Interview Dimity Azoury
This Australian Ballet soloist summons superhuman strength in preparation for a boundary-breaking triple bill. By Rose Johnstone
When we talk to Dimity Azoury, it’s well into the rehearsal period for the Australian Ballet’s 2016 season, and she’s in the process of learning two full-length ballets (Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella; Stephen Baynes’ Swan Lake) and three shorter works: George Balanchine’s classical ballet ‘Symphony in C’, plus William Forsythe’s post-classical challenger ‘In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated’ and Jirí Kylián’s ‘Forgotten Land’. Azoury is – understandably – mentally and physically exhausted. It’s also her favourite time of the year. “It’s been hard, but it’s going to get harder,” she says. “We haven’t really been pushed yet.”
The works by Forsythe and Kylián form part of Vitesse: a triple bill which, like last year’s 20:21, vaults the company out of its staple of classical pieces and into the challenging world of contemporary ballet. The third work in the bill is British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s 2006 ‘Danse à Grande Vitesse’, which evokes the intensity of a train passing through a tunnel. Audiences who watched Azoury throw herself into the 40-minute marathon that is Twyla Tharp’s ‘In the Upper Room’, the final work in the triple bill 20:21, would have no doubt that she possesses the strength, grace and sheer
athletic endurance to attack Vitesse head on. But Forsythe and Kylián’s works also demand a willingness to embrace an entirely new set of rules. “I’m finding ‘In the Middle’ hard to get my head around,” says Azoury. “It’s contemporary but classical. It was choreographed for the Paris Opéra, so it’s almost extreme classical ballet. You have to do everything beautifully and precisely and rigorously – but it’s more than ballet. In ‘In the Upper Room’, what mattered was the energy… but in ‘In the Middle’ you have to look good in pointe shoes and leotards.” Incredibly tough as taking on Forsythe’s work is, Azoury is hungry to push herself. It’s this hunger that elevated her to her role as a soloist at the beginning of 2015. “I think I was on a bit of a high last year, but the goals always change,” she says. “Once you achieve something you always think, ‘How much more can I work, how much more can I improve?’”
“It’s almost extreme classical ballet”