Parker Performances Parker Reviews

Robert Parker must be adrenalin mad. How else do you describe somebody who, when not on stage, likes rock climbing, riding roller coasters and the odd excursion in an acrobatic plane? As we talk he looks fresh faced and kind of comfortable, but one senses a bit of urgency and a feeling that perhaps he should be elsewhere perfecting this or that role - or possibly cave diving perhaps: quite a good one for adrenalin, one gathers. For his girlfriend's sake I decide not to mention it. Doubtless David Bintley (his Artistic Director) will also be relieved.

Parker is one of Birmingham Royal Ballet's (BRB) rising young stars. He left the Royal Ballet School only 4 years ago and on Wednesday he performs his first Romeo with Rachel Peppin (on 22nd October 98 at the Bristol Hippodrome matinee. {*}). To say its a major role for any dancer is rather an understatement, and that he has been given it so relatively young is obviously a mark of Bintley's confidence in him.

"I can really jump around, that's my forte as a dancer."

It's perhaps less of a surprise for those who have tracked his dancing at BRB and seen him respond to new roles with such confidence, energy and commitment. It also has to be said that he is rather fancied by ladies in the audience and more than a few offered to take him under their wing when they learned I was interviewing him! However I thought it best not to burden him with this interesting information when we met.

The Romeo casting was a surprise for Parker - he thought perhaps a Mercutio or some such. However he looks settled into the decision and you sense he has the confidence to go and do anything and ask for anything in life. Of course it's the role he always wanted to do, and his first reaction was to think about getting in shape for it. Hence frequent visits to the gym and the rock climbing - in the gym also and with a safety harness thank goodness.

It's Rachel Peppin's first Juliet, and Parker for one is pleased that they can both work on it together rather than one being dominant, having performed it a time or two before: "We've got a much more give-and-take relationship." The partnering is the thing of course, and something he wishes perhaps there were more training in at school. But he describes himself as a "... quick learner, with a lot of energy... Everyone says that my energy level is the thing that really stands out." He'll be fine.

Parker's clarity and confidence were not perhaps always there. Oh no. And with a smile he tells of how he wet himself during his first class! "I remember that vividly. I was too shy to ask if I could go to the toilet...." He was 7 and had got dragged along with his older sisters to the local school in Hull. Despite this interesting start, he enjoyed it and before he knew it there was interest from the Royal Ballet School (RBS) at White Lodge. One of his sisters was there but left (er.. thrown out is the less sentimental way he mentions it) because her proportions were deemed wrong by the school. What a life. Following on, his own proportions were questioned:

"I was always told actually that I had a very difficult body for classical ballet. My physicality, stiff feet, tight hamstrings, short legs.. but if anything that didn't deter me, you know I wanted to prove everyone wrong!"

Well he did prove them wrong and so on to the RBS Upper school and the next bout in preparing for ballet life. Did the Upper School go well?

"Yes, equally as good. The pressures are, you know, tremendous there. You're working long hours for such a young child. From a very early age you've got this element of competition. You've got to be better than the other person. And that can kind of disturb a few people at such an early age... I consider myself one of the lucky ones because if anything it just made me a tougher person."

"I was frightened, but I like that fear and that nervousness. It makes me perform better" On doing his first solo

The training was clearly tough but it "moulds you into a dancer... it worked for me". It certainly has worked for Parker, though perhaps one has a slightly uneasy feeling about how dancers are made at times.

In BRB he rapidly (quick learner again) cottoned on to what was what and his energy came to the fore:

"In the beginning you almost feel like you're being taken advantage of in that way. Oh we need what is known as a 'swing boy' which means that if there is someone injured, get him to learn it overnight and he'll do it. And you know it goes that way for, like, the first couple of years.

His break came as the Second Seminarian in Carmina Burana when a dancer left the company: "And of course great, fantastic, here I go, this is my break! And I put my all into it." And since then he has undertaken a series of soloist roles and this year has been promoted to soloist. Up two levels and 'only' one more to go to make Principal.

Recently he has been dancing Gaveston in Edward II, an incredibly challenging role with so many facets. "The first real acting I've done" and it has prompted more than a few thoughts:

"I'd love to have acting lessons and I think they would enhance everyones performance. My one criticism of the institution of ballet would be why don't we have acting lessons? I think everyone in the dance profession should be able to act, because you are on stage and you're acting. Without words, but you are acting."

Parker is next playing Gaveston at some of the Edward II performances at the Sadler's Wells in February 99 and we very much look forward to seeing him in it for the first time.

Parker has no single mentor: "I don't have any particular idol, you know anyone I really emulate so much. I like to take qualities from each dancer, he's good at this, he's good at that and I try and look and learn and see how it's done." That said he mentions Wolfgang Stollwitzer who has really helped him, particularly with Gaveston, but also in the way he applies himself - his sheer dedication and professionalism. "I see him like a big brother to be really honest."

Another dancer he much admires is Michael O'Hare who was Edward II to his Gaveston: "I see him and I don't see a dancer acting, I see an actor dancing. It's amazing what can come across. It's just so spontaneous, everything he does. "

"I'm always hungry. I want more and more! I'm never tired."

We end by talking about how he feels at the end of a show:

"If I don't stagger out of the theatre I feel like I've done a bad show. I try and spend every ounce of energy and what comes from in here (he points to his heart) because I've always wanted to be that kind of dancer. Doesn't just dance from the legs but to really bring everything out from the heart and soul."

Parker is one of the most confident and self-aware young dancers you could probably meet. The sheer push of him is almost palpable and his 'hunger' is likely to deliver not just a stunning Romeo but a host of unmissable principal performances in the future. You just watch him!


{*} We later learn that Robert does a Romeo in Plymouth a week earlier, standing in for an indisposed Stollwitzer opposite Ambra Vallo.