The new kid on the block

How did you like the Studio Company?
It was great. I joined for four months and then I went to the main company. But I went back to the Studio Company after six months.

Why?
Well, I was told that they felt I would improve more going back to the Studio Company. I didn’t have a great first six months here. I was told that sometimes I could come off as arrogant, and I’m really not at all. I’m just not insecure. So what I did when I came in was I purposely tried to hold back in everything—so when I’d go into rehearsal I’d stay out of the way, but because I did that I didn’t learn my work as well as I should have. So people thought that was arrogance, that I felt I was too good for the corps work and that was completely not it. I had a hard time coming into the main company at first; people thought I was lazy. I was trying to appear not arrogant. So it was a blessing to be put back in the Studio Company because I had a new perspective. I realized how different it was to perform with ABT. We went to California for a month, and that was so exciting; it was when Ethan Stiefel was starting Ballet Pacifica and we did The Nutcracker with them. When I got back in the main company, I took a completely different approach: as soon as I got a part, I learned it as fast as I could. I would do my roles fine onstage and that’s really what it is to be in a company: When you start dancing with your peers and they start respecting you.

How long have you been working on Conrad in Le Corsaire?
Not very long. Irina Kolpakova told me that I was probably doing it. I had been rehearsing with Veronica Part—for her sake, because Marcelo Gomes was out, but I hadn’t learned any solos. I’m working with Kevin McKenzie, which is amazing. He’s been working with me on how to hold myself. The way I have dealt with my nerves is to pull back. So when I’m onstage, I’d be in myself, thinking of what I had to do—which, surprisingly, everybody notices. [Laughs] So you can’t do that. Transitions are the hardest part of maintaining that energy when I’m deadly tired. Instead of just doing the jump, the mind, the walk has to be out, no matter how tired I am. So that’s going to be my goal—to maintain that energy. Kevin has been helping me with that. Angel actually helped me with that too when I worked with him last year in Spain. He’s all about energy when he dances. That’s my biggest thing right now.

What are you thinking about your approach to the character? Are you mostly working with McKenzie?
Mostly—and a little bit with Irina. Kevin has described Conrad—he told me to watch Ben-Hur, I think to see how to portray a masculine man. How he walks around so confident—and everything is mine: These are all my friends, these are all my pirates and they’ll do whatever I tell them to do. And this is my girl and she likes me, of course, because every girl does. I have to have that kind of confidence. And sometimes when I try to be romantic in my work, I get soft; I have to maintain strength even with the girl, so I’m working on that with Irina. I’m so lucky. She’s so smart about her work, and when we’re working together it’s so complex. We’re not just doing it.

How do you improve your stamina?
People have recommended elliptical trainer, and I’ll probably try that, but stamina has always been kind of an issue for me. Usually by the time I perform the piece, I’m up to par. I go to the gym every day, but I usually lift weights. For instance, I did the opening for the second time only yesterday, and I got through it. I was dying by the end of it and I was on the floor panting, but I got through it. So that was a huge improvement. I couldn’t get through it before. The next time it should get better, until I’m to the point where it still kills me but I can do it and walk away from it. I usually just try to build the stamina through dance.

What else are you dancing this season?
I’m doing Etudes. There’s a chance I’m doing Espada [in Don Quixote]. I’m doing David Hallberg’s role in the Twyla Tharp piece.