She's just 24, but Samantha Lynch has already danced on three different continents. Currently a rising member of the Norwegian National Ballet, she is enjoying new repertory opportunities in a company she describes as "very open to new things. It's a little more daring, more willing to try new things that aren't comfortable - which really excites me."
Lynch, a Melbourne native, trained at the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet. "My teacher Christine Walsh was really the one who inspired me the most. She was a principal with the Australian Ballet and really put her heart and soul into my training," says Lynch. "She taught me how to train myself every day in class. But more importantly she saw my love for dance and pushed me to really go for what I wanted. I really wouldn't be where I am today without her."
As she finished her training, Lynch sent out her audition video, hoping to find a good fit for her particular qualities. "I'm sort of an acquired taste as a dancer, so it was important for me to find somewhere that liked my height and where I was interested in the repertoire," she says. She had been intrigued by the idea of dancing in the US, and San Francisco Ballet responded to her video with the offer of a traineeship.
So she crossed the Pacific at age 16 for what she now sees as "a fantastic transitional year" despite confronting the difficulties of being far from home. "I learned a lot about how a company worked." She had opportunities to get on stage with SFB, but after her traineeship ended, she was told there were no positions for a tall dancer. "I was devastated at the time, but now realise it was absolutely for the best."
Next stop: Houston, Texas, where Stanton Welch has been Houston Ballet's artistic director since 2003.
Lynch had not previously crossed paths with her fellow Aussie at the time she "spontaneously" went to the companyís open audition in San Francisco. She was offered a corps de ballet contract, and danced with Houston Ballet for six years.
She particularly appreciated the range of works the company performed, and found a particular niche in the contemporary repertoire. "Roslyn Anderson, a brilliant Australian woman who sets Jiri Kylian's ballets all over the world, sort of picked me out when I was quite young, and had me dance some wonderful things that are my most memorable. Also working with Christopher Bruce was a huge gift, and Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton. I also worked closely with Stanton on a special role in his TuTu."
She was being noticed. The American Dance Magazine featured her in its April 2011 "Dancer on the Rise" column. Yet, she found that "the longer I was in Houston, the less I got to dance. My style changed, what I wanted changed, and I wasn't being used enough. I needed change. I had been to Norway the previous year to have a look and to audition. Ingrid Lorentzen, the new [NNB] director had said that she was interested and to stay in touch - so I did. I came back the following year and she offered me to start in four days if possible. So I went back to Houston, packed my things and moved to Europe in four days!"
A year and a half after moving to Oslo, Lynch is full of praise for her current troupe. "The company has an incredible repertoire, and I knew I really wanted to be a part of it. The people who create here, and the works Ingrid has brought in, really interest me. She is just your dream director. She's so open and honest. We perform a lot more here - about 12 shows of each program.
"Among my two most special opportunities here was being the one woman in Kylian's Soldiers' Mass - the ballet is for 12 men but can have one woman if necessary. The challenge is to really be as strong as the men, to feel at home in this big group. It's a heart-pumping piece physically and emotionally, and I remember (so does Ingrid) shedding a tear or two in the bows when I got to bring Jiri himself onstage. I finally felt I was home, that this if what Iíd worked for."
Another notable role was Daniel Proietto's 12-minute solo Cygne, a striking contemporary counterpart to The Dying Swan. "It was an intense process for a few months. Daniel is quite incredible, and really makes you feel trusted. He told me, 'you're very young to be onstage by yourself for 12 minutes, but I see something in you.' He really pushed me."
In April, Lynch had a chance to return to Houston, representing NNB with a performance of Cygne at Dance Salad, an annual international festival. "It was really emotional to have all my special friends, whom I grew up with, there to see all my hard work pay off."
- SUSAN REITER
This article appears in the in the August/September issue of Dance Australia… out soon! If you want more dance news, views and articles, you can buy Dance Australia from your favourite outlet, or online - download the Dance Australia app.
See Lynch perform the entire Cygne solo here: