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She is one of the great ballerinas,
without question.

She is the whole package -
a very classically beautiful dancer

but with this extraordinary force
of personality.

Natalia is one of the most
compelling dancers to watch.

I think that's why she has such a following -
you never know what to expect.

She is like a force of nature.

I really love dance.

I love not just classical ballet,
I love contemporary.

For me, it doesn't matter which style,
but I'm a classical ballerina,

but, all the time... I'm never like calm...

I really want to try new things,
I really want to try and experiment.

I'm naturally like that.

I first saw Natalia dance in 2007
with the Bolshoi.

I mean, she had the capacity to enter...

physically and emotionally,
into the choreography she was dancing

with a sort of thoroughness
and ferocity that you don't often see.

Stretch... Stretch...

Good.

And you stop...

I am rehearsing with Natasha Makarova.
She really is a legend for me.

I never thought I would stay with her
in her studio and listen to her.

I speak with her every day.

It is an incredible, fantastic,
artistic moment for my life now.

I don't like... Look here...

Whatever you do... arms... here.

Look here when he drags you, yes?
And then...

- Just before the lift...
- Just a little bit...

- Just before the lift. Head down.
- Okay.

You're bowing your head too early here.

Drag her more...

It's exciting to work with a Russian dancer

who has quite a good schooling

and to work on the character, on details...

very many new answers...

I think my contribution to this ballet
is to add more spirituality.

Stretch the foot before slicing.

Maybe like that is better.

Shape the arm, open up, shape.

I've never worked with a ballerina
really, really close like that.

She speaks about the role really deeply

and for me every time -
"Why have I not thought about this before?"

It's so easy but I never think

and she gives me a lot of corrections
for the role,

for the character, for the dance.

Originally, I was learning gymnastics
for around two or three years.

I really love sport and it was like
my really, really big dream

to win the Olympic championship.

But I had a problem with my back

and my parents were so nervous,
my mother was so nervous about me,

and thought "This is not the life for you,
you have a lot of injuries,

your body won't look so good if you continue
to be a gymnast",

and I stopped.

Around one or two years I stayed with my
parents at home and cried,

like it was a really big tragedy for me.

And after, I don't know why,
my mother and my father have an idea

"Oh, maybe she needs to be a ballet dancer!"

It is so strange but I think the physicality
is the same as gymnastics.

People just saw me and told my mother
"She's perfect for ballet,

and come next month and start to be
in school, it's so easy".

I start around nine years old
in the Moscow Ballet School.

It's like the school with close ties
to the Bolshoi Theatre,

and all the children who are learning
in the Moscow School

it's like a big, big dream of course
the Bolshoi Theatre,

Bolshoi Theatre, Bolshoi Theatre.

I think the thing about that early training
as a gymnast,

which was quite intensive, obviously,
if she was being considered

for the Olympics,
is that it made her very flexible

and I think it might have to do with
her lightness

and her, kind of, steely strength
which is unusual in a dancer.

She's got this amazing core
that takes her into the air.

I join the Bolshoi corps de ballets
like everybody,

but the Bolshoi start to give me solo parts

in the first months of my career -
like a little bit of pas de deux in Giselle,

solo in Swan Lake, solo in Don Q.

It's so young. I'm around 18 or 19.

It was really, really great for me
to be in the company.

I remember it as the best time in my life.
It is a great start for my career.

For everybody, of course, it is a dream
to be in the Bolshoi.

I worked at the Bolshoi for seven years.

It is a fantastic start for me.

We had a lot of tours in America, in London,

and I have a lot of fantastic chances
to dance with really nice partners.

Slowly... and only now you stretch.

She makes you involved in her personality
and in her character she projects.

You can never be indifferent watching her.

The public never leave a performance empty.

Their imaginations start to work.

So it is not just entertainment,

it gets to a new emotional level -
she is very deep.

You fall away and then... then you go...

Like you are glancing over your shoulder.
You see... like that.

Very good.

Most incredible, of course,
is her enormous jump!

I never saw... nobody ever saw a woman
have such a high jump

and even Vaslav Nijinsky could envy her...
I think!

The jump alone already makes
her dancing exciting.

Don't close your eyes.

And now you go.

Through him.

Rounded arms, rounded arms...

In the middle...

Your hand from beneath... from beneath...

I think for me it is important that I never
think about dance and about the role

like just the role and moving in step.

For me, it is together my body, my arms,
my face...

it is like an instrument for the story.

