Oberon's Grove: Interview: Duncan Lyle

One of the most rewarding aspects of blogging is connecting with people around the world who are involved in music and dance either as performers, creative artists or simply as passionate admirers. Every once in a while I connect with someone whose story seems of particular interest; one such young person is Duncan Lyle a 20-year-old dancer from Victoria, Australia who recently graduated from the Royal Ballet School and is on the brink of his professional career. Photo above and headshot of Duncan are by Johan Persson.

After corresponding with him via e-mail, I decided that Duncan's story was something to share so I crafted our correspondence into an interview, adding several questions to fill in the details of his journey from Australia to Boston Ballet:

Q: What are your earliest recollections of wanting to dance?

A: I think I was so young that I can’t even remember. I have always wanted to dance. I don’t think there’s at any time been any other route for me.

Q: How (and where) did you come to take your first ballet class?

A: After years of asking my mum to take me to ballet (she initially thought it was just a passing phase), she took me to Camberwell District Ballet School (which is now the Russian Choreographic Academy). It was nerve-wracking! Right at the last minute I decided I didn’t want to go anymore but my mum made me because she knew I’d be nagging her again in two weeks if I didn’t.

Q: Were your family supportive of your interest in ballet?

A: As far as I know they have always been very supportive of me. There were never any un-supportive statements and I think it was always assumed that this is what I was going to do. My dad has shown me great support by actually paying for me to live in London and attend the Royal Ballet School!

Q: Did you experience any harassment or teasing from your peers/mates as a young boy wanting to dance?

A: I kept the fact that I danced pretty much a secret. When I started, I let everybody know and for a couple of years, strangely enough at an all-boys school, it was perfectly accepted! But as soon as I got an inkling that it was going to be a problem with some kids, I told everyone I quit and kept my dancing life separate from my private life. I was 16 when I finally felt ready to tell people. I started out by telling my friends who didn’t even bat an eyelid and then gradually it became publicly known. I then ended up dancing for everyone at a school assembly which was met with much enthusiasm and admiration – especially with the older students. So it was never really a big problem for me.

Q: You were at the Camberwell District Ballet School starting at age 8. How was your daily routine different from that of other kids your age?

A: The training I received at Camberwell District Ballet School was pretty grueling and intense, even at such a young age and I was in there for two hours about four times a week. I guess most eight-year-olds go home, watch TV, play computer games, do a little homework and perhaps go off to footy or cricket practice once or twice a week. I got home, got changed and went into a very strict and disciplined environment! But thanks to ballet, my mates were very impressed at how far I could kick a football!

Q: As a young dance student, what were some of the influences in deciding to pursue dance as a career? Were you able to see much "live" ballet or was your experience mostly from watching videos/DVDs?

A: I didn’t actually see that much live ballet when I was younger. I remember seeing The Red Shoes and Don Quixote when I was very little but I think the main reason I decided to pursue dance as a career was the actual dancing itself rather than being inspired by outside sources.

Q: What things came easily to you as a dancer and what things were more difficult to master?

A: Beats! I don’t think that there’s anyone who will disagree that beats are my strongest point and I love them! In fact, I really love allegro in general. My weaknesses are definitely flexibility and adagio. I still really need to work on them – I am far from mastering them!

Q: As a tall dancer, you must be looked on as a favoured man in partnering class. Tell us about partnering and whether it comes naturally to you. Do you go to the gym to build upper body strength?

A: Height actually isn’t what girls favour at all when it comes to partnering – it’s strength! We get allocated maybe two or three partners to work with for the year according to heights and it is up to us to be strong enough to lift them. We had gym classes at school twice a week but it was expected of us to do more in our own time because twice a week is just not enough. This is something I really struggled with! Finding the motivation to push myself to get stronger and therefore pas de deux didn’t come naturally to me. But my partner and I worked like dogs throughout third year and it paid off – pas de deux was my best final result.

Q: Tell us about auditioning for the Royal Ballet School.

A: After having an exam at Camberwell District Ballet School, the examiner, Jacqui Dumont, suggested to me that I should audition for the Royal Ballet Upper School and organized an audition time with Gailene Stock. So I flew all the way over to London with my parents in January (I’d never experienced cold like that before in my life!) and took a class with the first year boys at the time. I was so unbelievably nervous warming up before class with a whole room of boys I didn’t know. I was used to being the only boy in the room when it came to ballet. But I did my best and after the class, Miss Stock called me into her office and offered me a place in first year the following year! I was so excited and nervous that I barely said anything.

Q: Tell us about living in London as a teenager; were you on your own or did you have connections there? How did your family feel about your going off to a far away city?

A: I knew only one person before I went to London who was my guardian. Apart from that I knew nobody! Luckily, there was a boarding house for all first years to live in so by the time second year came about and we had to find our own flats, I had made some very strong friendships. I think my mum was more nervous than I was about me living in London! However, both my parents were very supportive and knew that this was the only way I was going to be able to live my dream.

