When Luke Ingham joined San Francisco Ballet (SFB) in 2012 and looked at the company’s up-and-coming repertoire, one work stood out: John Cranko’s Onegin. The title role was one that Ingham coveted but never imagined he would have the opportunity to dance.
Well, in March Ingham had his opportunity and, partnered by principal dancer Sarah van Patten as Tatiana, he danced Onegin.
Ingham’s rise to prominence with SFB began while the company was on tour in London in 2012. At the time he was covering a dancer in Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour and, when that dancer had to go off at the last minute, Ingham stepped in. It went well and as a result significant opportunities started to come his way.
They have included, in addition to Onegin, a principal role in Alexei Ratmansky’s From Foreign Lands and the major role of the Defender of the Chosen One in Yuri Possokhov’s new version of The Rite of Spring.
Ingham first saw SFB early in his career as a dancer with the Australian Ballet (AB) when he visited the United States on a scholarship. He was impressed by SFB even then and says he always knew that he would want to leave the AB at some stage.
“Being with the AB is a comfortable environment. I thought it would be good to experience something new and that it would be the best way to get the most out of myself and my career. I wanted to put myself out there and say that I tried.”
An opportunity to move on came in 2011 when Ingham and his wife, Danielle Rowe, joined Stanton Welch’s Houston Ballet. Ingham acknowledges Welch for giving them both the opportunity to move and admits that there were a lot of unknowns for them but both are glad they took the opportunity.
So how do they manage now that they have both made another move and Rowe is in Europe and Ingham in the United States?
“Being away from each other is hard, but we are both really happy with our decisions. We were both at very different points in our careers. I know that when it comes time for us to retire, having done this will help us retire as happy dancers.
Our relationship is strengthened because we have both been able to achieve what we wanted and still stay together.”
Will he come back to Australia? Ingham says he would love to work with the Australian Ballet again and would also like to see the Queensland Ballet under Li Cunxin.
In the meantime he loves working with SFB, which he describes as a very strong group of dancers, and loves living in San Francisco with its relaxed lifestyle that feels a little like Australia.
This article was first published in the June-July 2013 issue of Dance Australia.