Dancing with the New York City Ballet is
a dream come true for Sean Suozzi.
"It’s always been something I wanted to do, and I get to
dance a lot," the 23-year-old Cobble Hill resident explained
between rehearsals at Lincoln Center.
"I started dancing when I was 7 years old, in Connecticut,
where I’m from," said Suozzi. "My sister was taking
classes and I would go with my mother when she went to pick her
up, and my mother could tell that I was interested. So she asked
me if I wanted to start dancing, and I said I did."
As a member of the Corps de Ballet, Suozzi is part of a close-knit
ensemble that could be considered the unsung hero of the company
– the members of the corps don’t get as many chances to individually
shine as do the principal dancers, but they are the backbone.
Performance after performance, throughout the season, the Corps
de Ballet does the unheralded work that true dance aficionados
appreciate as much as they do the stellar soloists.
Suozzi’s hard work intensifies throughout the City Ballet’s season,
a season broken into two parts since it shares the State Theater
with New York City Opera. After the opera’s fall season ends,
the ballet performs from December through February; after the
opera’s spring season ends, the ballet performs from April through
the end of June. (New York City Ballet holds its summer residency
at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, in August.)
"Each day starts with class in the morning, then rehearsal
pretty much goes all day long," said Suozzi, who joined
the company in 2000 after attending City Ballet’s school for
a year. "Then there’s a performance at night [and matinees
on Saturday and Sunday]. Since we’re doing so many ballets, we’re
learning the new dances a week or two before each performance.
So we’re basically performing and rehearsing and learning new
ballets. I pretty much dance every night."
This season, Suozzi’s workload has been, as he notes, "more
concentrated and heavy-duty than usual" because City Ballet
has been celebrating the centenary of the birth of George Balanchine,
the choreographic genius whose groundbreaking work with the company
put him – and City Ballet – on the map many years ago.
For the "Balanchine 100" celebration, the company is
performing some 50 dances choreographed by the master himself.
"We’re doing about 15 ballets more than we do in a typical
season," Suozzi says. "The programs always have three
or four ballets on them, and each ballet would usually be performed
four or five times, but this season, because there are so many
more ballets to do, we’ll perform each dance only three times."
In a season filled with so many masterpieces of movement and
music, Suozzi definitely has his personal preferences.
"I’m really looking forward to the ’Stravinsky Violin Concerto’
[June 26 and 27], which is one of my all-time favorites. I’m
really excited to do the Stravinsky because the music and the
choreography go really well together; it’s just a lot of fun."
Suozzi also had the chance to perform in other ballets for the
first time this season, such as "Union Jack" in May.
"That’s something I wanted to do, since I had always liked
it when I saw others do it, and this season was the first time
I had the chance to do it.
"Being a student at the school before joining the company,
I’d see all these ballets performed, so it was always a dream
of mine [to perform them]," he said. "When you’re a
student, you always have your favorites that you hope you can
do when you’re part of the company."
Suozzi’s true coup is that he’s performed in all three world-premiere
dances that City Ballet unveiled this spring: in May, there was
City Ballet Resident Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet
set to music by Scottish composer James MacMillan; June 2 saw
the first performance of "Chichester Psalms," choreographed
by Peter Martins to Leonard Bernstein’s music; and on June 18,
Russian Boris Eifman’s new work, "Musagete."
Unfortunately, before he can discuss these new dances, Suozzi
has to end the interview so he can run off to a costume fitting
for his next rehearsal. When asked if this nonstop work takes
a mental and physical toll, he acknowledged as much, then demurred.
"Yes, it’s hard, but we do have each other," he said.
"When we come from the school together, then are in the
company together, we become a good support group for each other."
So when is it time to relax? "Mondays, it’s dark,"
he said. "That’s our day off."
The New York City Ballet performs at
the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center through June 27.
The program on Saturday, June 26 at 2 pm includes: Circus Polka,
Romeo and Juliet, Valse-Fantaisie, Opus 19/The Dreamer and Cortège
Hongrois and at 8 pm: Circus Polka, Concerto for Two Solo Pianos
and Stravinsky Violin Concerto. On Sunday, June 27, at 3 pm,
the program includes: Cortège Hongrois, Stravinsky Violin
Concerto and Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3. Tickets are $32-$70, with
$10 student rush tickets available. For more information, visit
www.nycballet.com.