Q: Who were the strongest influences or sources of inspiration for you during your time at the Royal Ballet School?

A: I think my biggest inspiration throughout my time at the Royal Ballet School was David Peden, my second year teacher. He has had the biggest influence on my technique and my style of dancing. He always pushes and pushes to make you the best and cleanest dancer you can be.

Q: You have had quite a bit of performing experience both at the School and appearing in productions by The Royal Ballet. What do you remember about being onstage with the Royal as a young dancer for the first time?

A: The first thing I ever did on stage with the Royal Ballet School was the waltz from Sir Frederick Ashton’s Swan Lake which is a lovely and fun piece but I only remember two things from the first performance: being in the wings holding my partner’s hand absolutely petrified that I was going to fall over just waiting for the music to start,'and then towards the end I had to stand by myself for a moment before continuing the dance and I didn’t stand far enough out and almost got a cabriole in the face by another boy!

Q: One entry on your CV that piqued my interest was the demonstration at Pavlova's home, Ivy House in 2008. Tell us about that experience.

A: That was such a wonderful opportunity. A cross section of the school (three boys from upper school, three girls from upper school and two girls from lower school and two boys from lower school) were chosen to present master classes in centre work and pas de deux work at Ivy House which is Anna Pavlova’s old home and now the London Jewish Cultural Centre. It was definitely the home of a star and it was amazing to see pictures of her and her swans throughout the entire house!

Photo: Anna Pavlova with her Siamese cat at Ivy House.

Q: You sent me a wonderful video clip of yourself dancing at the Assemblee Internationale in Toronto in 2009. Was that your first visit to the Americas?

A: I actually went to Canada and the US with my parents and brother when I was fifteen. I was absolutely in awe the whole time! We went to New York, LA, Las Vegas and Toronto but the best part of the whole trip was definitely the unforgettable Times Square.

~ Watch Duncan performing in Sasha Riva's WORDS UNSAID at the Assemblee Internationale, Toronto 2009. He's the boy in the black shirt in the film. ~

Q: Tell us about the Russian Choreographic Academy.

A: The Russian Choreographic Academy is a new, full-time school founded by the director of my old school, Susan Thomson. It has elite teachers who have all graduated from either the Moscow school or the Vaganova school. They asked me to choreograph a contemporary piece for the senior students which was fantastic – they are truly a gifted bunch of dancers – and also to guest as Franz in Coppélia for their annual performance. It was great being able to finally do full grand pas de deux and perform a principal role!

Q: Your CV shows that you have also been working as a choreographer. Is that a requirement of being at the School or something that you took on out of personal interest?

A: I started re-choreographing the dances that we were taught for our end-of-year performances when I was nine and one day even accidentally did my version of the Garland Waltz in rehearsal! I think the want to choreograph has been in me just as long as the want to dance and it’s definitely going to be part of my career. There are mandatory choreography lessons in first year but after that there are just so many great opportunities to choreograph at school which I completely took advantage of. One of the proudest moments of my life was receiving an award for choreographic development in 2009.

Q: What choreographers working today do you especially admire?

A: I would have to say that I admire Liam Scarlett and the way he uses a strict classical idiom in a completely different way and always creates something nobody has done before.

Q: Tell us about your experiences auditioning for ballet companies. You have been offered a contract at Boston Ballet. Tell us about connecting there and the audition process.

A: At the start of third year we were asked to compile a list of companies we were planning to audition for. This list was then looked at by the director and several adjustments were made whether it was adding more companies or removing companies from your list. From then on it was all up to us! We had to find out if the company was holding open auditions and apply for them (and if not, ask for private auditions), book our flights and then do our best! We all automatically get auditioned for the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet throughout our time at the school, but apart from that I also auditioned for English National Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet in Munich, Dutch National Ballet and Boston Ballet. Boston Ballet was holding open auditions in several places around Europe and they were auditioning the same weekend as Dutch National Ballet. Although we were encouraged to audition for European companies, I had always wanted to work in America and couldn’t miss this opportunity. There must have been 100 people in the room when I took class (and there were two other classes besides the one I took!) and luckily enough I was the only boy to make it to allegro. After the class I was offered a place with Boston Ballet 2 which I was very excited about, but a week later I got a phone call saying that a place had opened up in the corps de ballet of Boston Ballet and they would like me to fill it!

Q: What do you like to do when you aren't dancing?

A: Music! Music, music, music! I’m a music nut. Not only listening to it but writing it as well. I love composing! Besides that, I guess I’m just your average 20-year-old guy! At the moment what I’m doing while I’m not dancing is watching Nip/Tuck.

Q: What one piece of advice would you give to young people who are dreaming of a career in dance?

A: Do what your heart tells you to do. Always do what you want or you will be unhappy. Work intelligently and hard, and apply every correction you get!