French ballerina Florence Leroux-Coleno spoke to us about her exciting new role as a soloist for Western Australian Ballet, and her upcoming performance in William Forsythe’s “Steptext” for outdoor spectacular ‘Zip Zap Zoom: Ballet at the Quarry.’
How are rehearsals for Steptext going?
They are going well! Everybody seems to be pretty ready (she laughs)… not completely, but ready.
What are some of the challenges in this piece for you as a dancer?
This is the hardest dance I have ever done. It’s 25 minutes, pretty much without stopping. You might get off the stage for ten seconds, but you have to come back straight away. We work a lot with our partners, it’s like a conversation, you have to listen to each other a lot. We swap partners often so it’s changing all the time.
You’ve seen rehearsals for the other three dances in Ballet at the Quarry – how do they differ?
There is a piece from Daniel Roberts, who is with the company, and two pieces from Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.
They’re very different. They have a very different energy, different style. In Annabelle’s pieces the pas de deux is really slow, it’s like watching a couple on stage, an intimate duet. Daniel’s piece, ‘Hold the Forth’, is very different again, it’s like a video game on stage. There are characters with flash wigs, it’s a very funny one, I’m sure it will draw every kind of audience.
You’ve worked with companies all over the world. What attracted you to the Western Australian Ballet?
It’s one part of the world I’ve never seen before! What I like about this company is that we push it really far. We spend about one month in the studio for each show. You have time to get into the style and to work on it. Once you’re on stage you’re totally ready to do what you have to do. It’s really interesting because you can go further with your abilities, and you discover more about choreography and style – it’s a great challenge. Plus I get to work with some amazing people like Kathryn Bennetts, I feel really privileged to have that opportunity. She pushes us really far – out of our limits.
The Quarry Amphitheatre is an unusual outdoor venue, what other memorable spaces has dance taken you to?
With my old company we were dancing for festivals so there was a lot of dancing outside which I love. I think there is a special relationship between the dancers and the audience.
I really love dancing outside, it brings something else. Sometimes in a theatre the audience is really dark and you feel a bit alone on stage. Outdoors, you can feel the atmosphere and feel the audience respond to what you are doing and I really love that.
The Quarry Amphitheatre is beautiful, but I hope it doesn’t rain! That’s another challenge with dancing – 25 minutes in 45 degree heat is quite interesting, but the humidity and rain can change things too. Softer ground means we may have to readjust at the last minute.
‘Zip Zap Zoom: Ballet at the Quarry’ runs from February 6 – 28 at Quarry Amphitheatre, City Beach. Tickets available from Ticketmaster.com
Leigh Hill
