Report of an
interview of Deirdre Chapman by David
Bain
Swedenborg Hall, London
11 April 2007
Deirdre was born in Minneapolis and trained
there with Minnesota Dance Theatre, which
subsequently became Ballet Arts Minnesota.
Her mother has run a dance school for
35 years, and Deirdre thinks she remembers
sitting in the studio on blanket before
she could walk. She does remember sitting
under the artistic director’s chair
watching Nutcracker rehearsals and wanting
to be involved. The Company, when she
was a child, did both contemporary and
classical work, including some Tetley
work. Deirdre’s training was classical
and modern from a very young age. She
used to go away in the summers for 5-6
weeks to ballet summer programs, and beginning
at age 13 went to both San Francisco and
Houston, finally moving out to San Francisco
and joining the Company (San Francisco
Ballet) at 18.
Growing up, Deirdre went to normal school
and did all the usual things – “choir,
biology, calculus” – and would
go to dance classes in the afternoon from
3.30 until about 7.00pm. It was a long
day as in the States high school starts
at 7.00am. She applied to university before
joining San Francisco Ballet, as she was
still not completely sure she wanted to
be a professional dancer. Throughout,
Deirdre couldn’t imagine dance not
being part of life, and it would have
been a bigger decision for it not to be,
rather than the other way round. Generally
the company did not take dancers who had
not finished their high school education.
The dance/university decision was made
for her as she was given an apprenticeship
with the company shortly after graduating
from high school.
San Francisco Ballet is still one of the
best companies in the States and it has
a very interesting repertoire. It is a
classical company but with a large variety
of mixed repertoire. There are approximately
75 dancers. In San Francisco, unlike the
ballet and opera season in London, the
opera does half the year and the ballet
does half. The season begins in December
with The Nutcracker, and then there are
approximately seven different programmes
until the end of May. The Company will
then sometimes tour, as well as having
a brief autumn tour. During the long autumn
rehearsal period, the Company will usually
have three to four new ballets choreographed.
To name only a few, Deirdre has worked
with Mark Morris, Stanton Welch, David
Bintley – some of the most dynamic
choreographers of this recent generation.
The Company only recently expanded its
classical repertoire to include ballets
such as Don Q, and Giselle, after Deirdre
had moved to London. Because of Helgi
Tomasson‘s history, the Balanchine
and Robbins repertoire has always held
a place of prominence. Deirdre’s
first appearance with the Company was
in the annual free performance done outdoors
at Stern Grove. They danced Ballo de la
Regina, a Balanchine ballet. Her first
memorable performance as an apprentice,
was being a chicken in La Fille mal Garde.
Mark Morris is one of the first choreographers
she remembered working with as a young
dancer. The repertoire at SFB was varied
and exciting, and during the six and a
half years she was a member of the company
she danced a huge variety of rep including
Taylor, Petipa, Tomasson, Morris, Bintley,
Canaparoli, as well as many others. In
1995, 14 different companies from all
over the world came to perform in San
Francisco for two weeks. Christopher Bruce’s
company Rambert Dance Company was a part
of the festival. Afterwards, Helgi brought
Christopher Bruce back to set a piece
on the company. It was an eye-opener.
“Occasionally you encounter a choreographer
in which their work seems to come naturally.
As if they were always choreographing
on you, or that your body seems to understand
before the steps are even created.”
The SF Opera House was closed for a period
while she was in the company, and as a
result did work that was designed for
smaller houses, some more dramatic and
contemporary, including Christopher Bruce’s.
It was after this period she was promoted
to soloist, and then took the decision
to leave the company in order to do more
dramatically orientated and contemporary
work with Rambert Dance Company in London.
The biggest change in moving to London
was that San Francisco is relatively small,
though incredibly beautiful environment.
It was a shock coming to London because
of the scale and overall grit of the city.
Half the Company smoked, and entering
the Green Room at Rambert was like being
in a balloon of smoke. The Company toured
the regions for weeks, and while Deirdre
got to know the UK quickly it took a little
while to get grips with London.
When she joined Rambert, Christopher Bruce
had already been director for three to
four years. The Company had changed from
the previous director, but Christopher
had assembled a group of dancers who he
felt could tackle the variety of repertoire
being thrown at them.
