Still reigning as the principal ballerina
Dancer marks 25 years with National Ballet as the lead, Aurora, in Sleeping Beauty
In theatre, making a good entrance is always important and after 25 years with the National Ballet of Canada,15 of those as a principal ballerina, Sonia Rodriguez has made some of the best.
As the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker she draws delighted gasps emerging from a supersized Fabergé-style egg. As Cinderella, Rodriguez arrives magically at the prince’s ball inside a hollowed-out flying pumpkin. But nothing quite equals the excitement of Rodriguez’s first entry in The Sleeping Beauty. As the teenage Princess Aurora she runs down a curving flight of stairs and immediately explodes across the stage in one of classical ballet’s most famous and demanding variations.
It’s what the Toronto-born dancer will be doing again on Saturday night in a performance officially marking her silver anniversary with the National Ballet; not bad for a 42-yearold mother of two who, if she’d succumbed to childhood reservations about a career in ballet, might never have stepped on a stage.
Rodriguez’s young Spanish parents were three years into 8- 1⁄2- year sojourn in Canada when she was born. Most of her childhood memories date from the family’s return to Madrid. Even now Rodriguez speaks with a charming Spanish accent. Still, the fact that she was Canadian as well as Spanish became pivotal in Rodriguez’s decision to accept a contract with the National Ballet, midway through its 1989-90 season. She’d just turned 17 and it was deepest winter.
“I thought to myself, ‘What have I done?’ ” says Rodriguez. “Altogether it was a major culture shock.”
Not all dancers stick with the same company for their entire career and Rodriguez, who had to wait until 1995 before she began her ascent through the ranks, admits consider- ing other options.
“Looking back, I think I stayed because I always felt artistically challenged here,” says Rodriguez. “Also, I’ve danced under three different artistic directors. Each is a different relationship and the company changes a lot. It’s almost like going somewhere new.”
By the mid-1990s Rodriguez was also putting down roots, marrying Canadian figure-skating star Kurt Browning in 1996. By 2000, she had achieved her dream of becoming a principal ballerina.
Three years later, she and Browning started a family. Their first son, Gabriel, was born in 2003, just two weeks before Rodriguez’s father died prematurely of cancer. Their second, Dillon, is now 8. And, yes, both skate well. Gabriel, says his proud mother, also likes acting.
“I always wanted to have a child and I absolutely love being a mum,” she says, but did it change her as an artist?
“When I had Gabriel, I felt superhuman. I felt as if I could tackle anything. It gives you a new perspective.”
Rodriguez is the longest-serving company member among the National Ballet’s principal women but had to push hard before her versatility was fully appreciated. At first, she was mostly cast in soubrette roles. Then, as Rodriguez took on more full-length roles, she tended to be pigeonholed as the picture-perfect classical ballerina, but she wanted to break out of the poised, alwaysgraceful mould and prove her mettle in angular, percussive and quirky contemporary works as well.
“Some people see you just one way,” says Rodriguez.
She finally had an artistic breakout when she was cast in ballet modernist William Forsythe’s The Second Detail. From then on, Rodriguez’s repertoire covered the stylistic gam- ut and she loves it all.
In some of Europe’s major government-funded opera houses, ballet company members are treated almost like civil servants and pensioned off at 40, regardless of how well they’re still dancing.
Fortunately, Rodriguez, who’s still dancing at a peak level, has a little more say in the matter as she enters what are inevitably the last few years of her ballerina career. And, as she’s learned, age has its benefits.
“There’s a certain wisdom that comes with a long career,” Rodriguez says. “You know your body better. You trust yourself more. There’s a lot of searching when you’re young. You keep asking, ‘What is it they want?’ Now I have a sense of freedom to be who I am and feel I still have a lot to offer. In fact, there are roles I’m dancing so much better now than I did 10 years ago. I still feel challenged or I wouldn’t be here.”
So how does a ballerina know when it’s time to move on? “My body is still co-operating, but the moment I feel I have to start compromising in any way will be the time I say, ‘Enough.’ Meanwhile, I feel so grateful, so blessed that I can share what I love to do. I’m very happy.” The Sleeping Beauty is at the Four Seasons Centre, 145 Queen St. W., until June 20; national.ballet.ca or 416-345-9595 or 1-866-345-9595.
Rodriguez wanted to break out of the poised, always-graceful mould and prove her mettle in angular and quirky contemporary works