The Royal Ballet’s Rupert Pennefather talks to The Sunday Times

“The last pas de deux should be risked. There are a lot of throws and falls, so we agreed to take it to the maximum risk factor, to make it more exciting. At some points in rehearsal, our coach was at the edge of his seat. It's much more emotional at the end if you've been torn about inside.”

“There are certain ballets that get to you. I tend to slightly method-act them. I took the role home. I won't do that again with Mayerling, because I did go a little bit crazy. You spend so many hours in the studio, feeling these emotions, then you get back home and you're still feeling them. I was living on my own and there were times when I was in the bath, feeling like I was going crazy.

“Emotionally, technically and from a visual aspect, we look good together — we really want to dance together. Luckily, there are so many beautiful girls in this company, and everyone brings something new to bounce off. But if you've already developed a partnership with somebody, you can spend all of the rehearsal period looking into the role. With someone you've never touched before in your life, you spend two or three weeks getting used to her.”

“My ambition now is to make the roles as good as possible, and enjoy it more, and not be so stressed about it.”

via The Sunday Times

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.