It is hard to believe that someone like Alexandra Ansanelli, one of the Royal Ballet’s youngest principal ballerinas, is retiring, given all her accomplishments and the fact that she has always been so vocal about her passion for dancing. At only 28, her impressive CV includes principal dancing jobs in two of the world’s foremost ballet companies and a list of personal achievements which range from overcoming major obstacles and injuries, to adapting to different styles and winning over demanding dance audiences with her particular gifts.
The Ballet Bag is sad that Alexandra is leaving. Over the last two seasons she had become a staple at Covent Garden, someone clearly distinctive, elegant and with particular subtleties in her dance. We also admired her courage of facing up to skepticism and how she adapted her training and brought her unique gifts to the Royal Ballet. We pay homage to her with a brief account of her career and a collection of some of Alexandra’s interesting quotes over the years.
Alexandra Ansanelli. Source: Oberon's Grove. Copyright belongs to its respective owners
Alexandra’s Story:
Alexandra was born in 1980 to parents of Italian and English descent. She is the youngest of three sisters and surprisingly, she arrived to ballet quite late in her life, having devoted her athletic body and energies to football at first. Her life changed when she attended an arts summer camp is Massachusetts and got told she should audition for the School of American Ballet (SAB).
Aged 11, with no previous ballet background, Alexandra impressed the jury and was admitted at SAB. Commuting three days a week to New York from Long Island to attend class with older girls proved testing for Alexandra and she felt she was lagging behind. The following year, her parents had her move Secondary schools and rented an apartment in New York. During this time, Alexandra was already performing children’s roles with New York City Ballet (NYCB) and winning scholarships for very distinguished summer programmes.
Even though she had never performed at annual performances, Peter Martins saw Alexandra in the studio and hired her as a NYCB apprentice. She then appeared in The Nutcracker and got rewarded with a contract and and a principal role (Dewdrop fairy) on her 16th birthday. She bolted across the ranks, soloist at 17 and principal at just 23, but this quick progression was not without its share of obstacles: she was off for almost two years with a misdiagnosed foot injury which left her unable to walk and close to the point of giving up dance. Her resilience and passion kept her looking for the right answer and finally after receiving the correct assistance she was given the all clear to return.
Alexandra’s NYCB tenure gave her a huge fanbase and the opportunity to work closely with important choreographers, from the legendary Jerome Robbins to the young & budding Christopher Wheeldon, but she wanted to explore the big world of classics outside the local repertoire, so she decided to leave City ballet in 2005 to look for something else. This strategy paid off and in less than a month she was receiving offers from major companies with classical repertoire, amongst which an audition with Monica Mason followed by an invitation to join the Royal Ballet as a First Soloist, in other words, just the ticket for Alexandra to slowly break into those great classical and narrative roles she was aiming for.
Even though she started as a First Soloist, Alexandra quickly saw principal roles coming her way. She danced The Lilac Fairy and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia, Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky’s Pas de Deux and Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of the Faun. Some critics loved her (and we are forever indebted to FT’s Clement Crisp for first drawing our attention to her) but Covent Garden audiences were divided, given the stylistical differences the SAB training imprinted on her dancing. All this she took as a challenge, with a clear determination to conquer the dramatic undertones in the Royal Ballet’s own style.
In March 2009, after a great season which began with plum debuts in Ashton’s Ondine and as Swan Lake’s Odette/Odile (“a performance of beautiful line, emotional finesse and of fascinating promise for the future” as Mr. Crisp then noted), Alexandra claimed ballet no longer completed her and announced her retirement. She had just wrapped up performances as Gamzatti in La Bayadere and the Sugar Plum Fairy in Sir Peter Wright’s Nutcracker, and had been lined up for Mayerling and Sleeping Beauty (amongst others) in the 2009/2010 season.
The Goodbye
Her last performance in London on June 16 as the lead female role in Balanchine’s Rubies opposite Carlos Acosta felt quite fitting, given her NYCB roots. Whilst she had throughout her Royal Ballet years expanded her range enormously, having drawn praise and a whole new fan base with her soft, rippling Ondine of just a few weeks before, Rubies never stopped fitting her like a glove: she dazzled and enchanted us, showing her fiery character and throwing herself into the choreography (It was quite a contrast to Yuhui Choe‘s more restrained, more studied performance in the same role). Alexandra’s last night at Covent Garden was a success, not only due to its aura of adieu, but because it was incredible to see someone clearly enjoying herself on stage and yet about to stop for good. She went out and gave it her all, with Carlos, who enjoys “upping his ante” when the occasion befalls, outstanding but giving Alexandra the opportunity to shine, since it was her night.
At the end of Rubies, with a continuous flow of applause and some ruby red flowers thrown in from the amphitheatre, Carlos chivalrously led an emotional and teary eyed Alexandra to take centre stage, taking a back seat and directing the applause her way, letting Alexandra enjoy her moment all the way through the red run curtain calls. As the applause went on we felt as if some of the audience was trying to convey to Alexandra that she was loved and appreciated and that she certainly was going to be missed.
See also: Emilia’s take on Alexandra’s farewell performance
Some Quotes:
On Why she left City Ballet:
It’s the music in the story ballets, the music, and then the story, that touches a part of my soul that is indescribable.
On the classical repertoire:
I’ve always been passionate about the classical works, and it was important to me as a ballerina to get that education.
On Balanchine’s take on épaulement:
I think he wanted his own style, different from the classical world that he had left behind in Europe.
On what she finds fascinating about ballet:
One of the things that fascinates me about ballet is to see how very different it ” looks ” from one country to the next.
What she would like to see happen in ballet over the next 20 years:
I would like the ballet to have a much broader audience, to reach far more people, and to have them understand more, and to be more involved, with our art form.
On her decision of leaving ballet:
I feel one must be completely devoted if you are a dancer, it’s like a marriage. I have had to face the realization that this is not completing me as a person.
Alexandra’s last performances with the Royal Ballet are in Washington DC, at the Kennedy Center (June 24) and in Cuba, at the Gran Teatro de la Habana (July 14-16). She will be performing the lead role in Ashton’s A Month in the Country as part of the Royal Ballet’s triple bill.
Sources and Further Information:
- Interview with Alexandra Ansanelli (circa 2005) via In the Name of Auguste Vestris [link]
- Alexandra Ansanelli interviewed by David Bain. Report from The Ballet Association (circa 2006) via Ballet.co [link]
- Alexandra Ansanelli’s Artist Detail at www.roh.org.uk [link]
- The Classical Test for a City Ballet Star who Flew by Roslyn Sulcas, via the NY Times [link]
- A Young Ballet’s Star Surprising Choice by Roslyn Sulcas, via the NY Times [link]
- An Early Swan Song by Sarah Kaufman, via the Washington Post [link]
- Behind the Scenes with Alexandra Ansanelli. From Pointe Magazine’s 10th Anniversary Photo Shoot, via Dancemedia [link]
- Statement by Alexandra, issued by Pointe Magazine via BalletTalk [link]
