Sophie Flack

Who were some of your important teachers?
I studied with Jackie Cronsberg when I was 11 at Chautauqua. She had a Balanchine school. And also Gloria Govrin and Sandy Jennings, who is Jackie’s daughter and was a former NYCB corps dancer. Patty McBride taught me at Chautauqua. When I was 11, we saw a video of her dancing and that’s what inspired me to join NYCB. I’d never seen anything like it before and I just knew that’s what I wanted to do. I was a really ambitious little kid. I set my goals really high for myself. I went to Chautauqua for three summers, Suzanne Farrell’s for three summers—they were overlapping—and SAB [School of American Ballet] for one, and they asked me to stay.

What was your experience with Farrell?
I love Suzanne. She gave the hardest class. She did mind-boggling combinations and physically impossible things, and her classes were totally intense: two hours, twice a day. We once did penchées on pointe and a promenade arabesque on pointe in the center. The craziest stuff! It was really fun and kind of impossible.

But that’s how you get stronger.
Yeah! We kept trying all these impossible things. At that time, I was looking at the National Ballet School of Canada and SAB. I had heard good things—that [the former was] more nurturing than SAB. Suzanne encouraged me to go to SAB instead. She said I had a freedom and that I was very Balanchine.

How old were you at SAB?
I was 14 during the summer, and I turned 15 in August, and then I went for the year. The first year was one of the worst of my life. It was so hard emotionally, and I was completely unprepared. I went from being totally precocious and among the best at my school—but more than anything else, it was really hard being away from my parents. I was always close with them, and I was sort of a freakish child where I liked hanging out with grown-ups and I didn’t have any friends my own age. I was really shy and I was truly unhappy at school. I was kind of a dork. Ballet wasn’t really a cool thing to do. It was a great relief when I came to New York and I met all these other girls. It was really a relief. At the same time, I had never used a vacuum before; I didn’t know the basic ways to live on my own. I didn’t get along with my roommate. I had never really chosen food for myself. I ended up feeling really sad and missing home a lot. The first year was rough; but I had the support of family friends that took me under their wing for a couple of years. I used to go to their house and they would feed me a good meal. And I took private lessons with Wilhelm Burmann and Nancy Bielski once a week, so I formed relationships with them also. I studied with them for years, even though it was against the rules, because I was on scholarship. I think working with them has made me the dancer I am today.

That’s an amazing combination of teachers. Don’t they teach at the same time, though?
I used to take Willy, leave early and take the rest of Nancy. They hated that I did that, but I worked privately with each of them also. It was an amazing combination, combined with SAB. It was really hard.

What did they give you?
Like in I Heart Huckabees, one really finishes where the other leaves off. It’s kind of like my parents. They’re so different but together they’re the perfect parent. Nancy and Willy are really funny. I love both of them. Willy is a real sweetie; he has this whole class persona. I used to cry in his private lessons. He was terrifying: “Why can’t you do this?” But it was really effective and he got exactly what he wanted out of me; I would try until I got it right. He wants the extreme out of every dancer—he asks for extreme positions and extreme movements, and what comes out is actually extremely right and beautiful, because people think they’re doing something farther than they actually are. Nancy gives one of the hardest classes. No matter how in shape you are, you take her class and feel out of shape. You go in the middle of the season and you think you’re really fit; there’s something aerobic about her class. Her barre is sometimes really slow and you have to work through your frustration of how slow it is and how hard it is. If you take her class consistently, you will be a stronger, better dancer. I’d say that Willy is more about style, speed and position and Nancy tends to be more about endurance, strength and stamina.

What is the biggest problem at NYCB?
I’d say that my biggest gripe is that they’re not utilizing the best choreographers. I think a lot of people have a problem with that. My boyfriend and I often go to Cedar Lake and it’s our favorite company to watch—their dancers are incredible, from Juilliard and Hubbard Street, and we’re friends with a lot of them, but also they have the world’s most innovative choreographers. I wish that Peter would allow that. I think a lot of dancers feel that way.

What choreographers have stood out to you from Cedar Lake?
Crystal Pite and Ohad Naharin.

How do you feel about coaching at NYCB?
For the corps, there is not any unless you do a featured role. It’s usually a catch-22. How do you improve if you don’t have any coaching? I just got into a cycle of frustration. I would do Pilates and work on my own—core strength was always my biggest weakness. I’m overly limber and floppy. So whenever I felt like I got to a real powerful place, I would expect the parts to follow and then my frustration would grow and I would be like, Why am I kicking my butt if nothing’s happening? It seemed like an endless cycle for years. A lot of people are frustrated.

You joined NYCB in 2000. What have you been able to dance that you were happy about?
The first thing that comes to mind was Vespro by Mauro Bigonzetti. It was just great to work with an innovative choreographer and something different, and I felt pushed, and at first I felt really shy working with him and not quite ready for it, but I felt like he brought a new energy out of me. It was just really exciting. Other than that, I kept getting cast in very classical ballets. I told Peter once, “I’m really interested in more neoclassical, edgier things.” The Cage is one of my favorite ballets. I like The Four T’s. I’m interested in odd positions. I feel in classical ballet you can only go so far.

Did you consider joining Cedar Lake? Or even going to Italy to work with Bigonzetti or another European company?
I thought about Cedar Lake. It would be really difficult having only done Balanchine and never having any modern training. People do it. I would have had to work really hard, and I just think I wasn’t willing to do that kind of work. And I love New York and never seriously thought about moving.

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