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| Last dance for Sylvie Guillem, the supreme mover with a curious mind | Last dance for Sylvie Guillem, the supreme mover with a curious mind |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Even when Sylvie Guillem was dancing the pure ballerina roles of her early career, she never conformed to type. Her long, lean, flexible body threw off technical challenges with an almost insolent ease. As she balanced, supremely, on one super-strong pointe and lifted one delicate, steely leg to graze her ear, Guillem was to some of her public the most glamorous dancer of the age – and to others, the most arrogant. | Even when Sylvie Guillem was dancing the pure ballerina roles of her early career, she never conformed to type. Her long, lean, flexible body threw off technical challenges with an almost insolent ease. As she balanced, supremely, on one super-strong pointe and lifted one delicate, steely leg to graze her ear, Guillem was to some of her public the most glamorous dancer of the age – and to others, the most arrogant. |
| But Guillem was far more than a technical prodigy. As she matured she also developed into an astute and sensitive dance actor; her portrayal of characters such as Manon or Natalia Petrovna in A Month in the Country were refreshingly free of ballet cliche. She also used her box-office power to petition for wider challenges. As principal guest artist at the Royal Ballet she persuaded the company to present her in a boldly contemporary new work, Broken Fall, which she danced alongside the BalletBoyz, William Trevitt and Michael Nunn. | But Guillem was far more than a technical prodigy. As she matured she also developed into an astute and sensitive dance actor; her portrayal of characters such as Manon or Natalia Petrovna in A Month in the Country were refreshingly free of ballet cliche. She also used her box-office power to petition for wider challenges. As principal guest artist at the Royal Ballet she persuaded the company to present her in a boldly contemporary new work, Broken Fall, which she danced alongside the BalletBoyz, William Trevitt and Michael Nunn. |
| Nothing like its blunt, recklessly full-tilt movement had been seen on the Covent Garden stage. And it was this work, choreographed by Russell Maliphant, that marked the shift in Guillem’s career from classical ballerina to questing, curious-minded contemporary dancer. | Nothing like its blunt, recklessly full-tilt movement had been seen on the Covent Garden stage. And it was this work, choreographed by Russell Maliphant, that marked the shift in Guillem’s career from classical ballerina to questing, curious-minded contemporary dancer. |
| Many ballerinas, when they turn 40, abandon dance altogether, accepting that their bodies can no longer accommodate the rigours and stresses of classical technique. Guillem, re-training herself to work more gently, began experimenting with other dance forms, and so extended her career by over a decade. In Sacred Monsters, her 2006 duet with Akram Khan, she explored fluidity of Asian movement and the challenge of the spoken work: in Robert Lepage’s Eonnagata she moved towards experimental theatre, and in her subsequent collaborations with Maliphant she developed a rich new palette of rapt, inwardly focused dance. | Many ballerinas, when they turn 40, abandon dance altogether, accepting that their bodies can no longer accommodate the rigours and stresses of classical technique. Guillem, re-training herself to work more gently, began experimenting with other dance forms, and so extended her career by over a decade. In Sacred Monsters, her 2006 duet with Akram Khan, she explored fluidity of Asian movement and the challenge of the spoken work: in Robert Lepage’s Eonnagata she moved towards experimental theatre, and in her subsequent collaborations with Maliphant she developed a rich new palette of rapt, inwardly focused dance. |
| Guillem always seemed ageless on stage. But for every dancer there’s a point where the balance between pleasure and pain tips the wrong way, and as she has just announced she wants to stop while she can still take “passion and pride” in her work. It’s a typically clear statement of intent from a dancer whose mind was as fascinatingly engaged with her art as her body. Eight years ago she told me that she didn’t expect the transition to be simple. “I don’t think you can ever leave the stage easily. It will be a big change, even if you know that you are ready to stop.” | Guillem always seemed ageless on stage. But for every dancer there’s a point where the balance between pleasure and pain tips the wrong way, and as she has just announced she wants to stop while she can still take “passion and pride” in her work. It’s a typically clear statement of intent from a dancer whose mind was as fascinatingly engaged with her art as her body. Eight years ago she told me that she didn’t expect the transition to be simple. “I don’t think you can ever leave the stage easily. It will be a big change, even if you know that you are ready to stop.” |
| Sylvie Guillem’s career, step by step – in pictures | |
| Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant: how we made Push |