Tiit Helimets and Molly Smolen Diary

2006/2007 season with SFB

Hi, it's been a long time.

I better start with Nutcracker.

I was very excited to do the opening night of Nutcracker with Yuan Yuan
Tan, and I also danced with my wife Molly, in the grand pas.

Tiit Helimets and Yuan Yuan Tan in Helgi Tomasson's "The Nutcracker". (© Erik Tomasson)

But there are always injuries and this year was no different. Davit
Karapetyan got injured and his partner Rachel Viselli had nobody to
dance with, so I said I'd do it. Next, Pierre-Francois Vilanoba hurt
himself and then Muriel Maffre had nobody to dance with, so again, I
said I would be her partner.

Muriel and I were already performing the snow pas together so I thought
it was not going to be a problem. But I did not realize that I had four
partners to dance the grand pas with and no time off. It probably was
the hardest Nutcracker season I have ever done. So in the end, out of 30
performances, I did 15 and shared the role with 7 other princes. I was
very proud of myself.

We opened the season with a Gala performance. I danced the Giselle pas
de deux with Lorena Feijoo. My wife danced Five Brahms Waltzes in the
Manner of Isadora Duncan. She is absolutely amazing in it. When I watch
her I forget that she is my wife because she takes me away somewhere
into the world of Isadora. Thank you Ashton.

We opened the season with program 1 of Divertimento No. 15, Aunis, and
Artifact suite. And program 2 was Blue Rose, The Dance House, and
Firebird.

I danced in Divertimento No. 15; it is not my favorite Balanchine
ballet, but I was glad to be have done it.

I felt that in Divertimento it's really easy to disappear, because all
you do is partner and dance very little. So that's why I have slight
problem with this ballet.

In the next program I danced two of the ballets: The Dance House and
Firebird.

I had to do both of them on the same night which was not challenging at
first, but later on when you don't have adrenaline pumping, it's a lot
harder to perform twice in the same night. In The Dance House, I had two
partners because Damian Smith got injured. As a result, I danced with
his partner, Rachel Viselli. My partner was also my wife Molly. She told
me afterwards that she had enjoyed it so much, that she started crying
as she was telling me about it. The ballet is about death and losing a
friend to AIDS. So we really worked out the story for us and it seamed
to work in this ballet.

Well next ballet was the Firebird. I was honored to do the opening
night I had never done Firebird before, so it was a challenge for me.
Yuri Possokhov (the choreographer) told me to be more funny, act, smile,
and be happy: all the things I find the hardest to do. Comedy in general
does not flow in my body, It's a real effort to be goofy when all you
want to do is to say, " I don't feel like it right now." But I tried so
hard and I never said that to him. He was really pleased in the end, and
that's when I felt I had done my job right. The pas de deux was really
hard, but we where rehearsed very well so it never felt as exhausting as
it did in the beginning. Overall, it was a great experience and I have
grown because of it. We also got to do more shows because there were
injuries and I had to step in for Ruben Martin.

In February, I performed "The Sleeping Beauty."

My partner in it was Yuan Yuan Tan. I had done the ballet before many
times, but two different versions. In this version there is only one
intermission (the Prologue and first act are together and the second and
third act are together).

This time around I decided to make the prince a real character. I
wanted him to be remembered for something other than a dancer who did
double tours, cabrioles and partnered. I tried to show the character
growing through the second act from arrogant prince to an almost
Romeo-type soul searcher, who eventually finds a love of his life. So
the first solo in second act I tried to be very regal and the second
slow solo all about searching for who he is and what is missing from his
life. Eventually he figures out that love is what he is looking for. And
then the whole story folds away by itself and everything falls into
place.

I was so sad to see this ballet go and I wish we had done it more. This
time around I was pleased with the story I made up. Now I feel like I
can relate to Desiree.

Tiit Helimets and Yuan Yuan Tan in Helgi Tomasson's "The Sleeping Beauty". (© Erik Tomasson)

I think that is all we have done so far. We are currently working on
programs 4 and 5 and its not going to be easy; lots to dance.

I send my love to everyone in England and I miss you very much.