From Milan to Paris: ten-year-old Nathan is off to the Paris Opéra
I love dancing because it makes me feel good. Actually, it makes me feel grown up.
That’s how Nathan, ten years old, explains his passion for ballet – with the kind of simplicity that comes from already knowing, at his age, that the body can be its own language. Until recently, he was a pupil at Milan’s Casati primary school. This September, he’ll walk through a very different set of doors: those of the École de Danse de l’Opéra national de Paris.
It’s the destination of a journey built on training, schoolwork, and no small amount of sacrifice – one that started when Nathan left home at just nine years old to begin training away from his family.
A Special Case
Nathan’s mother, Katerina Indrova, originally from the Czech Republic and now based in Milan, tells his story: “He’s a bit of a special case. At six and a half, he did his first audition for the preparatory course at the Ballet School of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala. Why ballet? I used to watch him jumping, dancing, always moving – so we thought we’d try classical dance.”
Nathan wasn’t at all convinced at first. “He kept telling me, ‘that’s a girls’ thing,'” Katerina laughs. But after two years in La Scala’s junior course, mother and son decided to change direction – even while recognising what the Academy had given him. “It was our choice,” Katerina explains. “The training was excellent, but we felt it was time for Nathan to follow a different path. We found a private teacher who came to the house once a week.”
The Audition
The turning point came when Katerina came across the Paris Opéra’s selection process for children aged eight to eleven. “We sent in two photographs, so they could see his physique and technique. Then they called us to Paris for the auditions.”
Two days of trials followed. “There were 50 children. They chose 26 in the first round, then 13, then six. Nathan was one of them.”
Getting into the Opéra also meant a serious logistical and financial undertaking. “I’m a single mother,” Katerina says. To help cover the cost of housing and living in Paris, she launched a GoFundMe campaign.
Looking Ahead
Nathan talks about his future with the same disarming simplicity he uses to describe his love of dance. “It’s really beautiful, dancing,” he says, after a short pause. “It makes me feel good, it makes me feel grown up.” He’s well aware of what lies ahead, though: “You need a lot of precision, and you have to train hard.” The offer from Paris came after months of waiting. “It was a stressful time,” he admits, “but now I’m happy. It mattered a lot to me.” The language barrier doesn’t worry him – he’s already spent six months living in the French capital, and he’s working to improve his conversation.
What comes next is still unwritten, but a dream that began when he was barely more than a toddler now feels close enough to touch. “At the start I wasn’t sure about any of it,” he says. “But now I know I want to become a professional dancer. I want it with all my heart.”
This piece draws on original reporting by Andrea Bocchini for Corriere della Sera.
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.