The first thing that Deirdre remembers
about being with the Company is going
on tour to South Korea, two weeks after
joining. The rest of the company had just
come back from seven week tour in the
States and South America. She spent her
first few days in the company rehearsing
with one other woman and the rehearsal
director to be slotted into the gaps left
due to injuries and illness. They did
Paul Taylor’s Airs, a duet from
Christopher Bruce’s Stream, and
a piece by Ohad Naharin. The environment
in a small company is very different to
a place like the Royal Ballet, as in a
smaller company everyone is generally
on every night. Being out on tour for
weeks at a time does not leave a lot of
space for a social circle outside the
company, and a lot of time was spent with
other members of the company. In contrast,
while the Royal Ballet does hundreds of
performances, being based in London does
leave some space for family and friends
outside of the company.
Deirdre’s best experience with Rambert
was probably their six week, 75th Anniversary
tour to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
It was a truly enjoyable tour. It was
summer, beautiful, and an effort had been
made to allow time to enjoy each of the
cities the company was visiting. Probably
one of the most stressful periods with
the company was the re-opening of Sadler’s
Wells. Christopher Bruce had done a beautiful
ballet called 4Scenes, but the facilities
in the theatre were not all finished or
functioning. The company ended up rehearsing
in dust masks, and there was a haze hanging
in the air from the newly plastered walls.
The theatre ended up opening on time for
the first show, though an hour late, as
the fire marshall was still walking through
the theatre.
What sticks in her mind from that time?
Ghost Dances and Rooster were really wonderful
ballets to dance; Kylian’s Symphony
of Songs was a beautiful, a special piece
- and Pierrot Lunaire legendary. Christopher
had the ballet remounted for the 75th
anniversary of the company, and Glen Tetley
came for two weeks before the premier
and had the dancers run the ballet every
day – Deirdre wonders how she survived.
Tetley was a real mentor to Christopher
Bruce, so to have Tetley work with them
so intensely was amazing.
Deirdre did four years with Rambert. It
was at the end of this period, for various
reasons, when she became tired of being
in a small company. Her partner at the
time had a serious back injury and was
off for many months. The company had no
private health insurance, and all care
had to be done through the NHS. As she
was getting older, it was more of a priority
to be with an organisation which had health
care. She knew that Christopher Bruce
was also going to be leaving in the next
several months. Her partner stopped dancing
completely and she was not sure that she
wanted to be on tour for six months alone.
During this time, Ross Stretton was at
The Royal Ballet bringing in many new
ballets, some similar to Rambert’s
repertoire, so she thought why not try
The Royal Ballet? One of the teachers,
Betty Anderton, also taught Rambert; so
at the beginning of the year Deirdre mentioned
to Betty she wanted to do class with the
Royal. She didn’t know much about
the company environment, and hadn’t
been seriously dancing in pointe shoes
in a while. She wanted to check out the
atmosphere before getting into classical
ballet again. In the end, Ross offered
her a job with the company in the spring
of 2002, although due to contractual obligations
with Rambert she did not start until the
fall of 2002. Two weeks after she joined
the company, Ross resigned.
Deirdre had not been privy to the politics
and conflicts that were tearing the Company
apart during that period. Deirdre explained,
“One of the most important relationships
a dancer has is with the director. They
will see you as a particular sort of artist,
and ideally that is in tune with the type
of artist you see yourself. It is a hard
balance to find.” Not knowing Monica
Mason, Deirdre didn’t know whether
they would have any rapport. She wasn’t
alone; Ross had hired seven or eight people.
“All of them have been nice additions
- he had a very good eye.”
Deirdre’s first experience with
the Royal Ballet was a relatively contemporary
mixed bill. She was thrown into Gong by
Mark Morris, and Mats Ek’s Carmen.
Her next role was Mitzi Caspar in Mayerling.
It was her first Macmillan experience
and while she was only supposed to do
one show she ended up doing many more.
Though two weeks before opening, Monica
Mason still hadn’t seen her in the
role. A Masterclass down in the Linbury
was one of her only rehearsals, so it
was a good old baptism by fire.
Monica Mason definitely would have known
something about her history, but immediately
seemed to suss out the sort of character
and sort of dancer that Deirdre was. It
has been a pretty good relationship all
in all. Deirdre does much of Monica Mason’s
old repertoire, some extreme character
roles and some hard technical roles, and
a bit of everything in between. The variety
is good. If she were cast in only one
type of role, she would go crazy.
In doing the role of Webster in Ashton’s
Wedding Bouquet, Deirdre followed in both
Monica Mason and DeValois’ footsteps.
