When the National Ballet’s fall season opens this weekend, it will be the last time that principal dancer Piotr Stanczyk graces the stage. As one of the National’s most reliable and versatile artists, at age 44, he is hanging up his dance shoes after a distinguished 25-year career.
Stanczyk is also one of the company’s most articulate, intellectual and opinionated dancers, as I have discovered through many conversations over the years. What follows is our far-reaching interview as Stanczyk discusses his life and times with an astonishing honesty and clarity.
To quote Stanczyk: “I’ve led and interesting life, with many ups and downs”.
Piotr Stanczy: The Interview
Let’s start at the very beginning. How did you get into dance?
I was born in communist Poland where there was a system for everything. I had health problems with my lungs, so I was put into swimming to strengthen the muscles in my lungs. I ended up at the school for athletes where I became a competitive junior swimmer. Unfortunately, I’m not the tallest guy for a swimmer where you need super long arms — so I got kicked out in middle school when I was 13, because there was no future for me. I grew to be 6’ 1”, but you need to be 6’ 5” or taller for competitive swimming. They could see I was going to lack the height.
It was my parents who moved me to ballet school because my sister Donata was there, and we could look after each other. My parents were going through some troubling changes in their lives, both personally and in business, and needed to see me settled.
At the school for athletes, there were 32 boys and four girls. At ballet school, there were 30 girls and five guys. It was quite a dramatic shift.
Did you know anything about ballet?
Nothing. In fact, I fell asleep when I was taken to The Nutcracker — but my parents wanted me somewhere where I could keep stretching my lungs, and my sister helped me. Ballet was athletic and difficult, and I did get interested in the strength and detailing involved. My love of the art of ballet came later.
When did you start thinking about leaving Poland?
Poland was not doing well in the early 90s, and a friend told me to excel in something so I could escape with a skill. As a teenager at the school, I was beginning to recognize ballet artistry, watching performances, listening to classical music, learning the history of art. It was a good education and it made me want to discover more. I was gaining proficiency as a dancer and wondering where this could take me. I definitely wanted to work in a company.
From 2014:
How did you get to Canada?
At this point my parents were divorced and my dad wanted to leave Poland, so we immigrated in October of 1997 when I was 18. I was fascinated by the US and America, so Canada was the next best thing. We ended up in Vancouver, and at this point, I want to say that the arc of my life has been about meeting the right people at the right time.
What do you mean?
In Vancouver, I looked in the Yellow Pages and found Ballet BC, and it was only two blocks away. I walked into the company with my broken English and started taking classes with them. Raymond Smith, a former principal dancer with the National, was teaching class there and he told me to go to Toronto for more training, so my dad and I came east in January of 1998.
Mavis Staines took me into the National Ballet School, and that’s where I met James Kudelka, who was artistic director of the National Ballet. He told me to audition for the company, and I joined as an apprentice in August of 1998, which led to a corps contract and a steady rise through the company. I was certainly cast in a lot of stuff. Artistic director Karen Kain made me a principal dancer in 2008.
So, in less than a year after arriving in Canada, I was in the National Ballet. That’s what I mean about meeting the right people at the right time.
I know you and your father had a hard time.
We came to Toronto in January, and by February, we ran out of money and had to go to food banks. We were renting a basement apartment, and the landlords were immigrants from Holland who kindly postponed our rent. That’s when that great philanthropist Mona Campbell came on board. She was a patron of both the ballet school and the company, and she paid for our rent and food.
My dad was really having trouble finding a job and he eventually left Canada. He had come from a communist country where everything was done for you and had a hard time adjusting. He’s now retired and living in Poland.
What’s your overview of the National, now that you’re leaving?
It’s made up of 60 people that are fit and beautiful and competitive. It’s like a dysfunctional family. The dancers are dynamic and exciting, and the company has a good reputation. We’re more bonded together here than in Europe.
Why have you decided to retire at this particular time?
I really wanted to leave the year that COVID started, which was followed by 17 months of lockdown. However, over a Zoom call, Karen told me to be patient — that I was still in pretty good shape — and convinced me to retire during a full season, and she was right.
I look old and feel old, although my mind is younger. I can’t do more than two or three hours a day of work. Also, the world is changing. The company is filled with beautiful 22-year-olds, and I have to work hard to keep up. It’s a good time for me to go. I told choreographer Christopher Wheeldon that if he ever created a ballet for a white bearded Santa Claus, I was his man.
On the other hand, I’m leaving on my own terms — when I can still do things. It’s a very competitive world, and I didn’t want the company looking at me, and thinking he shouldn’t be on the stage. I used to be so quick and strong, but I’ve lost some ability in the last two years. I’ve reached that moment before physicality fails. I’m more adagio than tarantella.
