| Dancer in the Spotlight - Esteban Berlanga |
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Since joining English National Ballet he has been a notable presence in a variety of roles and we have chosen to feature him now as he has been very prominently in the spotlight for the last 18 months. In one year he debuted in three great male leading roles – Prince Siegfried, Prince Désiré and Des Grieux – and was one of three nominees for the Classical Male Spotlight award at the 2008 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. Since joining English National Ballet Esteban Berlanga has been a notable presence in a variety of roles and we have chosen to feature him now as he has been very prominently in the spotlight for the last 18 months. In one year he debuted in three great male leading roles – Prince Siegfried, Prince Désiré and Des Grieux – and was one of three nominees for the Classical Male Spotlight award at the 2008 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. Esteban began dancing at an early age but did not study classical ballet until some years later. He trained in Spain at the Conservatorio Profesional de Musica y Danze de Albacete and Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Madrid and danced with Europa Danse from 2003 to 2005. Esteban took first prize in the 2006 Castilla-La Mancha dance competition and joined English National Ballet in the same year. His debut as Prince Siegfried in January 2008 was made while he was still an Artist of the Company and in July last year Esteban was promoted to First Artist. Roles he has enjoyed dancing with English National Ballet include Ben Stevenson’s Three Preludes and David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to my Skin which he danced at this year’s Houston Dance Salad. David chose Esteban for his newly commissioned work, Faun(e), which premiered on 16 June at Sadler’s Wells where he also debuted The Poet in Les Sylphides. With a busy rehearsal schedule Esteban has not had very much time to relax recently but we managed to find a quiet moment and asked him to tell us more about himself. The house I grew up in… I grew up in a little village called Motilleja near Albacete, Spain, where there are no more than 600 inhabitants. At the age of nine my mother, my three brothers and I all moved to the city of Albacete because I started my first ballet class there. At the age of 16 I moved to Madrid to continue my ballet training. I found the move very hard: there were so many new things for me to adjust to and I was missing my family a lot. I still miss them, they are so important to me. When I was a child I wanted to be… I was really sure I wanted to be a dancer, but a flamenco dancer as I did not know then what classical ballet was. I remember when I was a child my parents would go to work by car quite late in the evening. Before they left they would put the headlights on and I would always be in front of the car doing dance moves, looking at my shadow on the floor. That’s when my mother knew I should be a dancer, because she would be inside the car, sitting there, watching me. I knew I wanted to dance… I always knew, from the beginning, even when I was a little kid I already knew. I really enjoyed doing shows for my mum in the living room, but just to my mum, not anybody else as I was too shy. My brothers would always laugh at me when I was dancing and then I would get angry with them. I really knew when I first learnt a typical dance from the south of Spain, the Sevillianas and performed this in public in my home village. This was my first contact with the stage and costumes; I will never forget this flamenco dance and how exciting it was to perform in front of the audience in Motilleja. My greatest inspiration… I think is my mum; I really like the expression on her face when she is watching me dancing. Also all my family and friends give me support and make me feel strong enough to keep going every day. I have to say that my first teacher, Chon López really touched and influenced me. She taught me all my technique at the barre and taught me to do everything correctly even when I couldn’t really do it. It was very intense but at the end I really loved the hard work. I have to say a big thank you to her for training me so well. My favourite aspect of working for English National Ballet… I think the touring is good for young dancers like me. English National Ballet gives so many performances as it tours this country and overseas that there are many opportunities for new people. Also, I think the people working in the Company are very nice and the other dancers are always very helpful if you have a problem with something. I really enjoy working with English National Ballet and feel lucky to have been given the chance to dance so many roles so soon – Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty and Des Grieux in Manon – as well as dancing in David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to my Skin and the new Faun(e) he is creating on me and a dancer from his company in Dresden for our summer Ballets Russes Season at Sadler’s Wells. If I could change one thing about myself… As a person I don’t want to change anything. I just want to be the best I can be with all the things I have been given, in real life and also on the stage. You know me as a dancer but in another life I’d have been… I was a musician when I was seven years’ old. I play the trombone and my brother the trumpet. The trombone was bigger than me and I didn’t play so well as I didn’t like to study, it was too boring! You wouldn’t know it but I’m very good at… making friends. At the beginning I am a bit shy but then I really enjoy getting to know more about them. You wouldn’t know it but I am very bad at… Cooking. I really like food but someone has to do it for me – I’m dangerous in the kitchen! My English is quite bad as well, but everyone knows so we can usually work it out. As a dancer I think I’m not as good at virtuoso steps as I should be but I’m working on them. The most surprising thing that happened to me was… It was when I was already at English National Ballet, in 2007, when our Artistic Director Wayne Eagling told me, in front of all the ballet staff, that I would be dancing Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake at the London Coliseum. I was in shock; I had never thought that I would do a role like that so soon in my career. I have to say thank you to Wayne and to the ballet staff for this opportunity and for all the help they gave me in preparing for my performances. It was also a big surprise and an honour to be nominated in January for the Classical Male Spotlight award at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards 2008. If I have time to myself… I like to watch movies, chat with my friends by internet and go out for a beer. I also like to swim but I’m normally too tired to do it! In ten years time, I hope to be… I would like to be a repetiteur in a ballet company and have my own ballet school in Spain near my family. |