And every time I think not just...

I just start to think about the story,
I start to think about what I feel...

It is a lot of internal work,

a lot of thinking
and a lot of extra work in the studio.

And she already...

And continue...

It's like around seven years
I worked with the Bolshoi

and I have a lot of contracts
with different theatres.

I have a lot of... I don't know...
excitement about different styles,

different choreography and I start to work
a lot with the American Ballet Theatre,

La Scala, Munich.

I dance around in the world

and I understood at that moment
that I am not happy at the Bolshoi

it's like I don't have what I want to have,
I sit, I think, I cry, I cry, I cry...

no, stop it, I need to leave just like that...

I need to be happy, I need to do
something different so I left quickly.

After I left the Bolshoi,
for around three years,

I work as, like, a freelancer.

At the same time, Kevin O'Hare invited me
to do Swan Lake with the Royal Ballet.

I come as a guest
and stay here around two months...

After I finished, I was like
"Oh, this is a really great place to be".

I understand that I really want to be here.

I like the company, I like the city,
I like the atmosphere.

She really, really delved into
the production,

spent time with us,
was here for four or five weeks,

which is quite unusual for a guest artist,

and so after that I said
"Let's go our for dinner"

and we are chatting
and sort of talked about the future

and funnily enough
she said, "Is that it then?"

and I said "Well, no,
it doesn't have to be it

if you would like to join the company"

and she said
"Well, that's what I would love to do"

and that is how the two things happened,

and she joined the next season

and has been here now for five seasons,
which is wonderful.

When Natalia arrived at the Royal Ballet,

she arrived
because of her other great quality

which is about her desire
to be dramatic on stage,

her desire to express different roles,

and she was drawn to
the Royal Ballet repertory

because, in terms of narrative ballet,

it's probably got the best set
of narrative ballets in the world.

And the first part she did was Giselle.

And all of that intelligence about drama

and telling a story onstage,
you immediately saw in her.

She is the most wonderful Giselle.

Giselle, it's me, it's like absolutely me.

It's like what I feel in my life,
what I think about love,

about relationships, about hope.

Giselle is a special ballet.

It's a story that if you have
a fragile psychology

you can start really feeling like that.

It's a story, I don't know,
it's like magical.

You start really feeling as if you are
the girl in Giselle

and I sometimes feel that too.

I sometimes don't sleep at night
when I'm rehearsing

and my feelings after a show are like

"I think Albert loves me!"
and I understand that this is really mad.

I had never seen a Giselle like Natalia's.

It was... harrowing, chilling.

It genuinely felt like that gothic,
terrifying work

that had spooked audiences
in the beginning of the 19th Century.

It was sort of ragged and ferocious and raw

and not beautiful, but incredibly moving.

Ah, I missed the fighting with the arms...

How you do?

So once I grab your hands maybe to break...

No... you have to go here...

and then release from my elbows.

Here, that's it...

You are so strong.

I will have bruises!

I don't know... More powerful, more me,
is to say he is mine.

He's mine.

Bayadère is like, for me,
the best classical performance.

There are a lot of lyrical, dramatic moments.

My heart starts like...

Like that, in this moment.

I dance two really difficult roles -
Nikiya and Gamzatti.

It's really hard, it's so different.

One part is lyrical, the different part is
more strong character,

more bitch character.

So it's a shock for you.

- And then turn.
- And then what?

Yes. Okay. And it's like a little bit...

I don't know... do-si-do.

- So then we make a shape?
- Yes, shape, yes. Okay?

- Yes.
- The rest is good.

Natalia, she does both -
Nikiya and Gamzatti,

both roles in different performances,
of course.

And both roles need passion,

and she has a lot.

It is fascinating having something like
La Bayadère in the repertoire

so I really wanted to bring it back
at this point

because we have the ballerinas
to perform it

and I think looking at Natalia -

well, of course she is playing both roles,

but today in rehearsal,
she was doing Nikiya

which is a role that she hasn't performed
as much

and so it is fascinating to see her
already capturing the character

and bringing that to life.

She captured absolutely that sort of
"moonlit" quality of Nikiya.

There was very eloquent beauty to her line

but she was just more sensuous than
the run-of-the-mill Nikiyas.

And then...

in Gamzatti, which is, you know,
the tougher character,

she seemed absolutely furious,
absolutely terrifying.

We can all admire this amazing elevation.

