My guest today who was born into a family of dancers in the former Soviet Union. His career path seemed decided when he started his training at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. But the world around him changed dramatically and so did his goals for his career path. Find out how he managed to win…
Category: Podcast
“A lot of artists can prepare themselves, but sometimes they don’t” – Aruna Bataa
Today, I have the pleasure to introduce a performer who was born into a family of circus artists. She was born in Mongolia, and soon moved to Brazil together with her parents. Travelling up and down the country with a traditional circus, she started training and eventually performing alongside with…
“If you don’t like what you’re doing, then injury will happen.” – Toshiko Oiwa
From the busy streets of Tokio where she started her Ballet training, she moved to New York City to attend the Juilliard School. She went on to work for Twyla Tharp, Billy T Jones and French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj and always found time to pursue her own projects as well. Today she lives in a small beach town in
“Dancing gave me a good foundation for my job as a pilot” – Andrés Ferraz-Leite
Our guest today was trained as a classical ballet dancer up to the age of 19. Born in Uruguay he moved to Vienna, Austria with his parents as a young child. Encouraged by his father, he took up classical dance training at the Vienna State Opera ballet school. Fully immersed into the prospect of becoming…
“I just kind of knew, what I didn’t want to do” – Toni Meeks
From a local ballet company in her hometown El Paso, Texas, to the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm. Her start into the professional world of dance was rather unpredictable but successful. At school she enjoyed English literature and languages. And with her adventures spirit
“You can quite tomorrow but for today keep going” – Gérard Théorêt
Our guest today was born in a mining town in the North of Canada. He started his dance career rather late – but that didn’t stop him from going far. He worked as a soloist for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, as an actor and dance captain at the Stratford Festival, and as Associate Artistic Director for the Phantom of the Opera. For the Cirque du Soleil he…
My head was saying: “You can’t keep on dancing” – Mayumi Ganley
She joined the Tokyo Ballet in 1987 and became first soloist the year after. She continued her dance career in Europe – where she worked for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, The Peter Schaufuss Company and the Hannover Ballet. She continued her career offstage as a rehearsal assistant and as an Assistant to the Ballet Director for the…
“Ballet helped me a lot during the job interview” – Adina Beer
Today’s guest started ballet in her hometown of Berlin. It wasn’t so much her love for dance that opened that door but rather the recommendation of her pediatrician. She worked at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which eventually merged into the Staatsballett Berlin. Conscience about her professional evolution she went back to University to study…
“The odds were very small that I would make it after the surgery” – Irina Roncaglia
Our guest today was born and grew up in Italy. When she was 13 she left home, to continue her ballet training in France, determined to become a professional ballet dancer. She got her first contact with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and later moved to London to work with the English National Ballet as a soloist for nearly 15 years. Today she holds a PhD in Psychology…
“I remember that I was saying goodbye to a certain image” – Christophe Ridet
Our guest today was born and grew up in France. While at school, he was not passionate about competitive sports but he still had a desire to work out his body. Ballet classes seemed a better match for him…
