Tamara Rojo

b. 1974
Spanish-born principal ballerina of the Royal Ballet

Tamara Rojo - pronounced HRrrrocko and meaning Red in Spanish - trained at Victor Ullate’s school in Madrid. At the age of 20 she won the Gold Medal and Critics’ Award at the 1994 Paris Concours.

She has danced with the Ballet de la Communidad de Madrid (Giselle), Scottish Ballet (Odette/Odile, Sugar Plum Fairy, La Sylphide, Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet) and the ballet company of Nice Opera (Le Tricorne, Bleu Danube). She was a member of English National Ballet from 1997-2000, her repertory including Aurora, The Sphinx, Voluntaries, Michael Corder’s Cinderella, Odette/Odile, Paquita, Coppélia, Etudes, Sugar Plum Fairy and The Rite of Spring. She has had roles created for her by José Pares (adaptation of Coppélia), Victor Ullate (Volando hacia la luz, Concierto para tres), Derek Deane (Clara in Nutcracker, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet) and Christopher Hampson (Perpetuum mobil, Preludes).

Tamara's hallmark is an impressively precise, smooth and musical technique coupled with excellent dramatic acting. She was made a principal after receiving great critical acclaim for her Clara in Nutcracker and before that her Odette/Odile caused a stir within the company. But being made a principal was not expected; she was doing principal roles but expected to make steady progress from soloist onwards. However, Deane clearly saw her gift and while others might have vacillated (and risked losing her) he made the swift decision. How was she made up? "He called me. I go up to company office and he just tell me he wanted to promote me to principal" - 'And what did you say?' - "nothing really - I said thank you!".

For somebody so seemingly associated with the classical repertoire it was surprising to learn that this style of ballet is relatively new to her. For five years, until 1996, she was with Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid, a company very much associated with its Director's distinctive repertoire. "I made the decision that I don't want to do just one kind of ballet. So I thought I need a change and I need to try a classical repertoire while I'm young and able to learn and to change myself."

Galina Samsova, the former Artistic Director) of Scottish Ballet was instrumental in getting Tamara to the UK as a guest artist. Samsova invited Tamara to Scottish Ballet after Tamara won the Paris competition. Tamara danced the lead in Scottish Ballet's La Sylphide and it was one of the last things she did with them. Her contract with Scottish Ballet finished and the next day she was in English National Ballet.

She arrived at ENB towards the end of a season, in time for the company's small tours, where they split into two companies and tour small theatres. They would arrive, do a dress rehearsal and performance the first day and two performances the next day. Because Daria Klimentova and Marta Barahona went off injured, she ended up doing four pas de deux a performance, eight a day - Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty and two modern pas de deux.

She danced the classics at ENB, a new production of Nutcracker where Clara was created on her and the Albert Hall version of Romeo and Juliet (left). She found this similar to Cranko's in mood, as Derek Deane had known MacMillan's and there are similarities between MacMillan's and Cranko's. Tamara is unusual in having danced three versions of Juliet. The difficult part is learning the steps to the same music when they are very similar. Its easy if they are very different. But "Juliet is the same at heart". Cranko's and MacMillan's are more romantic. Derek Deane's is more modern, especially in Juliet's private moments. Deane wanted this to be rougher, more up to date - for example in the poison scene.

Because ENB has to make money, its repertoire became very repetitive. Tamara realised she had had enough. In the summer of 1999, Monica Mason came to rehearse MacMillan's Rite of Spring. This was another awakening. Tamara realised she wanted to dance more MacMillan, so she contacted Anthony Dowell, but all Royal Ballet contracts were taken. Dowell said he would get back to her if the opportunity arose, but she didn't expect it to happen. Monica came back to ENB at Christmas 1999 for final rehearsals of Rite of Spring and asked if she still wanted to join. She was offered a contract for the following September.

At the end of the ENB season, Tamara went back to Spain on holiday where she received a call asking if she would come and dance the last night of the Royal's Giselle as Darcey Bussell was injured. It was a very different production from those she had danced in Spain and Cuba. She was coached by Donald Macleary and had Inaki Urlezaga as a partner.

Tamara's first season with the Royal was very classical, including Swan Lake, Ondine, Romeo and Juliet, Shadowplay, Giselle, Song of the Earth and Symphonic Variations. Shadowplay was fun, a bit of a joke. She was only on for a couple of minutes. In contrast, Song of the Earth is beautiful, poetry. She danced it with Carlos Acosta and Jonathan Cope. She really likes Ondine, but hated the music when she first heard it. She hates counting - she just doesn't do it. In Ondine the counts are irregular - the choreologist would say 7, 9, 5, 8 - "I can't even remember my telephone number". Gradually she got involved in the role by watching videos. Then she had Donald Macleary coaching and it was totally different. It's a tender and sweet ballet, that she really enjoyed.

Aside from developing her classical side, Tamara has wider ambitions. "I would love to do Mats Ek. A great choreographer and I always, always wanted to go off and work with him. He doesn't even know me, but maybe one day I will be able to do it. Hope so. He is very modern in the steps and in the way of using your body - he makes you move EVERYTHING! And he uses every muscle. But the story he uses are very dramatic - its not like Balanchine's way of music and steps." Ek for example had choreographed versions of Carmen and Giselle and also a ballet based on Lorca's La Casa de Bernarda Alba (MacMillan's Las Hermanas is based on the same story).

Tamara also likes Bejart. "From the dancer's point of view he is a very enjoyable choreographer. But the public doesn't necessarily like it as much as we do! I always remember the first time (I saw him). I was 9 and went to see Bejart in Madrid. He did Bolero (and some other dramatic pieces). When everybody left they were singing and dancing Bolero in the street. Waiting for the bus it was the same. I love that because he makes everybody feel happy when they left. And everybody get involved in the night."

Despite Tamara's wish to work with modern repertory as well as the older pieces, the list of roles she wants to do is rather more traditional than new; Mayerling, Manon, Onegin, Carmen and Don Quixote. Given the Spanish background the Don Quixote seems so right and she is said to be blistering in the wedding pas de deux: another joy to look forward to in future years.

As she talks about her rise through the British companies, there is clear surprise at how things have turned out. "You don't have to realise - its natural and you don't have to think about it. I just feel really, really nice in a ballet class. I still enjoy it and like the atmosphere of a ballet class. The music, the concentration and the feeling in your self. It's not that you realise you're going to be a dancer, you just wish you're going to be a dancer. You don't wish to be a principal or a star. You just wish to dance".