Yuhui Choe on what it takes to get to Cinderella’s ball
Korean dancer Yuhui Choe is currently playing Cinderella on the stage of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
I try to speak the emotion from my body — the theatre is very big so I want everyone to sense what I’m saying.”
She talked to today’s Times about her performance days.
EVENING
It is important to eat before I go on stage at 7.30pm, and I’ll usually have chicken with pasta or rice. If there is time I take a nap, before starting my hair and make-up routine. I don’t have a good luck ritual, I just try to stay positive.
When I’m on stage I feel incredible. I love what I do but sometimes I get nervous being in front of more than 2,000 people because things can go wrong — the set doesn’t work or the music’s too quick, anything can happen. I fell over once in front of thousands of people. You just have to get up and pretend it didn’t happen.
Because of the lighting I need a lot of make-up to be seen, so much that people don’t recognise me when I take it off! In the show I have three outfit changes. The costumes are beautiful ballroom dresses. I don’t like wearing new ballet shoes, but I get through about four or five pairs every month. Every shoe is different, they all have their own character — some are wonky, some are frayed, so I have to choose carefully. To make them soft I bang them on the concrete floor of the changing room before the show starts.”
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
