ONCE WERE WARRIORS
The latest production from the Australian Ballet may have been written almost 150 years ago and traverse the worlds of Greek gods and mortals, but Sylvia is a reflection of our times, thanks to its focus on strong, sword-wielding women led by principal Ako Kondo. By Jane Albert. Styled by Philippa Moroney. Photographed by Jake Terrey.
Ako Kondo has been dancing since she was three years old, religiously taking ballet class on weekends and after school in her native Japan before moving to Australia upon winning a scholarship to the Australian Ballet School in 2007. She was the youngest female to be promoted to the top rank of principal artist at the Australian Ballet, aged 24, and has gone on to a stellar career, with critics variously describing her as “an exceptionally fluent dancer” and “a revelation”.
So it is surprising to find Kondo in the Australian Ballet’s Melbourne rehearsal studio standing almost perfectly still before the mirrors, not practising her arabesques or fouettés, but quietly acting scenes from the upcoming production of Sylvia with principal coach and artistic associate Fiona Tonkin. Kondo has been cast as the opening night lead dancer in the powerhouse role of Sylvia, a warrior demi-god who is variously required to sword-fight, slay her enemies and dial up her feminine charm to convince a hapless mortal shepherd to fall in love with her.
“I put words with every single step, in my head,” explains Kondo. “I talk about it with Fiona; I’ll tell her what I’m trying to say and she’ll respond whether or not it’s working.”
In the past 12 months Kondo has danced lead roles as varied as Alice in Christopher Wheeldon’s madcap high-wheeling adventure Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; a feminist Cinderella in Alexei
Ratmansky’s surrealist take on the eponymous fairytale; and the naïve young peasant girl Giselle, who dies of a broken heart before returning as an unearthly wili determined to save her lover from certain death in Giselle.
It is a big ask of any dancer to convincingly execute such diverse principal roles in quick succession, but with only four female principal artists at present – two of whom are on maternity leave – Kondo and her colleague Robyn Hendricks have been called on to step up, in more ways than one. It’s a challenge she has relished.
“When I did my first principal role I was a coryphée dancing Kitri, a passionate Spanish woman, in Don Quixote. Now I think back I was a bit shy, not pushing myself, because it was my first time and I was really nervous,” she says. “I’ve experienced a lot of roles now, so we’re not really talking technique but artistry, which I’m really enjoying. When you get to do lots of principal roles they’re differently interpreted, so you can learn how to be a strong woman ( Sylvia), or innocent ( Giselle), or pure and fragile ( Swan Lake). That comes from actually doing the roles, getting experience and expressing your feelings.”
Acting aside, each role requires Kondo to focus on different elements of her training, rather than simply learning the steps. While some lead roles like Graeme Murphy’s ultraphysical Firebird saw Kondo add swimming and extra leg presses to her pilates workout to elevate her cardiovascular fitness, a character like Giselle demands an unrelentingly perfect classical technique.
“You can’t let go of the line, so class is very important for me, because that’s where you get that basic technique,” she says. Kondo relies heavily on the principal coaches. For the recent production it was guest coach and former Royal Ballet principal dancer Leanne Benjamin – considered one of the Giselles of our generation – who helped Kondo, while the 2015 production saw her work with Tonkin, who had been equally memorable in the role. “It was different to what I’d learnt in the past but I really enjoyed it; the coaches helped me bring out my own Giselle.”
As much as social media and digital technology have meant virtually any production anywhere in the world is easily accessed, Kondo says nothing will replace faceto-face learning. “That’s how the history of ballet gets handed to the next generation,” she says. “Instagram, YouTube and Facebook
are great, but you miss little details. Getting taught face-toface is the only way to learn, I’ve found.”
The exquisitely delicate Giselle is a world and generations away from the headstrong, joyfully contagious character that is Alice. “Alice is very me, her personality is easygoing, jumping around, happy-sad, so when I do the role I try not to think, just react,” Kondo says. “Alice in Wonderland isn’t pure classical ballet, so in rehearsal I try to let go and not have a limit. Sometimes ballet can stay in the box, so I try to break out of that box and challenge myself every day. That’s how I changed the style of the ballet – classical and a bit of modern. And Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella is similar: ballet-based but ‘let-it-go’ dance.”