Although she is not sure she lived up
to DeValois’ Webster, who was fearsome
and crotchety and kept people in line;
it was a wonderful experience being coached
by Monica, who said she did it by just
imitating de Valois. Deirdre didn’t
think she could do a straight imitation
of Monica, but maybe by the next time
the ballet comes back. One of the most
difficult aspects of the coaching was
she was always being told to make her
feet look worse, as if Webster couldn’t
point her feet. The biggest compliment
about her interpretation was another dancer
saying, ‘what happened to your feet,
they looked terrible?’ One of the
most valuable things Monica does as a
director is to bring back people who have
done the role before. It is always exceptional
to hear the interpretation of a dancer
closer to the source of the work.
Another ballet Deirdre really enjoyed
was The Lesson. San Francisco Ballet had
done it when she was 19 or 20 and Deirdre
felt it was a real honour to be asked
to play the pianist in the ballet. It
is an amazing experience of intensity
on stage maintaining a character that
doesn’t actually do a lot of dancing.
The relationship between the pianist and
teacher is very twisted. She is subservient
to him superficially, but also really
in control. He fights against her but
in the end she allows the killings to
happen. “It is up to you to establish
the thought that there is something wrong
with her, that she is not quite right.”
It is also a very different ballet depending
on who the teacher is and how they play
it. The dynamic is not always the same.
She has had the fun of performing it with
several different casts, and each night
was very different.
Deirdre also danced The Hostess in Les
Biches, coached by Monica Mason. “It
is so over-the-top. I had an absolute
blast even though I did only one show.”
Bayadere was a challenge of a different
sort. She had only been in the Company
for one year when she did Gamzatti. “I
am nearly always cast in mean characters,
but there is something quite fabulous
about being evil on stage and Gamzatti
is a great character.” She is looking
forward to doing her again in the autumn.
Deirdre loved doing Myrthe, and she had
never done Giselle until she joined The
Royal. “It was probably one of the
highlights of the season. It is so powerful
and so cruel, yet that coldness is so
sad at the same time.” Deirdre agreed
that although it is one of the most exposed
roles, it is sometimes easier when you
are exposed in that fashion, as you have
nothing to loose, you have to get on with
it. It is often more difficult to dance
with groups as your attention is divided
between staying with the group, and the
flow of the movement. If you are on your
own there is only you to fill the stage,
sending out energy and emotional content
to the back of the House. It is very special.
In contrast, Balanchine ballets demand
a completely different performance style.
Balanchine is all about the enjoyment
and dynamic of the music, making it spectacular
while making the choreography look as
easy as possible. It is about putting
on a great show, getting the whole audience
to experience the performance, while each
of his ballets hold their individual challenges.
Theme and Variations is very difficult
and exposed technically, whereas in Apollo
there is time to enjoy being on stage
before tackling the tricky choreography.
The first work made on Deirdre at The
Royal Ballet was Winter in Les Saisons
by David Bintley; whom she had met in
San Francisco and knew well. She enjoys
the choreographic process. “It can
be the best part of dancing, really intellectual,
inspiring and motivating”. A few
years later, Christopher Bruce came and
choreographed ThreeSongs,TwoVoices. “It
was like we got to do the piece we never
did at Rambert.” Christopher wanted
to get to know the Company before beginning
to choreograph, and so did a series of
workshop weeks, in which Deirdre assisted
him. The work was so familiar to her and
so foreign to the rest of the company
she was able to help explain and demonstrate.
It was a wonderful experience in every
way.
Deirdre is “probably ready to stay”
at The Royal! She has a good relationship
with Monica, gets to do a nice variety
of repertoire and she can’t imagine
what company she would want to go to.
She has been doing a teaching course and
enjoys London. It’s taken nine years
but now nearly feels to grips with the
city. That said, she believes it is good
for dancers to move companies because
of the perspective and experience that
can be gained. It can be artistically
good too, especially if a dancer has come
from a school and moved directly into
the affiliated company.
What drives Deirdre in her dancing is
the characterisation of the role and also
the music. She doesn’t like being
off the music, although musicality is
often quite free in straight character
roles.
Asked how audiences in England compare
to the States, Deirdre said it was hard
to say as she has been here a long time.
American audiences are generally more
expressive, freer to laugh. In the States
dance audiences are generally less knowledgeable,
but here she often gets a sense that the
audience knows more than you as a dancer
do!
© The Ballet Association 2007
Belinda Taylor
Report checked and corrected by Deirdre
Chapman and David Bain
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