The secret life of a ballerina
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A new documentary series follows the Royal New Zealand Ballet on tour and backstage, writes Rosa Shiels.
Whether it's backstage niggles, romance and heartache, the daily grind of warmups at the barre or opening-night triumphs, all will be revealed in a new behind-the-scenes documentary series to screen tonight, 8pm, on TV3.
The Secret Lives of Dancers follows stars of the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) at home and on tour during their rigorous Triple Bill season. Over the course of several weeks, a film crew was granted an all-access pass to observe the dancers. The result is a candid, no-holds-barred look at the high-tensile life of New Zealand's elite ballet stars.
Senior dancer Lucy Balfour, originally from Christchurch, is one of a core group of dancers the documentary team followed closely during the making of the show.
"At the start," Balfour says, "I was really aware of them, because it's a big camera and you've got the soundie and the director right there. And I guess I always wanted to show my good side, wanted to always be performing, because that's what I do. But after about six or more weeks of it, it just became part of life. I felt like I was chatting to the director, having a conversation, and I guess I warmed up to it a bit more and it became more normal."
The RNZB are not filmic neophytes, having been filmed on their tour to China with Romeo and Juliet, but this documentary is warts - or injuries - and all, and much more probing.
"This one has been quite different because they've been following certain people and stories, so they've got to work on characters and storylines," she says.
Balfour wasn't on the initial list of people chosen to be shot in close-up until the director saw her working, and her personality and energy won them over. She also had a full offstage schedule of activities they were interested in.
"I like doing a lot of things, especially outdoor things like biking and rollerblading. My partner works in the film industry, so I've been an extra on music videos and helped out on the 48-Hour Film Festival, and I like trying out different things, like salsa dancing," she says.
Balfour has been with the RNZB for seven years and started dancing when she was six.
"As opportunities arose I took them. I was never pushed - it was always my choice."
The disciplined lifestyle agrees with her and, likewise, her colleagues.
"I love it. I think that it's taught me . . . so many things, not just within the dance, but so many things in life. I know a lot of dancers, and the discipline they have been taught shows through everything else that they do. We take instructions really well, we can stand in a certain position till we're told to move. The flipside is that you sometimes want to break out, but that's why I like doing other things like salsa dancing, which to me is more of a freedom and there's no pressure to perform."
At 27, Balfour is beginning to look ahead to her future after dance. "When I wake up in the morning my body is quite sore, and it wasn't when I was 20. But I've still got a lot to learn," she says. "I guess it's going to be how my body holds out.
"And I love acting as well. I get a lot of the acting roles in the company. Lady Capulet [her role in Romeo and Juliet] is a huge acting role. Not so much dancing. She trots around in stilettos."
So far she hasn't had any of the serious injuries that plague some ballet dancers.
"Touch wood, no, but every dancer is carrying a small niggle or an injury all the time; it's just the nature of the beast."
And there will be some awkward, even unpleasant footage shown during the documentary.
"Injuries happen, and you definitely see some highs and lows. It's all pretty raw, the emotions," she says. "I don't think there's anything too crazy, but there'll definitely be some ups and downs, some frustration and other things that the public just doesn't see."
And are there many tears and traumas backstage?
"Yeah. You bet," she says.
The Secret Lives of Dancers: Tuesdays, 8pm, TV3.
- © Fairfax NZ News
