Pietra Mello Pittman
Former Bramley schoolgirl Pietra Mello Pittman became a stalwart of The Royal Ballet before leaving to create a show of her own with African choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Emily Horton meets a dancer who likes to break rules
When Pietra Mello Pittman, aged seven or eight, first put on a pair of pointe shoes, it was the most painful thing she had ever done in her life.
“I said: ‘I’m not doing that again. Forget it!’” recalls the Surrey-bred ballerina, on the phone from her home in Balham. “I auditioned for White Lodge, the Royal Ballet School in Richmond Park, but didn’t get in because I had to wear pointe shoes and I just couldn’t stand the pain.”
She makes it sound more like corporal punishment than the magic and delight of dance.
“You have a little box made out of paper mache for your toes and a little strip of cardboard at the back of your shoe. That supports your foot when you rise up.”
Is that it? No reinforced steel toecaps?
“It can be incredibly, incredibly painful,” she laughs. “But I discovered ouch pouches – little half-socks of silicon jelly that you put over your toes to stop you getting blisters.
“Everyone laughs at me because, the older I get, the more I stuff them into my shoes. I refuse to be uncomfortable.”
Most of us, I muse, would need a couple of cranes to get us right up on our toes. But then, the more I hear about Pietra's prestigious 13-year career in The Royal Ballet, the more this first artist emerges as a kind of superwoman.
Pietra Mello Pittman Royal Ballet
Determined, edgy and resilient, she is the self-styled 'bad ballerina' with a no-nonsense attitude and a determination to carve her own path through the exacting world of dance.
And so, when the curtain fell in April at the Royal Opera House, ending her Royal Ballet career, she will instantly turned her attentions to her next venture: producing a show of her own.
With composer Ella Spira, Pietra has created Inala – an African-themed dance show that also stars Grammy award-winning choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Conceived in the Ballet Rambert studios at St Margarets, near Richmond, and featuring the choreography of Mark Baldwin, the show premiered at the Edinburgh Festival last year – on the 20th anniversary of democracy in South Africa. It goes on tour in June, stopping in the south east only twice, in July, at Sadler's Wells and Woking's New Victoria Theatre.
“Inala begins in Moscow on the same date the Royal Ballet goes on its annual tour to Washington,” she explains. “I had to make a choice. But there was no doubt in my mind that I would go to Moscow, as director of my company.”
Inala
Born in Rio de Janeiro to a Brazilian mum and an English father, Pietra began her life in dance as a five-year-old pupil of St Catherine's School in Bramley, after her family relocated to Surrey. Ballet was a compulsory part of the curriculum, but it soon became her favourite hobby too.
“I loved it and started doing Royal Academy of Dance exams at the Susan Robinson School of Ballet in West Byfleet,” she tells me.
Entry into the Royal Ballet School soon followed, once she'd mastered dancing en pointe. Then, upon graduation, she won a contract with The Royal Ballet itself – a demanding existence, both physically and emotionally, she admits.
“There really is an art to dancing in a straight line behind the person in front of you,” she explains. “It’s not just a case of looking where you are supposed to be going, but of using your peripheral vision too. You have to make sure that you look exactly like the other dancers in line across the stage.
“I remember my first performance, stepping in for someone who had been injured. The older girl behind me announced bluntly that the student I was replacing couldn’t keep in line, and that I had better learn to do so!”
It was a daunting experience to be working, quite suddenly, with the more experienced dancers of the corps. Mindful of this fiery baptism, Pietra has subsequently taken care to be supportive of new recruits.
“I like to give the younger members advice, such as to keep your leg out so that you don't kick the girl behind you in the face!” she jokes.
“There definitely was a sense in those early days that things were rather bitchy. I don't know a better way of putting it, but it wasn't as friendly as it is now.”
Darcey Bussell is one former principal, however, whom Pietra remembers with fondness.
“She was incredibly nice, a great role model; a principal who never behaved as if she were above you. She would even come and chat to me in physio sessions.”
For those in the main corps de ballet, there was simply no time to be a prima donna.
“A typical day starts with class at 9.30am, followed by rehearsals from midday to about 5.30pm. A show will then start at 7.30 in the evening. We have about an hour and a half before the performance to do our own hair and make-up, and to sew our ribbons onto our shoes.
“We come off stage at around 10.30pm. If you're a good ballerina, you will then ice your feet and stretch, although most of us are just keen to throw our coats on and get to bed,” she says mischievously.
“It’s the performances I shall miss the most. Something else happens when you're on stage and the lights go dark in the auditorium. No one can shout at you – you just get to dance.
"That's what I love. If I could just do that side of it, I would keep going, but you can't be a part-time ballerina. You have to dedicate your life to it.”
Pietra Royal Ballet
A discipline which, I learn, is not to everyone’s taste.
“Since I joined the company, I have seen 71 dancers leave, of whom 25 joined after me.”
Injuries are also a problem.
“Part of your job is to push yourself to your limits and sometimes, inevitably, you go too far. Last year we had a bit of a crisis because there were about 17 girls injured out of the 24 permanent corp members.”
Pietra admits that her final show, the immortal Swan Lake, is the most physically painful ballet of all.
“You have to lean your neck back as if you're lying on a pillow, so that it looks long and graceful. It’s part of what makes the ballet beautiful, but in reality it hurts. A lot.”
Apart from these incredibly demanding postures, however, what else has Pietra learnt from her time at The Royal Ballet?
“Attention to detail,” she says. “The Royal Opera House has an incredible status that we have to live up to every day. I've learnt always to be the best at what I do. Planning is everything.”
Now the same meticulous approach has helped her land a remarkable 38-show tour for Inala.
Guildford Magazine April 2015
“It all started when Ella took me to see the Zulu choir in concert. Their voices immediately led me to imagine how dance could be staged to their music.”
Despite never having seen a ballet before, the singers instantly wanted to be involved – and the rest is history.
“Inala is an incredibly uplifting show. Each song and dance has a meaning and a story around traditional Zulu life,” enthuses Pietra. “For example, one of the songs, literally translated, is called ‘The Cow Passage’ and concerns the tradition of dowry giving in Zulu culture. It's certainly an insight into cultural differences!”
And after Inala?
“Oh, our ultimate aim is to create a new ballet film; a new version of the 1948 classic Red Shoes...”
Her voice drifts off, the next project already forming in her mind. This is one swan who will be rippling the surface of the lake for many a year to come.
Inala at New Victoria, Woking, July 21-22 and Sadlers Wells, London, July 7-11; for all tour dates, visit: inala.co.uk
Follow Pietra on Twitter @1badballerina
Read Pietra's interview in May's issue of The Richmond Magazine
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New Victoria Theatre
New Victoria Theatre Peacocks Centre, Victoria Way, Woking, GU21 6GQThe New Victoria Theatre is one of the foremost theatres outside London, playing host to the best in theatre, music, and comedy.
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