Anna Rose O’Sullivan is a Principal dancer at Royal Ballet, an incredibly prestigious position to have which nevertheless has a few challenges. Like, running through the labyrinthine corridors around the Royal Opera House because you’re in three productions at the same time.
“My brain is on fire at the moment,” she says, “I'm currently performing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Ballet to Broadway, celebrating Christopher Wheeldon's works - within 24 hours, I'm putting on a different wig, a different character, different partner, different score, very different story - and then there’s also Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to close the season. t's a very busy, patch, but it’s exciting.”
Exciting indeed, but speaking to O’Sullivan it is apparent she is operating with next level commitment, dedication, athleticism and, well, joy. While the popular perception of ballet dancers veers between ‘delicate flowers’ and ‘Black Swan maniacs’, the truth seems to be that at the very top it’s simply a lot of work but with the immense payoff rush of performance as a reward. No room for either of those extremes when you’ve got all these huge productions to deliver.
“I think your ability to deal with the physical demands naturally builds up with the time in the rehearsal studio, and with your partner and your coaches and the choreographer,” says O’Sullivan of her preparation for her roles, “Also familiarizing yourself with the score, I find really important. I do lot of visualization and study the history of whatever we're performing. With the team, there’s the wigs, the makeup, the hair, the, the costumes, the fittings, making sure that every detail is perfect. It's a team effort.
But on a personal note I'm an athlete as well as an artist, so, it's making sure that I feel strong enough to get through the evening and be in peak condition to really give it my best. One of the demands of being a dancer is making sure that I recover well. I do a lot of Pilates and physiotherapy, and work muscles differently depending on the choreography and its demands. And I work closely with the healthcare team to sort of devise a plan for each role.
It's not just what you see on the stage, it's all the work that goes on behind it.”
Given this, I’d venture that the profession ballet dancing has most in common with is building: it’s good, honest hard work.
Certainly keeping down to earth is important to O’Sullivan. She’s from Ickenham in Greater London and doesn’t come from a family of performers, just “a very normal family.” And she retains an ability to return to that world each night: “I can be on the Royal Ballet stage, expressing myself, in a cathartic way, but when I leave I’m just me.”
Yet this is also artistry, creation and action, and she was using the fireplace hearth at home as a stage since she was 4, putting on shows for the adults, and always enjoying the feeling, “the bug found me.” She initially went a musical theatre route before hitting upon ballet but the rush of being on stage and losing herself in the roles and feeling people enjoying it, is what has always driven her.
“I definitely feed off the energy of the audience,” she says, “Once you have an audience in front of you and you feel that visceral kind of energy exchange, if that makes sense, you definitely get a buzz that makes me more energetic. If I feel from them that they're enjoying it, it feeds me more. It’s an amazing feeling, and that's for sure the reason that I do it.
That’s why I put myself through the hours of training and the rigorous regime, because for those moments on stage, it's completely 100% worth it.”
It’s kind of exhilaration – a totality of expression, physical, emotional, artistic – that few of us feel, and many of us seek, but refreshingly O’Sullivan never takes it for granted. She says she considers her job as not a God-given right to swagger around with, more of a duty to fulfil and to set an example for others. Especially against a background of arts cuts.
“Art is definitely a vital part of society, and we see it through hard times as well, that art is something that brings joy,” she says, “I see it as my job personally, that I can be an escape for people in their lives. Something that they can join and see and enjoy. Art is vital to life, really. And coming to the theatre unites people.”
As principal dancer, she says she considers it her duty to, “give it my absolute everything,” onstage but also be a source of inspiration to others. “In dancing but also as a person. I hope younger generations have someone to relate to.”
Romeo and Juliet is the absolute Royal Ballet classic which she has performed in many times – “the dream for any dancer” - and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is another big family fave. But she’s particularly relishing Ballet to Broadway, which she’s enjoying as a return to her musical theatre routes, the West End stages that she stepped onto from her fireplace hearth.
“It's effectively an evening celebrating Christopher Wheldon's works,” she says, ““It includes a number of pieces including Fool's Paradise, alongside two duets; The Two of Us and Us, and closes with An American in Paris, which won so many Tony awards. It’s set to Gershwin's music, and is inspired by the 1951 film, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron.
It’s a very jazzy, exciting evening, that combines the energy of musical theatre, with contemporary ballet. It’s been a breath of fresh air to dance to. I started off in the West End as a child performing, so for me it’s a nice nod to the beginnings, and to now revisit that, as a principal ballerina.”
The sheer diversity of the roles makes for an exciting career to say the least, giving her an opportunity to feel that cathartic buzz while imparting her knowledge onto the new generation. That mix of living in the moment along with responsibility for those that follow, is the very heart of the Principal Ballerina role. The mad dash between rehearsal roles is all part of the fun and the duty.
“On the advice front,” she says, “I would say it’s important to not lose the thing that makes you individual and special. And equally respect and be kind to people around you. You might be holding the stage but there’s so many people that make it happen.
And I think treat others like we'd like to be treated. That advice came from my mum, and I still take that now. In any industry, I think it follows.”
Anna Rose O’Sullivan is appearing in Ballet to Broadway, Romeo and Juliet and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at Royal Ballet and Opera.
