Marcelo Gomes – Principal Dancer and Choreographer, on London’s Ardani Gala and The Car Man

Ardani 25 Dance Gala at the London Coliseum, 17 & 18 July 2015
www.eno.org / 020 7845 9300

Marcelo Gomes in The Car Man at Sadler’s Wells on specific dates from 14 July – 9 August. Some dates announced already, more to come at: new-adventures.net

5 Questions to Marcelo Gomes on London’s Ardani Gala and starring in The Car Man

Marcelo Gomes, American Ballet Theatre’s much-admired star is about to be busy on other things – particularly in the UK. Next month he’s dancing in his own piece of choreography (Tristesse), along with a bevy of other stars, at the Ardani Dance Gala, and after that is the star of Matthew Bourne’s London run of The Car Man. A busy man finds time to answer 5 questions…

Your new piece, Tristesse, for Kings of the Dance, was unveiled last December in St. Petersburg – how did it come to be and how did it go?

We needed a new opening for the show; the producer Sergei Danilian asked me to create something special. I wanted to showcase each dancer in the best possible light, and to generate an experience in which we all felt inspired and challenged at the same time. Tristesse is about four childhood friends that come together for a reunion after many years apart, and find that some of their beliefs and feelings have changed, now that they have grown up.  I believe the ballet works quite well; however it’s difficult to tell when you’re performing in your own piece.
 

In Tristesse you are dancing with Denis Matvienko, Joaquín De Luz and Friedemann Vogel – that must be amazing. Do you all try and outdo one another?

We’ve learnt so much from each other over the years. Although we are all from different backgrounds and have had different training, we’re actually all friends in real life, so it’s more sort of an appreciation for each other than how can we outdo each other. It’s a very healthy kind of competition!
 

Making ballets seems to be a relatively new departure for you – have you always thought it’s something you would do, and how would you describe your style?

I have wanted to choreograph for as long as I can remember. I love being in the studio with dancers exploring new possibilities. As both a dancer and a choreographer, it’s the creative process that I find most interesting. I can’t really say what my style is, but I know I’m truly inspired by all the great choreographers that I have worked with in the past. I just try to put my own experiences into my dance language and find my own “voice”.
 

You open in Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man this July – how did that link come to be, and how different in style does it feel compared to ballet?

After working with Matt and all the amazing artists of New Adventures in Swan Lake last year, I was incredibly inspired as an artist. I was challenged in a way that I had not been for a very long time, and although the movement quality in Matt’s work is so different from anything else I’ve done, I loved every moment of it. So when the opportunity came to work with Matt again on The Car Man, I seized it right away. Matt has his own unique way to tell a story; he’s like no other choreographer working today. I’m so excited to dive into this marvellous show filled with dancing and acting… two of my favorite things!  
 

After all that… what’s next for you?

I’ll be headed to Tokyo directly from my London engagement to dance at the World Ballet Festival with Diana Vishneva. I’ve also got a big choreographic project coming up in the near future; I can’t give you any details quite yet. In the meantime, I will keep dancing and being inspired by the wonderful choreographers I work with at ABT. Isn’t creating art why we all are doing this anyway?