Our ascending Stars... Elisa Badenes

Ascending stars

Drawing by noomiedoodlesfashion

The quite fabulous noomiedoodlesfashion very generously gave up some time to work on my brief, which was to use her fashion expertise to conjure up traditionally dressed dancers but with a fashionable twist.

'Our ascending stars'…. follows the progress of professional dancers who have graduated this year. Regular readers will know that all of the dancers featured here were interviewed just as they made the transition from vocational school to professional ballet company. Here we see how they've been getting on....

Photo :  Gene Schiavone

Elisa Badenes, Stuttgart Ballet

What is it like now that you are working as a professional ballet dancer ?
I think that at the beginning every time is hard. A lot of things are very different from being at school. You have to be really focused on your body because it is not like it is in school where you have people to look after you. Here you are alone, and you have to develop your technique and personality on your own, so that you don’t limit yourself and so that you can dance as you want to.

Which roles have you performed so far and what did you enjoy ?
One of the reasons I came to Stuttgart Ballet was the amazing repertoire they have. Things here are moving so fast. We did Giselle at the beginning of the season, then I had the opportunity to go on tour with the company to China where we did a Cranko ballet called "Taming of the shrew" which I had never seen before, and it was really funny to dance ! For Christmas we are doing another Cranko ballet, " Onegin" and I fell in love with this ballet. We have the opportunity to dance so many different ballets, (one comedy, one drama), each with a different technique and style.

What have you learnt that’s been unexpected ?
I have an apprenticeship contract at Stuttgart which means that they normally use us for covering people, but in a company a lot of things can happen so even if I was the second cast in all the ballets I could dance it!

The hard thing when you join a company is learning all the repertoire, and if you are second cast you have to learn so many different places and you never know where you will dance. At the beginning of this season we were performing Giselle, and I had the opportunity to learn the peasant pas de deux. That was really important for me! I didn’t perform it but I hope that in future I will be able to do it.



What’s been the best thing about Company life so far ?
It has a lot of good things going for it but I think the best thing is that you realise that you are working at the one thing you love - dance, and you can live with it.

Which roles are coming up for you in the New Year ?
The first thing we going to do for the next year is a show with a four ballets (Cranko, Forsythe, Kylián, Scholz). I’m so excited about the new year.

Our Ascending Stars....
Drawing by noomiedoodlesfashion