Ethan Stiefel is taking it step by step as new artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, writes Jill Rivers.
Ethan Stiefel and the Royal New Zealand Ballet already appear to be shaping up as the “good fit” he expected. He had never seen the company perform when he applied for the position of artistic director from the other side of the world. Seven weeks into the job, he is entrenched in the “learning curve” that he considers essential to establishing the right working relationship.
Talking in the foyer of St James Theatre in Wellington, the company headquarters, his professional commitment to the small 32-dancer company – so at odds with the major stages and screens he has frequented – is impressive. It is impossible to resist asking again: “Why?”
“It came on my radar,” he says, “as a good opportunity to develop the artform with a company that was flexible and well supported. I applied out of interest, not necessity. After three-and-a-half years working in academia as Dean of College [at the University of North Carolina School of Arts in the US], I learnt a lot but knew it was not what I wanted to do the rest of my life.
“I had always been interested in directing and I thought I could bring the essential energy from a broad range of companies – American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and many others, the repertoire I perform across all types of dance, and the leadership qualities that I think I possess.
“The size of the company offers the challenge of finding new ways to execute your vision while honouring tradition and maintaining the integrity of the artform – not putting it on a pedestal, but finding an appropriate future. You have to be innovative. That’s what’s exciting. We are moving forward – and I want everybody to be a success.”
To his delight, the dancers are open to new ways: “They soak up information, are eager to improve and love what they do – that’s a good way to start.”
He has selected his first program for 2012, adhering to his personal philosophy of taking it “step by step”, insisting that he does not want to rush in, but constantly read the situation.
He believes it is important that “we maintain the successes we have had with ballets like Christopher Hampson’s (such as Dracula)”.
“I’m not here to wipe the slate clean, just to harness that momentum and move it forward.”
His new direction is more evident in the first program for the year: NYC New Young Classic – three short Ballets from the Big Apple. He insists: “I am not here to re-conceive New York City Ballet and am not going to program things not achievable. Balanchine’s
Who Cares? and 28 Variations on a Theme by Paganini [by Benjamin Millepied] are new ballets which both celebrate Americana and fits the vibrancy of the company. I think it will both develop and suit them – that they will take it in and make it their own.
The same thinking applied to his choice of a new commission [as yet unnamed]
by hot New York choreographer Larry Keigwin to complete the triple bill.
The climax of the year is a new staging of Giselle, choreographed jointly by Stiefel and Royal Ballet principal Johan Kobborg. Stiefel was influenced by the synchronism of Kobborg’s Danish nationality with RNZB founder Poul Gnatt: “The ballet acknowledges the history of the company on a number of levels and and at the same time brings new things to the repertoire.”
NZ audiences will also benefit from the engagement of Stiefel’s partner, ABT principal Gillian Murphy, performing in Giselle at the height of her career.
His separation from Murphy [who is still contracted with ABT] is personally tough, Stiefel admits, but she will be in NZ for three quarters of 2012 and he will be back dancing with ABT during June and July. Despite not having time to find somewhere to live yet, his commitment to the RNZB is clear in that the couple’s beloved cat Selah is currently in quarantine.
We are talking a few days after the premiere of the company’s new production of The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by ballet master Greg Horsman in collaboration with outgoing artistic director Gary Harris (with design) – an abbreviated version designed to fit the small company and small touring stages. Although Stiefel only arrived in time to “nudge and support”, he considers the production a good pointer to his vision of a flexible company of the future and “very appropriate to who we are.”
The 2012 program is an indication of his future direction: “Evolution, not changing – a fresh direction of moulding and shaping – of articulating and instilling: of finding new ways of shaping the repertoire and executing your vision within the parameters.
“It is not what you are, but how you are doing it.”
