Immaculate Tapia |
Madrid (EFE) Satisfied to leave her legacy as director and choreographer at the English National Ballet with “Raymunda”.
She has succeeded as a dancer, her effort and dedication has been rewarded by dancing in the best theaters with excellent companies such as the Royal Ballet; she has combined dance with artistic direction and now, retired from the stage, she takes the reins of the San Francisco Ballet, opening a new path in her career as a choreographer.
A trajectory in which she rules out being a pioneer, although the truth is that there is no name in classical dance for a dancer who has become an artistic director and also a choreographer.
“When something interests me and I want to do it, I fight to achieve it, with work, dedication and study. Nothing has been easy, nor accidental. I am what I am by absolute determination ”, the Spanish dancer affirms in an interview with EFE.
2005 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, shared with the great Maya Plisetskaya, and Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (2002), Tamara Rojo (Montreal, 1974) assures that she has felt very well received in the company of San Francisco, the oldest in the United States, with 90 years of history, and for the first time run by a woman, after Helgi Tomasson held office for almost forty years.
“Tomasson did a great job, but the company was ready for a change. I just announced my first season where I want to build something new on the legacy of others,” he says.
A program that has included classics such as the “Nutcracker”, “Swan Lake” or “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and premieres such as “Marguerite and Armand”, along with two more new productions, all three choreographed by women. “A balance between innovation and tradition”, she stresses herself.
Tamara Rojo affirms that her position is a challenge “in itself”
She assures that she tries not to remember that she is the first woman to lead the company with so much history. “It is a challenge in itself, whatever gender you are. I try -she says between laughs- not to add that weight ”, although she acknowledges that she makes decisions that have to do with who she is, with the desire to tell stories about strong Latina women, in addition to working with others that she admires. and respect.
She transfers to her new direction what she has learned, “what I like best from the British or European tradition, but at the same time I try to build and create things that are relevant to the city and to today’s dancers of the San Francisco Ballet.”
He admits that what he really wants is for the 23/24 season to attract the entire audience: the traditionalist, the one who has been following the company for decades, but also an audience that has never been interested in dance.
Rojo is enthusiastic about a city that looks to the east “an artistic connection that interests me and I am very passionate about, but highly influenced by music, colors, even Latin flavors”, and that her husband, the dancer, has been discovering for her. Mexican Isaac Hernández, who after a few years of absence, is once again part of the San Francisco Ballet.
Last night at the Teatro Real the five performances -which have reached almost a full house- of “Raymonda”, by the composer Alexander Glazunov, with choreography by Marius Petipa and the libretto, Lidya Pashkova, which he has adapted and with which he has made his Debut as a choreographer. With this work, she has signed her goodbye to the English National Ballet, a company that has risen from the ashes after ten years in charge of it.
“Many of the traditional classical ballet roles are very passive. As a dancer I have often felt frustrated having to represent characters like “Sleeping Beauty” or the original version of Raymonda”, she points out.
A reason that has led her to be inspired by Florence Nightingale, “a revolutionary woman, closely linked to British history, who promoted nursing as we know it today, who is a victim of her circumstances, but who makes her own decisions”.
King Charles III awarded him the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in February 2016 for his contribution to dance, one more award in a long list.
“Such prestigious awards entail a lot of responsibility. It is very beautiful, especially for my parents who supported me and sacrificed so much, for so many years, so that I could achieve my dreams”, concludes Tamara Rojo.