Lucinda Dunn OAM, former principal dancer with the Australian Ballet, talks about the challenge of dancing this most covetted of classical roles.
Lucinda Dunn’s rendition of Aurora in Stanton Welch’s 2005 version of The Sleeping Beauty is one of her best-known performances, but her first experience of dancing the role happened early in her career when she was understudied the role. “I’d been in the Australian Ballet only about 18 months,” she recalls. “The director was Maina Gielgud. I joined the company in 1991 and it was early ’93. I was one of the youngest understudies at the time. Maina was very good at rehearsing the younger members of the company and that was when I first went on.
“I didn’t do the full ballet again until 2005 when Stanton Welch created a brand new version. I did the world premiere of that new version. In between [those two productions], many times I did the third act of Sleeping Beauty or the Rose Adage but not the three acts or four acts.”
How does a dancer like Dunn prepare for this famously difficult role. “Rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal,” she replies. “It’s the physical hours, the muscle memory, the conditioning of the body for something as demanding, physically, as the Rose Adage. It’s probably one of the most frightening things I’ve ever done, even to this day. I liken it to being on a tightrope and at the end of this really beautiful crescendo of music, you actually have to let go of your lifeline and stand on pointe by yourself, in the middle of the stage, everyone looking at you, the music building and you have got nothing to hang onto except your determination and your muscle strength. It can be quite frightening.
“It’s the hours that you put in the studio that really get your muscles ready, it gets your balance where it needs to be. You’ve got to really work with the four men that partner you in the Rose Adage. You’ve got to be very specific about what you need from them about the way they hold their hands, where you step, how far to the side they are of you… there’s just so much detail. It’s a kind of a science.”
While the Rose Adage is undoubtedly a massive challenge of the role, it isn’t the only one, says Dunn. “The first act solo requires such a purity of line… the arabesques, the pirouettes and a long manège. It is quite difficult to pull of technically, to be pure, young and innocent and have gorgeous lines.
“The least favourite bit of the ballet, for me, is probably the girlfriends’ dance before Aurora enters the stage. It’s beautiful music, but for me, that means there’s no going back. I’m in the wings and I’m either about to pass out or shake violently or something like that. I’m Incredibly nervous at that point. If I ever hear that piece of music on the radio, still something happens in my stomach. It makes me feel unnerved thinking about that entrance onto the stage, knowing what is ahead, how much is ahead, what has to be achieved in next three hours.”
And Dunn’s favourite aspect of dancing Aurora? “It has to be the curtain calls, when everything has gone the way I wished and I’ve done three acts to the best of my ability. That high is just really indescribable.”
Dunn’s advice to future Auroras is as much about artistry as technique. “As ballet goes into the next century, as it develops over time, just… keep the characters,” she says.
- NINA LEVY
Lucinda Dunn is now artistic director of the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy in Sydney.
This article first appeared in the Oct/Nov 2015 of 'Dance Australia'.