ve had the privilege to be invited by many different dance
companies as a Guest Dancer. I’ve visited many places: Italy, England,
Argentina, United States, Spain, South Africa, Japan and Germany.
This time I was invited to dance Swan Lake in beautiful Milan at Teatro alla
Scala. I have been here couple of times so it’s nice to see familiar faces. Even though I don’t really speak Italian, everyone is so friendly that I’ve managed to make good friends. I guess it comes in handy that dance is a universal language. It’s kind of interesting that wherever you go, whatever country you’re in, if you step into a ballet studio you feel like you speak the same language.

So I arrived at Teatro alla Scala and once again had to learn another version of Swan Lake. Luckily they’re all quite similar. After two days of rehearsals, it
was announced that Roberto Bolle (their star dancer) is having to cancel his
three performances due to a foot injury. They asked me to fill in for those
performances and I gladly accepted. I get to dance with a Russian superstar from the Bolshoi Ballet. Her name is Svetlana Zakharova. I’ve seen her on video many times but this will be the first I dance with her. I have my first rehearsal with her on Sunday and I’m actually both excited and nervous.

There are so many wonderful things about being in Italy. It’s quite
refreshing to see how people like to move at their own pace and appreciate
the little pleasures of life. Food, wine and gelato… The company of Teatro alla
Scala is amazing and they have beautiful dancers. I saw them perform
another program last week and it was breathtaking. They attract a lot of
very talented people from the dance community. This week, a choreographer
that I’ve always idealized, Roland Petit, is here to work with the company
and I will be able to watch some rehearsals. I’m really excited about that.
I’ve always wanted to meet him. There are also some wonderful guest teachers
that are truly inspiring to work with.

Traveling is not always easy but I think it makes you grow a lot as a
person and an artist. It’s good to push yourself beyond your limits. I’m
here for another month and then I head to London to work with the English
National Ballet for another three weeks. I’ll be doing a new creation with them
for the Royal Albert Hall in June. I miss Heather [Ogden] a lot but they say that
distance makes the heart grow fonder. I think that’s true.

[Photo: Guillaume Côté and Marta Romagna of Teatro alla Scala in The Sleeping Beauty by Marco Brescia]

Ballet orchestras are composed of remarkable unsung (and unseen) heroes. The music of ballet repertoire is varied and often difficult. The orchestra provides just the right rhythm and drives emotions in an art form that communicates stories without words. In turn, we are inspired and amazed by what dancers can do, how they bring music to visual life and how they are able to elongate our phrases when the sound disappears.

This past March, The National Ballet of Canada Orchestra presented pre-ballet “talks” in the form of eight concerts. The first set of concerts featured a String Orchestra and the second featured Principal Wind Players.

In deciding what to play for the first set of concerts with the String Orchestra, there were a number of challenges, primarily, how do you program a concert that would not only feature the musicians but also tie into the ballet performance? David Briskin, our Music Director and Principal Conductor, told me “these are your concerts, so come with something engaging.”

We went through a number of possibilities and then I recalled members of the Orchestra recording a composition by the multi-talented Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté. I asked Guillaume if he would write a piece for the Orchestra and in two months he provided a composition, White Light, inspired by a painting by fellow Principal Dancer, Zdenek Konvalina.

David then persuaded renowned New York composer Richard Einhorn to expand his much-performed double-string quartet composition, The Silence, for the NBoC Orchestra. David invited Richard to come to Toronto for the rehearsals and be present for the world premiere.

With the programming in place, the final challenge was how to fit an orchestra into the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. The solution to the seating challenge was found in Richard Einhorn’s piece. He wrote the piece for double orchestra so I suggested we seat the orchestra separately with each group facing the other (and I write the following with the utmost respect) like a sideways stereophonic hamburger. Seating them apart would allow us to highlight the effect of a conversation between two orchestras. Zdenek’s painting that inspired White Light was placed up front beside our Concert Master Fujiko Imajishi.

It was great fun coming out of the pit to play for all of you. In a rare reversal of roles, we hope that we, The National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, helped you imagine and “see” the movement in the music of Guillaume Côté and Richard Einhorn.

[Photo: Guillaume Côté and Zdenek Konvalina with members of the Orchestra by Sian Richards]