{"id":39530,"date":"2021-11-08T17:18:25","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T17:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=39530"},"modified":"2021-11-09T14:25:26","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T14:25:26","slug":"five-questions-for-yasmine-naghdi","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/five-questions-for-yasmine-naghdi\/","title":{"rendered":"FIVE QUESTIONS FOR Yasmine Naghdi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yasmine Naghdi as Giselle in Giselle, The Royal Ballet c 2018 ROH. Photographed by Helen Maybanks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yasmine Naghdi, a Principal Dancer for the Royal Ballet, was glorious this season as Juliet in choreographer Kenneth MacMillan\u2019s interpretation of Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet<\/em>.\u00a0 The dance critic in the British Theatre Guide wrote, \u201cNaghdi is gorgeous and faultless in whatever she does, and here she acts and dances Juliet to nuanced perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week she opens in Giselle<\/em><\/a>, dancing the title role in the iconic staging of the work by choreographer Peter Wright.<\/p>\n

This week on November 10th she opens in\u00a0Giselle<\/i><\/span>, dancing the title role in the iconic staging of the work by choreographer Peter Wright.\u00a0 She will dance the role again on November 20th and appear in the Royal Ballet’s streaming of the ballet on December 3rd. \u201cGiselle<\/em> is one of those ballets we are forever striving to get right,\u201d she tells me when I meet her backstage at the Royal Opera House after a day of rehearsals and classes. \u201cIt\u2019s full-bodied.\u00a0 You have completely contrasting acts.\u00a0 In Act One, you are a human being and your are portraying a rather naive and provincial and weak character.\u00a0 A young girl, but very different than the role of Juliet.\u00a0 She is one who is wanting to trust and wanting to be loved and has a profound love of dance.\u00a0 So to portray that character and to get her right, she needs<\/em> Albrecht.\u00a0 He\u2019s a stranger essentially but she falls for him.\u00a0 She wants to trust him but is hesitant but then gives herself over to him.\u00a0 Then it leads her discovering that he\u2019s actually engaged to a princess.\u00a0 That completely breaks her heart and she is someone who has the disposition of having a weak heart anyway. In our version, she dies of stabbing herself.\u00a0 She then appears in Act Two as a spirit.\u00a0 So there you have the contrast between human being and spirit.\u00a0 You have to make yourself feel otherworldly – like smoke lasting in the air – or your movements have to be very held and drawn out.\u00a0 There is a lot of jumping in both acts.\u00a0 A lot of jumping<\/em>. So there is a lot of lower leg work that has to go into the preparation.\u00a0 But I find as it is a romantic ballet, it has a certain style.\u00a0 We are dancing this romantic ballet that was first done many years ago in 1841, so it still needs that style to come through.\u00a0 It is again just one of those ballets you are just striving to get right.\u00a0 There is that pinnacle moment of the mad scene that features in Act One and that\u2019s where you can play with it a bit\u00a0 and change it up. You can put your own flavor to that. But will one ever get it right?\u00a0 Yet that is the beauty of art: it\u2019s subjective.\u00a0 You might think this dancer did it so well and that one didn\u2019t , and vice versa.\u00a0 It is a challenging ballet.\u00a0 It is technically challenging but it is the emotion you bring across to the audience that is the biggest challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other challenging roles for which Naghdi\u00a0 is known in the company where she has spent her entire career so far include, among others, Odette\/Odile (Swan Lake<\/em>), Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty<\/em>), Gamzatti (La Bayad<\/em>\u00e8<\/em>re<\/em>), Kitri (Don Quixote<\/em>), Tatiana (Onegin<\/em>), Swanilda (Coppelia<\/em>), Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Here are some of the other questions I asked the ballerina as we continued our conversation that day backstage at the Royal Opera House.<\/p>\n

I watched a few live streaming performances that the Royal Ballet performed in the empty Royal Opera House during the pandemic.\u00a0 But there is nothing like performing for a house filled with balletomanes.\u00a0\u00a0 How did the pandemic and the lockdown affect you as a dancer<\/em>?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all grown in the pandemic.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all become different people. I have a lot of personal growth during the time of the pandemic. In a good way, I\u2019d say.\u00a0 I have had a lot of positive growth and I am approaching things in a more positive way.<\/p>\n

I am always looking to reinvent myself as an artist – and as a person, I\u2019d say.\u00a0 But I find that the pandemic gave me time to take a step back and reflect on the things I was maybe making a big deal out of that I didn\u2019t need to make a big deal out of.\u00a0 I\u2019m a very worrisome person.\u00a0 I would always over analyze.\u00a0 I worried a lot about everything.\u00a0 I would worry about worrying.\u00a0 So I took the pandemic to take a step back to realize what\u2019s important and what\u2019s not important to worry about anymore – such as things that are not in my control which is often a lot in the ballet world.<\/p>\n

