Saturday 6 December 2014

Meet Emilie Tassinari of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company

Emilie Tassinari
Photo Robin DePuy
(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014
Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch 
National Ballet




























Born in Bologna. Emilie Tassinari has lived most recently in Finale Emilia in Northern Italy. The town suffered a serious earthquake in May 2012 which destroyed or damaged many beautiful old buildings including the clock tower, castle and cathedral. It also damaged the dance school where she used to study and destroyed the pool where she trained as a champion swimmer.  I am sure I speak for everyone in hoping that the old buildings can be restored to their former glory and that an even better pool and dance school will be built. 

Emilie thanks her mother for her interest in ballet. As she was an only child her mother encouraged her to take up physical activity rather than slump in front of a TV or computer screen.  From an early age she trained in both competitive swimming and classical ballet. In 2009, which was also the year she competed in the National Swimming Championship, she was noticed by the Director of La Scala Ballet Academy who invited her to audition. She was accepted and began her professional training at the Academy.

Friends and colleagues in the National Ballet and Junior Company have inspired Emilie. All her teachers have contributed to her professional and personal development, but she was influenced particularly by Bella Ratchinskaja, Leonid Nikonov and Tatiana Nikonova who strongly believed in her, supported her and helped her throughout her through her studies. She also acknowledges the influence of Giuseppe Carbone, director of numerous companies including the Cullberg Ballet and La Scala. They have all communicated to her the idea that dance is a language conveying emotions and feelings and that the discipline is effective if applied with empathy and adaptability.

Getting into the Junior Company and her development as a dancer through her own hard work are her greatest achievements to date. While she was at the Academy she danced the pas de deux from The Flames of Paris, the First Shade in La Bayadere, and the pas de trois from Paquita in La Scala. In a gala in Italy for Vito Mazzeo, she danced the pas de deux from Coppelia and Ernst Mesiner's Embers. Her main interest lies in the great classical ballets such as La Sylphide, Giselle and La Bayadere  but she has found stimulation in diversifying her experience by experimenting with the choreography of Juanjo Arquez. She also hopes to work with Hans Van Manen and David Dawson.

When asked to name her favourite dancers and choreographers Emilie replied:
"There are a lot of wonderful dancers in the world who I really love and I can’t give only one or two names because for each role I have my favourite dancer. I loved working with the choreographer Patricia Neary for the ballet Serenade, who transmitted his passion to me for Balanchine."
Her immediate ambition is to enter the main company of the Dutch National Ballet and to continue to work hard to reach the top and become the best that she can be. Having only just started her career as a dancer Emilie is not thinking about what she will do afterwards.

If there were more hours in the day Emilie would attend more concerts. She particularly likes Chopin. She would also like to study painting.  However she adds:
"The truth is that the dance takes all my time, all my body, brain and heart. But when I want to relax the muscles and mind, I go back to swimming."
Clearly a very intelligent, disciplined and thoughtful young woman, I wish her every success.

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