Daydreaming Stories x Natascha Mair
Giselle interviews Principal Freelance Ballerina Natascha Mair
Happy Sunday and welcome back to Daydreaming Stories! Today you will read my interview with Natascha Mair, a Principal freelance ballerina who was previously a Principal at the English National Ballet and the Vienna State Opera Ballet.
GO: Can you introduce yourself?
NM: My name is Natasha Mair. I'm 29 years old. Born in Vienna, and I currently live in London.
GO: How did you become a professional ballerina?
NM: I was about five years old my parents took me to ballet lessons, mainly because they just wanted me to do some type of movement and stay fit. I started to really like it and never stopped. I joined the Vienna State Opera Ballet School when I was seven years old, and my parents always told me I could stop whenever I wanted, but I loved it so much and I just kept going. When I turned 17, I joined the Vienna State Opera Ballet.
GO: Prior to becoming a freelancer ballerina, you were a Principal at the Vienna State Ballet and the English National Ballet, were they differences?
NM: Yes, a lot. I grew up in Vienna, and I made friends with the other young dancers when I joined the Vienna State Ballet at 17, and they became like my family. We progressed in our careers together; we saw each other becoming principals and soloists and we supported each other along the way. My time at the English National Ballet was different because I joined as a Principal during Covid. I came to London for a job rather than to create a new family like in Vienna. It was also different because I already had established myself professionally, and it was a different energy for me.
GO: What is your favourite ballet?
NM: Probably Onegin and Romeo and Juliet, which I've performed in different versions. I’m also attached to The Nutcracker and Swan Lake not only because they’re incredible shows but also because I’ve achieved milestones with those performances.
GO: Which is the favourite ballet character you interpreted?
NM: I think it was Marie-Antoinette, a ballet created by Patrick de Bana in Vienna. I loved interpreting it because Patrick gave me so much freedom in designing the role and in my performance.
GO: Which is the most challenging role you performed and why?
NM: I don't believe in the most challenging role. To be honest, I think, some of them are technically harder than others, but some roles fit me better than others. I never saw any role as being really hard to perform. I think if you have your head in the game, they're all in a way difficult, but manageable. I think my first performance of Swan Lake was one of the hardest role I performed. The first show is such a huge milestone in every ballerina career, and when you first perform on stage, you can’t believe that your dream has become your reality. Therefore, I think my first performance was probably one of the most challenging moments in my career. I was thinking I was about to go on stage and perform the most famous classical ballet ever created to this day. It was challenging for my mind.
More recently, the Floreadores Solo by Jade Hale-Christofi that I performed in Chicago was one of my hardest performances, and I practised for it during my time in New York. These 3 minutes included the most difficult steps, jumps and turns with no rest. Nonetheless, I loved the challenge and hope there will be many more shows around the world for everyone to see this incredible production!
GO: You are also working on other projects such as Pilates, acting and modelling. Can you tell us more about it?
NM: I was always someone who loved to do many things in life. I was always very focused on ballet and I did everything I could to succeed in my career. However, my mind was never fixed on doing only ballet. I always wanted to experiment other passions in life. I’ve practiced Pilates over the years and when Covid happened, I had so much time free time on my hands that I decided to obtain my certification.
I started working with my first photographer when I was very young, and it was the start of my modelling days. After that more photographers asked me to be photographed. I also really enjoyed the process, and I still model to this day.
I was dreaming of becoming an actor since I was a child. There was even a time where I didn’t want to be a ballerina, I wanted to become an actor when I was around 14 years old. However, my career as a ballerina started and I felt almost like I was acting when performing ballet on stage, interpreting various characters and play different roles in each performances.
Then I decided to become a freelancer, and I got busy straightaway. I spent 6 months in New York and when I when I got back to London, I didn't have as many shows coming up, I decided to invest my time in acting because I felt this dream could become true. Of course acting is a very unreliable career path which may or may not happen. That’s why I’m still dancing and doing shows worldwide. Nonetheless, I’m also trying to see if I can succeed in acting on top of dancing.
GO: I am sure you travel regularly for various projects, what is the destination you enjoyed the most to perform so far?
NM: Definitely Japan. Japan is always the best place to perform and has the greatest audience for ballet. Nonetheless, I love travelling everywhere around the world, especially in Asia and discovering new countries.
GO: Can you tell us what is your typical day?
NM: That's a really hard question right now. My typical day in a ballet company used to be very structured. I would wake up, go to training, and go to the gym between or after training. It was basically rehearsals or training daily. Now it's very different. It depends on what I'm up to, and what my next project is. When I was in acting school the past month, I would wake up in the morning, go to acting school, learn my lines, and have my lunch break. I sometimes did some ballet training during my break because they had ballet studios there. I would finish at 5:00 pm, and would go straight to the gym to workout. Nowadays, my days are very unstructured. I wake up and usually have coffee, and depending on what I'm supposed to do that day, I go to the gym in the morning. Afterwards, I educate myself by watching videos on acting, and I also have meetings or do some research on new educational courses that I can do in the coming weeks. I am currently training for a few performances that I have coming up in Texas.
Recently, I have also completed my unarmed combat for my screen course at ID Fight and passed with distinction my BASSC (British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat) certificate.Â
There's not much of a typical day for me right now. Every day is different, which is quite nice for my mental health to be honest. It’s nice to be in that position as I've been so structured my whole life that I think it's like a good challenge to cope with.
I hope you enjoyed the fourth Daydreaming Stories by Giselle daydreams. If you liked this interview, feel free to share it to like-minded people.
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I will see you all next Sunday for Giselle daydreams volume 16!
Giselle xx