When you say that your mind is younger, what do you mean?
My passion, curiosity and sense of discovery has kept me young mentally. I really have a positive outlook. I truly believe that life is worth living. Every day brings something different.
What is next for you?
I need a sabbatical. I need to rest my body, but I’ll still be working. I’m helping Anna Hop at the Polish National Ballet to stage Pinocchio. I’m her assistant choreographer. I met her through mutual friends when she was visiting here. She’s resident choreographer in Warsaw. I’m also in negotiations with Les Grands Ballets to stage one of James Kudelka’s works.
I also want to spend more time with my parents — more than the two weeks a year I’ve been able to visit with them in the last 26 years. My sister is in Germany, and I’d like to spend time with her.
In fact, I have a big urge to spend time in Europe for a while, and see how things are.
You’ve become quite a notable ballet stager. How did this happen?
Christopher Wheeldon took a chance on me and asked me to stage A Winter’s Tale at the Bolshoi. I’m also from that part of the world, being Polish, and it worked out well. I also staged the ballet in Hamburg. I find staging ballets challenging and fulfilling. I love working in the studio.
I also hear that you are a formidable teacher.
I love teaching company class because I find classical ballet fascinating. I have a curiosity as to why music works with movement. I like to fit music to exercises, and figure out what changes in the music that I need. I like solving the puzzle of what rhythms to use. I play classical music in the car, and choreograph exercises in my head. Andrew Holdsworth is the pianist at the Royal Ballet School and he has several excellent albums of music for ballet exercises.
I’d like to come back to the company to teach class, but right now I need to take a break. I don’t want to roll over from dancer to staff. Being in a position of power with former colleagues is delicate. I’ll be forming a different relationship with this dance company, but right now I need time off.
From 2019:
Do you ever see yourself as an artistic director?
Never. I want to be in a studio. I can see myself as a ballet master. I’m also planning to do the teacher’s training program at the National Ballet School.
What about your personal life?
Right now I’m together with Koto Ishihara, a principal dancer with the company, but there are big changes coming for me, and we know it will create hardships for the relationship.
You certainly have strong opinions about the art of dance.
I believe in finding the truth of dance. Maybe I’m getting old and grumpy, but there are a lot of choreographic voices out there, but very few have anything to say of value. Everyone fancies themselves a dancemaker, but it is more difficult then they think it is.
What about this new trend of ballerinas not wearing tights?
I’m reluctant to go down that rabbit hole, but suffice it to say, I believe in dignity in theatre.
You certainly are a champion of the works of James Kudelka.
James’ works belong on the stage now, because they have structure and substance. I like choreography that has a lot of layers, where you can make something out of the characters and interpretation.
When I was in Hamburg, I had a long talk with John Neumeier about choreography, and we were lamenting how things were changing so quickly because of wokeness — that the idea of the past was viewed by some as becoming obsolete.
I’m an old white male and it’s time to close that chapter of my life. In some quarters, ballet as I know it is disappearing.
Not surprisingly, you’ve chosen a Kudelka piece for your retirement performance.
James has been a huge mentor to me, and I have always followed his works.
He created Passion for Houston Ballet in 2013 to great acclaim. It’s set to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in D. At first, I initially didn’t take to it, but after repeated watchings, I saw its many layers. I chose the piece so I could work with James one last time. It is extremely challenging, both in partnering and stamina. I may be old, but I know what I’m still good at.
In Passion, there are two contrasting couples. Svetlana Lunkina and I are the contemporary dance couple, along with a classical ballet couple, and a corps de ballet. Passion deals with themes of connection, journeys, sexuality — there are so many different layers to it.
And the future for you in general?
I don’t know where the future will take me. Back to Europe? Here? I know one thing. I don’t want to be at a place where I don’t want to be.
A final word about Piotr Stanczyk and passion from National Ballet of Canada’s Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director Hope Muir
Piotr came to me with a really thoughtful plan to retire.
Of course I knew Kudelka as one of Canada’s most important choreographers. I had a look at Passion to see if was a fit for the company and a saw a piece that was super challenging in musicality, phrasing and patterns. It’s a piece I can keep in the repertoire.
Piotr is a very dramatic, charismatic and powerful dance artist who is very advanced in his stagecraft. What I admire most about him is that he’s not resting on his laurels. He has chosen to leave with a challenging new work he’s never performed before.
James’ piece lives and breathes with the dancer, and Piotr is committed to every step of the movement.
Details: Emma Bovary & Passion (Nov. 11 to 18)
The program on November 11 to 18 also include the world premiere of Emma Bovary, a partnership with choreographer Helen Pickett.
More information and tickets available [HERE].
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