It seems so far I seem to be handling things a little better.\u00a0 I\u2019m trusting myself more – and that is a really hard thing for a dancer to do because we are so hypercritical.\u00a0 It\u2019s always, this isn\u2019t good and that isn\u2019t good and I slipped in that bit of the performance and holding on to that<\/em>.\u00a0 When we were doing those performances of the triple bills we streamed during the pandemic time, if there were a little thing that would go wrong I would completely beat myself up about it.\u00a0 And get really upset.\u00a0 If the show went well, I\u2019d be okay fantastic I\u2019m moving on.\u00a0 I stopped and thought that is really a twisted way of looking at your work – to focus on the bad all the time.\u00a0 That comes from a perfectionist trait.\u00a0 But I\u2019m trying to kind of turn it around.\u00a0 If something bad happens, it\u2019s a moment in time.\u00a0 Don\u2019t focus on that.<\/p>\n

I think it is in the dancer\u2019s nature [because of always having another pair of eyes on us] to wish for positive feedback, to get that tap on the shoulder that we are doing the right thing.\u00a0 We want to know that.\u00a0 But as one grows older you have to try and find that for yourself. That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do.\u00a0 To get my own appreciation and to give myself a tap on the shoulder.<\/p>\n

That said, the ballet world is particular and the fans can be, well, fanatical – especially when we go to Japan.\u00a0 It\u2019s on a whole other level. When we come out of the stage door there are barriers to keep the people away.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s humbling that they appreciate the work that we put in.\u00a0 It\u2019s a beautiful part of the job.\u00a0 I like meeting people after performances and hearing how I\u2019ve maybe moved them.\u00a0 There was one particular moment that stands out for me. There was a woman who was suffering from a lot of back pain. I met her after a performance and she was crying.\u00a0 I gave her a hug – this was pre-COVID.\u00a0 She told me she wanted to thank me because I had made her forget her pain.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou gave me three hours in which I was not in pain,\u201d she told me.<\/p>\n

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Yasmine Naghdi as Odette in Swan Lake, The Royal Ballet c 2018 ROH. Photograph by Bill Cooper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dancers are not just artists but also athletes.\u00a0 Your art is embedded in your body and thus it is art performed by young people.\u00a0 The stage is filled with the young – even the Principal Dancer ranks.\u00a0 You are young in a demanding and competitive world – much like professional sports – when you don\u2019t know yourself yet. Plus, you\u2019re always being choreographed which is basically being told what to do.\u00a0 So is one\u2019s maturity stunted in such a world or is one preternaturally mature for existing – even surviving – in it? <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very interesting thing to look at because I got my first really big opportunity young to do the role of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet<\/em><\/a> when I was still a soloist.\u00a0 I was around 22.\u00a0 I feel like dancing that as a soloist and stepping into a Principal Dancer position was the perfect thing because of the role.\u00a0 She is so young herself and you have that natural effervescence.\u00a0 That natural youth and excitement.\u00a0 I think it worked really, really well for the role of Juliet.\u00a0 Each time I revisit it years later, I try to go back to the feelings I had when I first did it.\u00a0 So I think there is a beauty in youth and in seeing a young dancer onstage often unaffected with nerves.\u00a0 Usually you\u2019re less nervous when you\u2019re younger.\u00a0 You\u2019re really trying to prove yourself so you\u2019ve got that drive. And I think the change as one gets older is that the nerves start setting in because you think you have your position to uphold.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got more experience and with more experience you become more critical of yourself.\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting circle, I\u2019d say. It\u2019s a pressure.<\/p>\n

The image I like to use is of a horse with its blinders on.\u00a0 I\u2019d say to myself, just have these blinders on and focus on yourself. Don\u2019t get distracted by all \u201cthe noise\u201d around you.\u00a0 Easier said than done.\u00a0 Like Baryshnikov said, \u201cYou\u2019re only in competition with yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what is your background, Yasmine?<\/em><\/p>\n

I was born in London and grew up in West London around Kensington.\u00a0 I went to school at Hill House International.\u00a0 It\u2019s a school that has very funny uniforms.\u00a0 You see these kids walking around Sloane Square wearing these knickerbockers that are a bronzy color and jumpers that are bright yellow.\u00a0 They\u2019ve still got them. They haven\u2019t updated the costumes.\u00a0 Costumes?\u00a0 Uniforms<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Naghdi is a Persian last name.\u00a0 My dad is Persian.\u00a0 He\u2019s not Muslim.\u00a0 He\u2019s Zoroastrian.\u00a0 My mother is Belgian.\u00a0 I\u2019m mixed heritage.\u00a0 My name is not typically British.\u00a0 It\u2019s funny though.\u00a0 I never paid much attention to being different [in the ballet world].\u00a0\u00a0 And I suppose I was.\u00a0 I think now we\u2019ve really got that conversation going. But I really never paid much attention to being different.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m quite proud of it, I\u2019d say.<\/p>\n

I have a bit of Georgian heritage as well.\u00a0 On my father\u2019s side they were all sort of high up generals in the army in Iran.\u00a0 Tehran, the capital.\u00a0 But they weren\u2019t religious.\u00a0 This was during the Shah.\u00a0 When the revolution happened they left Iran and he has not gone back.\u00a0 I have an uncle who still lives in Iran but the rest of my dad\u2019s family lives in Geneva, Switzerland.\u00a0 I spent my half-terms, my Easters, my summers\u00a0 either going to Geneva speaking French with that side of the family or going to Belgian and speaking Flemish with my mum\u2019s side of the family.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Yasmine Naghdi (@yasmine_naghdi)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n