09_Monaco_Dec2010 NEW.
qxd 14/01/2011
www.mctimes.com
Monte-Carlo Ballet’s star dancer, Bernice Coppieters, talks to The Riviera Times
S itting opposite Bernice
Coppieters, you notice
how she uses her
whole body to express herself
when she speaks. Her hands
sweep from one side of the
table to the other, she holds
herself poker straight to
demonstrate a posture, curls
into herself to show exhaust-
ion, employs her eyes to
captivate you completely.
“As a dancer you are an
interpreter,” she tells me, "you
need to give your body like an
object to a choreographer and
say, 'Voilà, I am yours, do with
me as you want.'"
A lightning bolt
For the last 20 years, the
Belgian ballerina has given
herself over to the Monte-
Coppieters with fellow principle dancer Chris Roelandt in La Belle. The
ballet is at the Grimaldi Forum on 31st December, 2nd & 3rd January
Carlo Ballet's Director, Jean-
Christophe Maillot, allowing
him to "sculpt" her to suit his
choreography. She says that
the first time she danced with
him it was un coup de foudre: “I
can still remember the first
audition I did for him, from
the moment I started to dance
his steps I was like, ‘yes, this is
it, this is what my body wants
to do’.” The feeling was
obviously mutual because
since then Maillot has created
numerous leading roles for
Coppieters in his ballets.
One of these roles, la Belle,
will be taking centre stage at
the Grimaldi Forum this
Christmas and New Year. First
premiered by Coppieters in
2001, the ballet of the same
name remains one of the
most popular works in the
company's repertoire.
The leading lady says that
over the years, she has chan-
ged her interpretation be-
cause, "it is necessary when
we dance the same ballet for a
10:36 Page 9
The age of Beauty
long time that we evolve with
it. Especially when we are
playing a younger person,
then it's important not to look
like we are trying to still be
young." Fortunately, Maillot's
sleeping beauty is not a Walt
Disney cartoon character but
more closely resembles the
original heroine, created by
Charles Perrault in 1697.
"Jean-Christophe's Belle is
quite mature and the drama is
more psychologically heavy,
this helps me to not try to
look like a young girl, which I
am not, but rather do it as I
am today."
A question of age
If I was worried that the
subject of the ballerina's age
would be a sensitive topic of
© Marie-Laure Briane
conversation, she brings it up
quickly herself and reassures
me that it is not a problem,
simply a reality. She makes it
clear that she is not afraid to
confront the fact that her
career as a principle dancer is
likely to end soon. "In ballet it
is very scary to think of the
moment when you are not
going to be able to do it as
well anymore. Now I am on
the edge… It is a moment
that we need to play carefully,
not simply wanting, wanting,
wanting more; I don't have
that because I have had a
beautiful career so I am
satisfied and oblige myself
not to be greedy or hold on."
Despite being used to being
the star, she insists that she is
happy these days to take a
more supporting role. In the
studio, for example, she is
starting to teach for Maillot's
ballet and when it comes to
the stage she says: "Today, I
would prefer to dance the role
of Juliet's mother more than
December 2010
Juliet. I am almost 40 and I
have given most of my life to
that ballet, I would hate to see
myself being less and less
good at it - that is much more
painful than stopping com-
pletely." Alongside la Belle,
Juliet is one of her signature
roles and she reveals that, for
a long time, it was her
favourite "because in Jean-
Christophe's version, Juliet is
really a woman. As Malliot
told me, ‘Romeo is in love but
Juliet is love’. She is the strong
one, the one with the power."
This is typical for the French
choreographer's heroines and © Marie-Laure Briane
perhaps partly explains why
Coppieters has been a fav- In rehearsal: The ballerina desribes the company in Monaco as being unusually close, more like a family
ourite of his since his arrival in
Monaco in 1991. Tall, broad She references the French At this point, she stopped happy and all I want to do is
shouldered and these days sprinter, Marie-José Pérec, breathing, because when the lie down on the floor. I love
sporting a spiky blonde crop, who once told a journalist body doesn't have oxygen it that moment, you don't want
the striking beauty is not what why she opened her mouth to thinks it will die and some- to do this last thing but you
comes to mind when thinking the sky at the end of a race: thing amazing happens, an let your body take control,
of the cliché of the prima "Before she reached the finish animal instinct comes out. then when you finish it just
ballerina: petite, girlish and line, she felt really tired, it's a This is a little bit how it is for relaxes, whoosh." She folds
pirouetting in a pink tutu. "It's critical moment when you can me at the end of La Belle, when into herself and I understand
lucky for me that he didn't like give up and let everyone pass I have this final pas de deux and exactly what she means.
tiny girls," she agrees, "or I or you can hang on and win. I have to smile and look Hannah Marshall
wouldn't have had a chance."
At 39, her sculptured body
still has the muscle definition
of an Olympic sprinter; a
heady mix of strength and
gracefulness. However, she
insists that dancing these
days takes a toll on her
physique. She credits the daily
routine of rehearsals for
keeping her in shape. She also
has started to take measures
to prepare and recover from
big performances. These
include doing breathing and
stretching exercises through-
out the day ahead of a show
and recovering by soaking for
exactly 20-minutes in a bath
then taking a cold shower.
"This is already different from
when I was young. Before, I
could jump out of bed, say
'yeah!' and go for it. Now the
performance starts as soon as
I wake up in the morning."
A beautiful challenge
She has a tough month
ahead, as she considers La
Belle to be one of her most
challenging and exhausting
roles. "We are wearing these
see-through leotards so it
feels quite naked and the
body constantly has to look
right. The positions are bea-
utiful but it's very tiring and
you have to really go over your
own limits. Every time you
dance, you never know how
it's going to be. You think 'Am
I going to make it?' and 'What
state will I be in at the end?'
When I first started dancing it I
would always cry afterwards,
because I was dying."