And it seems to come from nowhere.

One minute, she'll just be on the ground,
then suddenly "Pow!", she's there,

flying through the air,

and then the speed of her turns,
the way she can really, really turn fast

which, of course,
is exhilarating to watch.

But, for me, what is even more important,
is the way she lives a role

and the way she becomes
the part that she wanted to play.

Some dancers deliver beautifully

but they deliver more or less the same thing
over and over again.

With Natalia, there is a sense of voyaging
all the time.

It's partly there in the technique,
it's partly there in how she will dance,

but it's partly there
in her choice of subject

or the way she'll play a role,

or how she'll mine a subject
to find something in it.

But the lift after this one...

- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, to here...
- This one... yeah.

I think a different side, no?
Or it doesn't matter?

What makes Natalia interesting

is that she's decided to do
the contemporary work at the same time

as she is at her peak
as a classical dancer.

Flutter did allow her to show this kind of
intensity and her flexibility

and it was beautiful to see her
with a different kind of dancer.

Seeing her with different partners
is very interesting.

So to see her with somebody like
Jonathan Goddard,

in a piece that's made for both of them,
was exciting.

Flutter is very fluid as a work,

so I think the choreographer, Ivan,
was really interested in...

towards the end of the piece,
how our heart rates can rise together

and how we can stay completely connected
which is what is amazing about it

but what is hard about it too.

It's really hard connecting together
without pause...

so it is more about relationship,
but not with story,

but more about physical contact...

it is about feeling more.

It is like water going between us.

Do you remember, we have really nice
rehearsals we speak about every step.

It's like, repeat everything
and the next day, we did it perfectly

because we speak together
and understand what you want.

For me, it's better like this or like that...

And because they're not set steps

like in classical ballet
or even in contemporary,

some of it is very set, but this,
because it's moving all the time,

I have to understand what Natasha is doing,
she has to understand what I'm doing,

and then we have to put it together.
It's like a different language.

My opinion is that dancing is dancing.

Yes, dance is a fantastic language.

There's this shape,
then there's that shape...

- Jon, can you do balance and en pointe?
- Maybe if I worked at it.

Yes, with a little bit of training!

So it's just... Yeah, exactly if do that...

Yeah, so I think if you're open to
all types of movement

then it's interesting for you, as a dancer.

You can learn.
It's not easy but you can do it.

You just need to understand it,
you need a little bit of time.

I can't just be a classical dancer,
it is so not interesting.

The dance world is so big

so why do I just need this half?

I want to try, it is just so interesting.

I like to play,
I like to be dramatic actress on stage too.

I like to try different language for dance.

Contemporary is such a different energy,

such a different physicality,
and I'm learning.

It is maybe sometimes an experiment
and a lot of people do not understand you,

why do you need to be on the floor
and have a lot of bruises

It is hard, your body changes
if you start to do different things.

I don't know...

Maybe not all of my work is nice, I agree,

but sometimes...
I'm really happy about a project we did,

Mother, with Arthur Pita - I think it's
great work, I'm so happy about this

and maybe sometimes different work
doesn't work so well,

but sometimes I understand this
is work that we did so well.

I think you want to...

like a little bit of a memory of holding him...

yes, a little bit, yeah...

just a little bit, and then we can...

take the arm... other leg...

Ah, yes, that's nice.

- Waltz, yes...
- Then this is here?

A waltz... that's nice what you did there.

So you go round... yeah...

So, pirouette...

- Elbow...
- The head...

Elbow...

Yeah, so you want to go over the head.

So think of your elbow
and then your head, yeah.

Pirouette...

I've worked with Natalia...
This is our fourth show together.

The piece is based on Hans Christian
Andersen's The Story of a Mother,

which is a dark fairy tale

and it's a story of mother who is
on a journey in search of her child

that has been taken away by death.

And then we went into this thing...
behind the neck...

We did a hand-swapping dance...

Nice.

- We go down...
- Down...

Then we go into the tango. Strong.

That feels better doesn't it?
No, but that was better I think.

Dance is a beautiful language,
it's not just only classical ballet.

I really like this performance,
its different style, different work...

It's like dramatic theatre and live theatre,

it's dance theatre - everything together.

I really love working again with Arthur.

He has given me more a feeling of
my dark side.