For the upcoming Australian premiere of Sylvia, Kondo will be required to learn a whole new set of skills, sword-fighting among them. The original production debuted in Paris in 1876 with a lush sweeping score by French composer Léo Delibes. The music ultimately proved more memorable than the steps, the pizzicati extract instantly recognisable to anyone who has seen Babe and its unforgettable scene where the piglet attempts to steal Magda Szubanski’s ‘mechanical rooster’ alarm clock.
The original ballet has been given a complete make-over by Australian choreographer and Houston Ballet artistic director Stanton Welch. For his production, Welch expanded the existing storyline of the nymph warrior Sylvia to include a world of Greek gods, demi-gods and mortals in a humorous, dramatic and epic tale of impish gods, mistaken identity, love and revenge that is Shakespearian in its breadth.
In Welch’s hands, Sylvia is “basically the male lead of the story. She has to fight with a sword, dance beautifully en pointe, look delicate and feminine, then kill people.” Although the ballet, a co-production with Houston Ballet, has been in the works a few years now, Kondo says it feels timely to have a story that extols the virtues of strong, heroic women.
“Considering our generation and the world’s relationship with women’s liberty, I think this ballet will be great to show women’s strength. I’m really excited about it,” says Kondo, who worked with Welch on his La Bayadère in 2014. “Stanton always pushes you to your limit, because he wants to bring out the best in you. That’s how I got trained in Japan, so I enjoyed the process. If you try for him he’s very positive about what you do.”
For Sylvia, the Australian Ballet will be using the same miracle-making creative team who worked on Ratmansky’s Cinderella: French set and costume designer Jérôme Kaplan, American lighting designer Lisa J. Pinkham and projectionist Wendall K. Harrington. Kaplan says Sylvia posed a new challenge despite his three decades of experience – to create 39 pieces of armour that appeared heavy and impenetrable but were actually lightweight and flexible.
“We decided on two types of armour – one more rigid, a kind of foam for the characters who only dance a little; and another texture which from far away isn’t obvious, neoprene used by people who surf and swim,” Kaplan says from Paris. The neoprene is stretchy and soft, but strong, so can be manipulated to create the impression of muscles, before metallic gold or silver Lycra is glued on then sewn.
Along with the armour were the helmets, and for these Kaplan researched those worn by the Greek gods who had inspired Welch’s retelling of the story. The challenge again was to find something danceable that wasn’t too heavy, the answer lying in foam that was also covered with the Lycra fabric in a shape that wasn’t too unwieldy.
Given the complexity of the story, a lightning-quick intermingling of the characters from the worlds of the gods, demi-gods and mortals, Kaplan says it was imperative to have costumes that clearly distinguished the three. He settled on a colour palette for each – gold for the gods; silver for the demi-gods and rich earthy tones for the mortals, whose fabrics are more textural and feature Fortuny pleats, a nod to the Greek influence on Spanish fashion designer Mariano Fortuny’s oeuvre. “There are many, many interesting characters in this ballet, which for me was great as it gave interesting possibilities to design different costumes.” The 116 costumes range from fauns to centaurs and a river monster.
Given the wildly diverse changes in scene and time, Kaplan settled on a central grotto for the set, with flexible scenography to create different spaces, all brought to life by Harrington’s clever projections.
While Kondo is preparing to flex her acting, technical, even sword-fighting muscles for Sylvia, she is looking forward to one of her favourite roles at year’s end when she will dance the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker.
“It’s all about technique, precision, even more than Giselle as it’s upright, holding arabesque. You have to show you’re a prima ballerina,” she says. “I love those ballets, as I can challenge myself and not have to think about acting!”
The Australian Ballet’s production of Sylvia will be performed at the Arts Centre Melbourne from August 31 to September 10; and the Sydney Opera House from November 8 to 23.