Klimentova in Reviews Our ENB page

Daria Klimentova is a marvellous Principal dancer, though you may be forgiven for not knowing this - there being so few reviewers who see ENB other than on the 'big' opening night. If not now, word is certainly starting to spread as she becomes more well known and ballet lovers seek out her performances and the neat classical perfection - and sense of enjoyment - they embody.

In many respects we, and she, are lucky to have her in ballet. Born in Prague she started in gymnastics aged 5 and as part of that did ballet for all of one hour a week. An enlightened teacher talent-spotted her and suggested to her parents that she might do better in ballet:

“They asked me if I would like to do it and I asked if I can still keep my legs up!? They said yes, of course you can, and I said OK - I don't mind! But I had never seen ballet before - and I was enrolled in the ballet school doing classes!”

This was aged 10. The Czech training is based on the Russian model in which students are taught from 10 through to 18. They don't have our equivalent of White Lodge for younger students and also they don't allow students to finish their training ahead of 18.

Perhaps not unsurprisingly she hated the first 2 years of training:

“After being a gymnast, and flick-flaks, it's boring to just do battement tendu's - really boring. But then we start to do repertoire and variations and I fall in love with it completely.”

“I was in the school from 8 o'clock in the morning until 8 o'clock in the evening. I came home and I was still dancing at home ... I wasn't tired at all - it's a little worse now!!”

The training included not just technique but also acting and choreography - though she confides that Christopher Hampson, in whose last piece for ENB (Concerto Grosso) she took the lead, has nothing to worry about!

At 14 she was singled out for special training to become a principal dancer, although by tradition 'soloist' is the highest rank in Czechoslovakia. Klimentova got lots of extra private tuition and at 17 entered the Prix de Lausanne, her first international competition, and duly won.

What's nice is that her class - 15 in all - were all behind her, despite all the extra attention she got: “They really supported me. Always when I came back from some competition they would put in the changing room 'Welcome back' and there would be balloons everywhere. Really nice!”. Not surprisingly they still meet up most years.

After college Klimentova joined the Czech national company - actually called the National Theatre of Prague Company, where she spent 3 years learning what being a principal (soloist in their terms) is about. At the same time she was still entering competitions including one she won in South Africa. Immediately a year's contract was offered with the Cape Town company.

South Africa was fun, because all she did was principal level roles but she missed seeing other companies and having a wider artistic base:

“You know you need to feed yourself with something else (in order) to be able to produce what you do on stage.”

Galina Samsova was also at the competition in Pretoria and a little later she offered a position with Scottish Ballet. Klimentova jumped at it and was there for 3 years before joining ENB in 1996.

Whereas all her other jobs had come as offers to her she consciously decided that it would be nice to work in London and to check-out ENB as the next step onwards. She remembers first going to see Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur in the ENB Nutcracker at the Festival Hall - "They were marvellous and I really enjoyed seeing the company".

Daria Klimentova enjoying cafe society
click on picture to download a 600KB moving image of Daria

Later she dropped in to see the company one Saturday “and David Wall was there and he said ‘Of course - come in and look around’. And he was so friendly. So I did class and I had a good look around and I liked it.”

She sent in a tape audition to Derek Deane and got the job offer immediately.

So 3 years in is she happy at ENB? “I am happy. I feel like I haven't achieved everything in this company yet. Whether I will achieve everything I don't know.” The one thing she would really love is some first nights and a wider range of choreography - so just what all dancers say then!

If Daria produced great performances she is the first to admit that it's down to teamwork. First and foremost she has built up a terrific relationship with David Wall, the ENB Ballet Master and her teacher in many roles:

“He is a great person. During these 3 years we kind of build relationship at work where he knows me so well. When he can push me and when not - exactly! It's amazing, sometimes even I don't know and he knows me more than I do myself - frightening!”

“I hate rehearsing. Not because I'm lazy - I mean I am! - but because its not the same feeling.”

But getting things right is a two way process and they discuss different approaches and try things in the studio; “And then he honestly tells. He doesn't give me any bullshit!”

Having feedback - good, bad, indifferent - is crucial and she thinks a great deal about her work. So does this mean that she changes things every night?

“Yes definitely. Otherwise you would get bored with it. You have to try to do every show just a little bit different. Not to change the steps, but the feelings and just to play with it. That's what's enjoyable - it's you who is on the stage and you can do anything you want. I love that”

“But some nights it's difficult you know. The audience just sitting there - it's really difficult! But you have to first feel it yourself and then the audience can feel it. If you don't feel it, they don't feel anything - it could wait forever.”

It may come as a surprise but the ENB 'in the round' productions at the Albert Hall are not so easy because the audience generally feels much further away than dancers are used to. It's a surprise to me because the first few rows of seats are so close to the stage and all enveloping too. But when you do start 'communicating' with 5,000 people that's a hell of a big buzz. She also well remembers falling over in the Swan Lake Act III fouettes during the recent Australian tour:

“I did a triple pirouette and suddenly I was siting on my bum in the tutu. I don't know how. I just start to laugh and it was terrible. But they loved it and I suddenly had everybody on my side”

Of the classical roles she loves Juliet but just prefers Marguerite in a Czech production of the Lady of the Camellias. More dramatic roles please! For somebody so technically clean and pure it comes as a surprise to learn that she is not quite so enamoured with Sleeping Beauty for example: “.. you can't really do so much with it can you?”

If this sounds a heresy to some it's worth knowing that Daria deliberately chose in favour of classical ballet when she had an opportunity to join Kylian at Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT). “But I don't just want to do classical ballet or just his stuff. I want to do both. But it's difficult to find.”

“I would like Kylian to do some choreography for me - that is my dream. But you can dream forever!”

She enjoyed dancing in Glen Tetley's Sphinx and also in Hampson's Concerto Grosso. But having passed over an opportunity of working in Kylian's company her greatest dream is to have Kylian choreograph something for her. Well you never know what may happen in an increasingly more adventurous ENB....

Outside of dance Daria is rather into graphic design and computers. For those in the know we are talking about Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop - I wish I had those I thought! However I am a webmaster and Daria is keen to pick my brains about web sites because she wants to create one of her own. It's currently under construction as they say, but we will add details as soon as the first few pages are finished. I predict some photo-montages!

But when we meet there are bigger things on Daria's mind - within the week she is to get married. Her 'man' is not a dancer and she likes being able to go home and talk about something other than ballet. "I would go mad!" she says to emphasise the point before going on to say “But I think about my work a lot - of course!”