It is really special just to share the work
with one other dancer

and to do it with Natasha, because I know
that she can just completely hold the stage

and I feel fairly confident myself,
possibly because if I go wrong

nobody can tell...

so I just feel complete freedom
when I'm in that sort of space

and I can see it in her, as well,
that that playfulness...

is definitely something that
we can really push in this show.

Natasha absolutely responds to a narrative,

I mean, you can talk her through a scene
and she'll really try the acting out.

Part of the reason of doing
this whole piece, really,

is to provide Natasha with a palette

and with a scenario
which she can totally just get lost in

because that's what she does really well
and that's what is so exciting.

Yes, that's it!

Yeah, and after I did...

In that opening scene, it's almost like
she's coming out of this dream

so the dance is more
a metaphorical expression of her feelings.

Yeah, this is like a prologue

so the audience understand about this story.

It's so painful, it's so dark,
it's so dramatic...

Emotionally, it is really not an easy
performance,

but I feel like an actress,

so if I am playing it not true,
I think the audience will feel this one.

It's like really not an easy dance
and play together.

It's dance, but it's different dance.

It's like what I really like -
I really like play and I really like dance,

and here I feel free,
and we are creating together.

It's like...

Arthur's creation and I help Arthur,

Jonathan help Arthur,
we work together with musicians,

it's fantastic,
it's absolutely live performance and show.

Rock 'n' roll?

Rock 'n' roll now!

Nice, this is good!

Break... break...

And then something new?

What if we did something
just a little more simple?

So when you get to the arabesque...

and you break her there...

and she goes down...

what happens, Natasha, if you go...
flat like that?

Like you go down and then like this.

- Down like that?
- Like that, sideways...

- and then Babushka...
- Dance Russian dance.

If you, very sweetly, just move her away...

and she just rolls... you just roll her away...

So you can come straight to the radio...

so you don't have to go there and back.

But give it like a sweet, like...
and then you...

This is completely different.

I have never done
a classical theatre performance like that.

Contemporary is different,
abstract ballet is different.

I'm so happy I have everything in my career.
I'm just 32.

- Want to try it?
- You can see a little bit!

Yeah, it's just hot.

Like spoon. I'm spoon!

- Babushka spoon!
- Babushka spoon.

For the scene with the Babushka, we were
trying to find something that was folkloric

so we are reinterpreting
what Hans Christian Andersen wrote.

The witch asks her to sing a lullaby
that she wants to hear

so obviously we didn't want
Natasha to sing a lullaby, but to dance,

so we chose a lullaby
which we decided would come out of the radio

and then the Babushka
would ask her to dance to it.

And then something very simple
and magical happened

when I just asked Natasha what were
some Russian folk dance steps

and something just happened to her body
when it was so familiar

that we had to just go with that.

We started creating a Russian dance
that I learnt a lot at school.

I know the steps
and we created together this story.

She dance, she dance, she tired,
but this woman for me

is like Babushka, it's like grandmother -
Russian Babushka

but without face, it's like surreal.

I dance, dance, dance, dance, dance,
continue, continue, I don't have any power,

I'm on the floor, but she told me "Continue".

Working with Natasha, dramatically,
I think she's very skilled and talented

and she's very committed, which is exciting

so when you're doing something,
it's already there.

So it's nice to meet that in a space
and find that from day one.

You know, maybe like I start to run...

maybe he dances,
he says dance more, more, more, more,

like fuck! No!

- I run...
- Oh, before you leave?

Before, yeah, I run.

That's a good idea.

- Yeah.
- But she's started to run.

I see what you mean,
so you have a reason why to go.

That's a nice idea, let's do that.

I think if I was to conjure up
a dream choreographer for Natalia,

it would be Arthur Pita,

with this macabre, maverick,
wicked imagination.

He shares with her that desire
to plumb the depths,

to go as deep and as dark into the soul
and the imagination as you possibly can,

and I think they just
spark off each other brilliantly.

So if you go like this,
you finish here, looking in front

and then you make her look at you...

so you look at him...

so you go, one, two...

look at me... three, four...

five, six, seven, eight.

- So she goes...
- Like I'm telling her "This is the step".

Perfect!

Now we just dance again Russian dance.

Just both of you sharper with the head.

- On the one...
- On this one.

Yes, okay. So she's going to go... and...

- Like that.
- So one and three?

Yeah. One, two, three... yes.

- Okay.
- One and three.

