After months of rehearsal and countless hours of preparation, I made my debut in the title role of Onegin on Thursday, June 24. It was a special time for me. My mom, dad, and grandmother had come all the way up from South Carolina to see me perform.

The night before the show I must have had only 3 hours of sleep. I have to say that I was more excited than nervous, but sleepless none the less. I had butterflies in my stomach all day until I finally put my costume and makeup on. I looked at myself in the mirror and all of my nerves went away. I was ready to get this show on the road!

The performance itself was a journey on its own. After finishing the first act (which I must say is the most grueling act for Onegin with it’s adagio solo and high flying “mirror” pas de deux), Principal Dancer Jiří Jelinek walked up to me, gave me a high five, and with his Slovak accent jokingly said, “All right man! Now you can enjoy the rest of the ballet.” And enjoy it I did. All the way up until the final curtain call.

When the curtain finally came down, I broke down with it, relieved and exhausted – emotionally and physically. I felt like I had climbed to the top of Mount Everest and won the Super Bowl all at the same time. It is a feeling that is very hard to explain. It was also such an honor to share my debut with Heather Ogden, my Tatiana, Bridgett Zehr, who played Olga, and Brett van Sickle, who was Lensky. I could not have done it without them!

McGee Maddox is a Second Soloist at The National Ballet of Canada.

[Photo by Sian Richards.]