By Rebecca Martin.

Dancer Stephanie Williams has gone from strength to strength since leaving The Australian Ballet in 2011 and joining Het Nationale Ballet in Amsterdam for six months before settling into her new home of New York where she is one of American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT) newest recruits.

Since commencing her ballet training at the age of 8 with the Marie Walton-Mahon Dance Academy in Newcastle, Australia, Stephanie has been a dancer to watch. Moving to Melbourne as a teenager to train at The Australian Ballet School, she received the Gold Medal at the 10th Asian Pacific International Ballet Competition in Tokyo, graduated at the top of her class, and performed the dual role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. In 2007, Stephanie joined The Australian Ballet as a Corps de Ballet member before being promoted to Coryphee the following year. While with The Australian Ballet, Stephanie performed many Soloist and Principal roles and was a guest artist with Christopher Wheeldon’s Morphoses, again performing Principal roles.

In the lead up to the world premiere of Ratmansky’s Firebird in California, Stephanie found time to speak with Dance Informa about life since leaving Australia…

You’ve done quite a bit of travelling lately, having gone from The Australian Ballet to Het Nationale Ballet in Europe, and now with American Ballet Theatre in New York. How are you managing so far away from friends and family?

The past year has been a whirlwind of travel, exploration and life change. At times it’s been wonderful and exciting and at other times scary and daunting, but all part of an incredible journey that has given me a fresh perspective on life and dance. The beautiful people that have come into my life have had a huge impact on me and they have helped me with the major changes that come with moving to the other side of the world. I have to say I am extraordinarily fortunate to have the most beautiful, supportive family whose love and belief in me has never wavered, even when I’ve felt lost at times. And although I miss them terribly, I am in an extremely positive, motivating, passionate and inspiring environment every day at ABT. This fills me with a sense of happiness and allows me artistic fulfillment, of which I couldn’t have ever imagined and appreciate so much. And thank goodness for Skype!!

Stephanie Williams of American Ballet Theatre. Photo James Hooper

Any interesting cultural differences you’ve come across?

New York is incredible in that I feel like it’s so open to different styles and foods and that’s why it’s so exciting because there is always something new and interesting to try and seek out. I’m not a good sleeper so the fact that I live in ‘The city that never sleeps’ works perfectly for me!

Amsterdam is like no other place, with canals and bikes everywhere you look. I used to love seeing an entire family on a bicycle – the mum riding with the two kids on the front, baby in arms, perhaps an umbrella and mobile phone in hand and some groceries hanging off the handle for good measure. All executed without a care in the world! And then parked amongst another hundred bicycles so the street looks like a twisted metal junkyard! What a truly amazing sight and the epitome of Amsterdam.

Is living in New York and dancing in one of the world’s best companies a dream come true?

I have to admit I do pinch myself most days. I have found a happiness and an appreciation for what I am fortunate enough to do every day. Living in New York is incredible. It is a city to get totally lost in, to explore and to dream. American Ballet Theatre is a very special organisation and to be a part of it is very humbling and inspiring. But over the course of the last 15 months I have grown up a lot (as stereotypical as that sounds). I have found such beauty in people, places, dance and life and to be able to recognise and appreciate it. That, to me, is the dream I have journeyed to.

What shows do you have coming up with ABT?

At the moment I am in Costa Mesa preparing for our triple bill which consists of Merce Cunninghams’ Duets, Christopher Wheeldons’ 13 Diversions and the world premiere of Ratmanskys’ new Firebird. I will be dancing in 13 Diversions and Firebird which I am really excited about! Being involved in the creation of Firebird has been incredible and inspiring each and every day. Working with Ratmansky and seeing this ballet come together has been amazing and I’m so excited about the premiere this week!

Top photo: Stephanie Williams dances in La Bayadère with American Ballet Theatre. Photo Gene Schiavone.

Published by Dance Informa digital dance magazine – dance news, dance auditions & dance events for the professional dancer, dance teacher and dance student.

By Stephanie Wolf 

These days, former Bolshoi Ballet Artistic Director Alexei Ratmansky is in high demand for his choreographic skills in the ballet world. Since being named American Ballet Theater’s Artist in Residence in 2009, he has traveled the world, choreographing for some of the industry’s best dance companies. His next big undertaking brings him back to New York City, where he will create his fifth ballet for ABT – his own adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird.

This is not Ratmansky’s first time mounting the one-act story ballet. Previously, he choreographed a production of The Firebird for the Royal Swedish Ballet in 2002. His version for ABT will showcase the work of two other Russian artists: Simon Pastukh’s scenery and costumes by Galina Solovyeva. The trio also worked together on Ratmansky’s 2009 ballet On the Dnieper.

The new production will receive its world premiere from March 29 – April 1, 2012 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA, coinciding with the center’s 25^th anniversary. Shortly after the five performances in Costa Mesa, the ballet will stage its Manhattan premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House during ABT’s spring season.

ABT’s Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie feels Ratmansky and his Russian design team possess the heritage and talent to recreate a ballet of such historic significance. “Alexei’s background in Russian music, culture and symbolism combined with his incredible facility for story-telling, will surely have an important impact on how he brings this enchanting tale to life,” he says.

The Firebird depicts the Russian fairytale of Prince Ivan and his quest to conquer evil and win the love of his princess. Ivan becomes lost in the forest of the evil Kostchei. As he struggles to gain his bearings, he encounters an enchanted Firebird. The Firebird’s likeness to both woman and bird hypnotizes the prince. He captures her, and she offers one of her magical feathers in return for her release. After his encounter with the Firebird, he finds himself at Kostchei’s castle, where twelve maidens greet him. He meets Tsarevna and falls in love. Kostchei appears and casts a spell to turn Prince Ivan into stone. In defense, Ivan waves the magical feather, bringing forth the Firebird herself. Together, the prince and Firebird defeat the evil Kostchei, allowing Ivan and Tsarevna to wed; thus, receiving their happy ending.

Michael Fokine choreographed the first production of The Firebird on Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at Paris’s Theatre National de l’Opera on June 25, 1910. Over a century later, ABT plans to present Ratmansky’s interpretation, which is the fourth time for Ballet Theater to revive the ballet. The first time ABT premiered Stravinsky’s The Firebird was in 1945 at the Metropolitan Opera House, with choreography by Adolph Bolm and sets and costumes by Marc Chagall. Christopher Newton restaged Fokine’s choreography for the second ABT production of The Firebird in 1977 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, CA. And, they revived Fokine’s choreography again in 1992. Nicholas Beriozoff produced this third rendition for ABT, which premiered in Mexico City at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

Ratmansky’s version will star three of ABT’s remarkable ballerinas as the illusive creature: Misty Copeland, Isabella Boylston, and Natalia Osipova. Both Boylston and Copeland are soloists with ABT, and Osipova is a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and a guest artist with ABT.

Ratmansky’s previous ballets for ABT, including The Nutcracker, The Bright Stream, and Dumbarton, received great responses form both critics and patrons. With a team of skilled collaborators and ABT’s roster of excellent dancers, Ratmansky’s new The Firebird possesses the potential to make its own mark in ballet history.

Sources: ABT Broadway World, The Ballet Dancers’ Guide