There is so much character DNA in her body

from doing all the ballets,
from Giselle to La Bayadère

to Sleeping Beauty,
to even the Balanchine work, you know,

so she just has so much in there,

so once you're attacking a scene,
she can immediately access it

and bring it out with something

and she can deliver what's needed

to come out of the character,
and then she's quite free.

Arthur Pita's explorations of dance theatre

are giving classically trained dancers
new ways to go.

I think, with Natalia, she's always wanted

to find new ways of telling stories.

It's a really strong instinct in her,

and to work with someone like Arthur
and explore new territory,

quite dark, dangerous territory,

has produced terrific roles for her.

The works he has done for her,
they're dance theatre,

they require her to act and move in ways
she's never moved before

I think it gives her
an extraordinary sense of freedom

to have these works created on her
from scratch,

so, using her body, her emotions,
as part of the raw material...

she can not just be herself,
but go way beyond herself

and think that's thrilling for her.

What we are rehearsing today,
is a piece called Facada.

It's a bride's revenge story

and it was really a reaction, because I had
first seen Natasha doing Giselle

and I wanted her to try and find
the reverse of that

which was like the bride
who doesn't forgive.

That's nice, spooning...
then you start to collapse...

you're finally there, and then the battery
starts dying, and then you start to...

Good timing, good.

Still going.

Good. You know when you go up on this lift,
and you get your legs after "Yes, I will",

I think we could turn and then go down,

so it's like you're going up
and then you're just going down.

It feels like it just needs
to demonstrate it a bit.

- Yes.
- Instead of like...

That was good, I like that.

Let's see if we can do it
in the wedding dress.

Let's see if it will work
in the wedding dress.

I like it. It's funny if she's with
the dress, like...

Yeah, it's really ridiculous.

- No, I want him.
- Yeah.

So just make him ask you
"Will you marry me?"

You go down... down on one knee...

- "Will you marry me?"
- It's so fast!

Yeah, but we haven't got much music
so it needs to be fast.

You marry me?

The dynamic of the two of them
coming together is fantastic

just because of his mere strength,

that he can really move Natasha
around beautifully

but it's always about the energy
between the two

and the fact that they feel so comfortable
and free with each other

that they can really let the performance out
in this way.

Sometimes when people are involved,
I often think that the dynamic isn't there

because they're almost too comfortable,
but I don't think in this situation,

I think there's a really strong
dynamic there.

I think Natasha always enters a role fully,
so she's never fearful.

She actually almost throws herself
at her partner opposite,

no matter who that person is,

which is always exciting.

I would so like to be a really natural woman.

Just sometimes you dance with
contemporary dancers, like Jonathan Goddard

I danced with him on the Mother project,
and Sadlers Wells, Jason Kittelberger,

we created a duet with him.
It's so natural.

I feel like I'm just a woman,
it's like I just feel physicality, you know?

Not like ballet prince or ballet girl

just a man touching you,
it's so incredible.

But, of course, we have in classical ballet
fantastic duets

like in Swan Lake, like Giselle,

like, it's so special moment too,
but it's different,

you never feel like a real woman.

If I'm Juliet, I'm Juliet - not Natasha.

No, you push my arms open in a way

so there's that, yeah.

And then you want to push away from me.
That's it.

It's a new work, Jason's creation for us.
- We create.

Okay, just...

Jason's creation and I just help.
It's not easy.

- It's not first time for you, no?
- No.

But for me, it's the first time.

I have a lot of freedom and ideas.

It's, of course, about relationship,
about man and woman, about a couple.

But you...

But when you did the lift,
you start turning.

It's not pain. It's really not pain.

No. Just come at my chest with your head,
not your shoulder...

you know... yeah...

So in the beginning,
we are in our own world.

The other is there, but we are not paying
absolute attention to them

and then sometimes you do find that link
where you can flow together in life.

But it doesn't always happen.

And creating is the same way.

Some days it's so easy
and we're like "Ah, the ideas are flowing!"

and then some days it's like
"I want this! I want that!"

It's a bit tough, yeah.

Yes, it's hard,
a relationship when you work together,

like, it's not easy - man and woman,

- with different characteristics.
- Different sensitivities.

After the lift...

I take you and we just...

Round...

Not like that...

- Then, continue.
- I know.

You know?

It's trying to find that language together.

You know how people always say
a couple ends up acting like one another

it's because if you don't,
you can't operate together,

you cant find that togetherness language.

We... I don't know...

We are still looking for our ending.

At the moment, we are thinking to end
where you find a language together, or...

you actually...
- Yeah we don't know.

