Never say never …

You might call it a Coronation by Fire – Soloist Juliet writes about her transformation from understudy to princess in Graeme Murphy’s Firebird.

It’s always useful to have a mantra. I have several hidden up my sleeve, from those verging on the monosyllabic and mundane to profound but succinct adages, all to drive me over the odd hurdle here and there. One of my mantras: “never say never”, rung true more than ever last week.

It began last Monday when, sitting in the dancers’ common room after class and unassumingly wolfing down a quick vegemite sanger, fellow dancer Daniel Gaudiello asks me if I would like to do a quick rehearsal of the prince and princess in Graeme Murphy’s Firebird … turns out his partner had just learnt that an injury would keep her from dancing for a couple of weeks, and they were supposed to be on that night … “Maybe we could dance it tonight?”. Hardly pausing for thought, I found myself saying “Yeah, sure, see you in the studio in ten.” Well, a thought probably did pass through my head –“As if!” – closely followed by “Well, give it a go. Why not?”, and then, a gentle but insistent reminder: “Never say never”.

After going through the two pas de deux without too much of a hitch, we deemed it a vague possibility – but the infamous red pen of the nightly casting blackout sheet had already decided that night’s fate: the first cast was stepping in. Momentary relief set in and I went about the rest of my day as planned – dancing the fiendishly difficult waltz solo in Les Sylphides that evening was enough on my plate for that day. My close ally mantra, however, urged me to be prepared and so I paid extra attention to the ins and outs of the princess role as I watched side stage the following night with eagle eyes, in between entrances and exits for my ‘usual’ role as one of the seven princesses.

It wasn’t until Wednesday morning that, as I was getting ready for class, our ballet mistress Fiona Tonkin came into the dressing room and informed me that David McAllister wanted me to have a go at the princess, with the original Monday night cast, for Friday night. Suddenly “never say never” took on a somewhat smug “I told you so” tone.

And so down to business. Enough dreaming. Daniel and I stayed back the next two afternoons after the scheduled rehearsals and went through the ballet under Fiona’s watchful eye. I think we were all pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it came together, aided by the fact that Daniel is a very talented partner, and by that old friend, the mantra, which was by my side and nudging me through every Firebird rehearsal earlier that year during the creation process, as I paid close attention to the role I was understudying. I wouldn’t have presumed back then that I was to perform my first show after three quick rehearsals.

And yet, at around 9.40pm on that Friday night, there I was, standing onstage inside the cage of intertwined vines, catching glimpses from inside my mystical prison of the girls performing the seven princesses’ dance – my ‘usual’ role – and about to step into a role unusual indeed for me. I realised then what had eventuated of abiding by a simple mantra. Thanks, old friend, and the other ones up my sleeve. My artillery is ready for the next attack.

Firebird and other legends is playing in Sydney until 22 April. (And yes, Juliet will be dancing the Princess in selected performances)