Balancing motherhood and profession on pointe

Apr 30, 2018 06:00 am

It is no secret that professional dancers keep to a strict diet.

For Russian prima ballerina Irina Kolesnikova, it means a diet of steamed food and no candies, fast-food and red meat. Chocolates are her only indulgence, but they are rare treats too.

Kolesnikova, 38, is in town to play Odette in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. She is married to the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre company's founding director Konstantin Tachkin, 51, and has played the lead role over a thousand times in her 20-year career.

In 2014, she even performed the ballet in Paris when she was two months pregnant.

"The tickets were all sold out so I was definitely going to do it," said Kolesnikova, laughing, when The New Paper met her at the Swissotel The Stamford recently.

Juggling dance and motherhood was challenging. The couple do not have a nanny for their daughter, now four.

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"I have learnt to plan my time carefully, and the more I work at it, the more I learn to cope. "

It took her six months after delivery to perform the three-act ballet as her body "forgot the moves and needed to be retaught".

Now, she prepares for each performance with a 1.5-hour morning dance class and an hour of stretching and exercises before the show.

For Kolesnikova, being the prima ballerina in Swan Lake goes beyond physical challenges. She plays the sweet white swan Odette in the first half of the ballet and the evil black swan Odile in the second.

She said: "With Swan Lake, I know the moves but it's all about portraying the character. It's important not to be anxious on stage."

So is landing a leading role as competitive as portrayed by Natalie Portman in Black Swan (2010)?

Kolesnikova shook her head: "The movies are a little naive. The competition is on stage; when you are better than another dancer, there are no politics in the wings.

"The jealousy (among dancers) is a myth, and it's talent that makes you succeed."