Like, maybe we have separation,
maybe we have happy end,

maybe we have question, I don't know.

- Question, yeah.
- I don't know.

When we always danced together before,
when we did another piece,

we could always move together
without speaking so much.

We found a groove without communication.

- Jason didn't speak!
- And I'm a quiet person,

so we just found
a physical language together,

and then, with this, it's been a bit...

- communicating more.
- We start communication more.

Sometimes maybe better.

I think it's so easy for us,
that we are in a relationship

to find a sensitivity with one another -
that comes quite easy.

Yeah, sometimes when we are creating,
we dance and we are feeling everything -

movement, body - if we stay together
we understand how we need to move,

feeling together,
we have the right mood.

- Yeah?
- Yeah.

And then you come around...
Yeah, exactly.

I fold you in this way...

Sometimes if a partner has a horrible mood,
like me, I'm a really moody person...

if I have a horrible mood, it is not possible
to work that day with anybody...

You feel that, quickly.

No, I stay calm.
I try to stay calm

because if I go back against...
but I don't know,

that's the thing in the piece too -
how do you stay calm when there's conflict?

- One more.
- Just the one?

No, no... two.

- Yeah... Okay.
- Yeah... let's go over it again.

Sticking up for yourself in a relationship...
or do you hurt the other person?

No, he's just not the best for her... maybe...

maybe she want better, I don't know...

Yeah, it's normal.

We'll go home and talk about it first,
until we feel...

The thing is, neither one of us feels...

Like, sometimes one doesn't want to take
the work home and the other one does,

but for us, we can go and watch the video
for two more hours.

I think it's like a dancer who really loves
to be professional. It's so important.

I don't remember what's next!

It's very precarious for dancers
to be in love with

the people they are partnering.

On the one hand, you've got all that trust,

you've got all that available passion, spark,
in between you

which, I think, does allow you

to push further, perhaps,
than other couples on stage

in the relationships you're exploring

and even in the way
you're partnering each other.

It's an amazing thing to watch,

and she has certainly been in love
and partnered by

some extraordinary male dancers.

What's interesting with Natalia

is how different partners bring out
different qualities in her.

So, in the contemporary work,
Jonathan Goddard and Jason Kittelberger,

they bring out this fluidity,
this expressiveness,

kind of quite a strong emotion, I think.

They just seem to hear the music
in the same way

and their expressive movement
across the stage is wonderful.

Maybe I had everything for classical ballet
so early, so young.

I started dancing a lot at 18 or 19

and everybody knows me so early.

I did a lot of shows,
I work with a lot of choreographers,

I danced for a lot of companies.
It's like I did everything so quickly,

that, of course, I start to find it
a little bit boring and it's not interesting.

I have new ideas, I want new ideas,
I want new experience...

Every time I think about what I did new,
what I want to do.

It's like I can't just be without ideas.

It's not possible,
and I start to be depressed.

But, it's like, I have really nice
physicality, body, now.

I think 32 is the best time for dance.

I'm so excited to see what happens
with this new ballet

by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui...

whose style is so fluid, so boneless,
so zen, in a way,

it's almost the polar opposite of
force-of-nature Natalia.

But she has danced
some of his choreography before,

and very beautifully.

It's very good for ballet companies
to have dancers like Natalia

because they not only attract
new choreographers to work with them

but they also bring audiences
to see that new work.

Yes, and then... there we go, this is it!

You know, sometimes I don't feel
this is simple.

I'm still like that... she did it or not?

Yeah, okay, I will try and see...

Yeah, I think it's on your left side,
but it's hard

because this side is where it's happening.

So if you feel your left side...

There...

Here... wait, wait, wait...

Then she has another one...
and this is the one...

- I will pull that up.
- Yeah, a little bit up

because you need it anyway.

Then don't stay on it,
so that you have space.

Working with Natalia is great
because she explores so many facets.

She's worked with so many other
choreographers also,

so she is able to give me a space

and go "Oh, yeah, with you
I'm going to do it this way"

and that's really exciting.

I really like, you know, for dancer,

it's like fantastic time to be in creation,
in the studio,

live, with the choreographer.

It's not like... I take MacMillan version
of Romeo and Juliet,

lots of people have danced this ballet,
it's the same as classical ballet.

For me, the best thing that I love, is
to work with a choreographer in the studio.

It's creating together the role
and body language and story,

and you feel that this is really special.

Like, when you are going over here,
then it's really here for the hair...

and then you have something
where you stopped her here, I think?

And then we have the hit...

- Where are you... Did we do the knee?
- Hit... on the knee, I was doing the knee.

So it's like the knee there...

and then you have this look.

I'm just happy when I can work with someone
who's really coming in tune and is so gifted,

and so intelligent also,
to approach the things I'm throwing at her

because every day, we're like
"Oh, maybe we'll add this moment"

and it's incredible how Natalia just goes
"Okay" and then she adds it,

and then she adds it,
and there's, like, 20 things added on

every day, so like, the choreography
is constantly shifting

and getting more and more
fine-tuned and nuanced

and also the musicality -
we are really working quite like...

"This is the moment for this,
and this is the ideal moment for that"

and so it's exciting to see it being born

and it's still being born
every single second.

So, let her have one hand, and now you go...

And now... yes...

But it's lovely when you have this...

as if you are trying to get some freedom,
but it's impossible.

Yeah...

Nice...

What would be helpful,
if you do just the beginning,

because it does help,
and then you let it go into her hands

once she has it,
because then she can control the back,

but the beginning does help,

because I feel there is a lot of
soul searching there,

like, how is this going to wrap?

And I think, Natalia, if you have it,
you can give it that extra bit of...

how to make it fall well.

Maybe go again from the pulling...

Yes...

We try it step by step,
like feeling the character

and every rehearsal,
I'm feeling more and more and more.

It's not like you like that
or like that...

Yeah, it's so hard
because it's a mythological character

so there are so many interpretations possible

so I think every day we are discussing
"Maybe today she is like this".

Yeah, it's like her body language helps,
yes, of course.

Like, the creation is always like

a finding of something
that wasn't there before.

Even though the character exists,

there are multiple ways
of bringing her to life.

- It's a Greek legend, yes?
- It's a Greek legend.

And the character of Medusa is actually
one of the priestesses for Athena,

so her role is to stay a virgin...

she is so beautiful...

and so Poseidon really wants her
and so even forces himself upon her

which suddenly makes her
not a virgin anymore,

so when Athena has seen that,

she cannot punish Poseidon
because Poseidon is a god

so the only person she can punish
is Medusa herself,

and she's going to transform Medusa
into the monster that we all know.

Once she's gone,
your hands can touch the mask

so that you feel
"What is this face? What does it do?"

"What power do I have?"

And wait until she's gone.

And... now!

Yeah.

Yeah, it's nice... and I like when it's almost
like you're trying to touch your face,

so it's like "What happened to my face?"

It's more the face than the snakes, actually.

Yeah, like this,
but also when you are here...

and here, here... that's when it feels fragile
and strong at the same time.

Yeah... yes, it's like you almost want to
pull it off

but you can't change your face anymore.

I think we've been discussing a lot

about how to re-read the character
in the 21st Century.

Sometimes she's fragile,

sometimes she actually knows
what's happening to her,

sometimes she accepts the curse
as an empowerment.

You know, the thing is to become a monster,
it's also quite empowering.

It's my favourite scene right now
is when she is Medusa,

how she is able to control all the men
around her.

- It's uncanny.
- It's a nice feeling.

It's a fantastic feeling
to control everybody.

I'm so happy to be in the studio,
yes, it's like a great time.

In performance, you know,
we have the human factor,

sometimes we're nervous,
sometimes it's lights, sometimes it's music,

sometimes the floor,
sometimes you don't have the right feeling,

It's not every time that, for the premiere,
we do the best.

Sometimes it's really the human factor
that's working

But in the studio, it's without nerves,
and you can enjoy, it's fantastic.

It'll be very interesting to see her
working with Sidi Larbi

because he's even more flexible than she is.

They both have extraordinary muscles
that stretch and stretch and stretch.

I think the fact that he is working with her

at the Royal Opera House
for the Royal Ballet

is a new step, and it does break boundaries

to do a piece for a big ballet company
like Covent Garden

where you are a contemporary choreographer
coming in

and I think her role has been...

She is one of the dancers who has created
a bridge between these two worlds.

The whole world of dance
is getting more fluid and more interesting,

It's sort of opening up in many, many ways

and I think that she will be regarded as one
of the dancers

that helped build a bridge
between ballet and contemporary dance.

I try. It's like I understand
not everything is great, but I try.

I try, try, try. I just love art and dance.
It's my life.