Interview: Paloma Livellara Vidart, 19, Prix de Lausanne 2024 Prize Winner
Paloma Livellara Vidart, “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon) © Rodrigo Buas / Prix de Lausanne 2024
There are some performances that stick with you. Paloma Livellara Vidart’s interpretation of Christopher Wheeldon’s variation “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” at the Prix de Lausanne 2024 is one of those performances. No wonder it won her one of the coveted nine prizes, the audience favourite award and the Beaulieu SA Award. TWoA talked to Paloma about her dance journey from Buenos Aires to the Princess Grace Academy in Monaco and her first couple of weeks at New York’s American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. Get ready for some deeply personal and wise insights.
When did you start dancing and how did your training evolve over time?
I started ballet when I was very, very young. I decided to begin myself. I was around three years old when I first saw a ballet class. No one in my family has any background in ballet whatsoever. I started it, of course, as a hobby but started taking it more seriously when I was around eight years old. At that age, I entered the Academy of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in Argentina. I studied there and in a private studio with my ex-teacher, Barbara. Then I attended the YAGP (Youth America Grand Prix) finals in New York City in 2019. That's where Luca Masala, the director of Monaco’s Princess Grace Academy, saw me. He offered me a scholarship. I went there to audition in July 2019. He took me into the school, and I started that same September. I spent the last five years there, I graduated in June 2024. Right now, I am here in New York City working with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) Studio Company. I managed to get this opportunity through the Prix de Lausanne. I competed at the Prix de Lausanne in February 2024. That's where I met Sascha Radetsky, Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. It was one of the offers I got at the Prix de Lausanne, it’s the one I accepted. So now I’m here, in New York!
How old were you when you moved to Monaco? What was the transition like for you?
I had just turned 14. Honestly, the transition wasn't that hard. I was never homesick, I never suffered from being away from my family. I grew up pretty independently, I really didn't suffer much because I always kept reminding myself that this is what I chose. It was my own decision to go there and to live far away from my family, to go and study and grow up, to get more experience than I could have gotten back home. Of course it was rough at the beginning, I was quite young, but I always just looked at it from a very cold, rational way: “This is just a decision I've taken now. It doesn't need to be a long-term decision, let’s take it step by step.” It turned out great, I spent five years there.
Your moves to Monaco and New York were both the result of attending competitions. What role have competitions played in your life and how do you feel about competitions?
Actually, I haven't really attended many competitions. Honestly, I competed three times at YAGP here in New York City. I always got to the finals by video because in Argentina, in South America, it's not common to have regional semi-finals. But honestly, I wasn’t much of a competition kid growing up.
For me personally, since I’m from Argentina, it was a very big opportunity to be able to attend these huge competitions with so many company directors and school directors: it opened a lot of doors that I wouldn't have been able to open if I hadn’t travelled outside of my country. I was very lucky to be able to have those experiences.
I do think that competitions are good up to a certain point. They're good for recognition and for being able to see the ballet world differently. Everyone is at these big competitions, there are a lot of people, but the ballet world is actually very small, so everyone is there. It's very easy to just get trapped in these huge competitions, with all these people, with social media, there are all these famous dancers. But I think for me, I just took it as a way to find a different path for myself, and luckily, it worked out the way I always wanted it to. As a kid, I went to these competitions with my private teacher, her goal was to try to get me somewhere else, to try and see if there was something better across the ocean. So, I think competitions are very helpful for many people, they helped me a lot.
What's the key to getting the most out of competitions? How did you approach the competitions you went to and what were you hoping to get out of them?
With Youth American Grand Prix, the goal was to try and see whether I could have the possibility to continue my studies somewhere else. It was just the beginning of my professional career. Now, when we talk about the Prix de Lausanne: I didn't decide this myself. It is Luca Masala, the director of my school, who decides which students he wants to send there. He always has a reason for bringing certain people. For me, it was mainly to make me realize what I'm capable of. This is very personal. It really depends on how people feel about themselves, as opposed to the way they actually are. The ballet world is very hard. It's very easy to get confused, to get overwhelmed, to not really see things the way they are. The Prix de Lausanne was for me mainly about gaining from experiencing the amazing teachers there, the other dancers. There's so much inspiration in that competition. It brought a huge change in the way I see myself and in the way I see ballet.
So, I had a very different approach to both of these competitions. Youth America Grand Prix was a way to change the beginning of my professional way of seeing ballet. Prix de Lausanne was a way to change the way I feel about my career nowadays. It really opened my eyes. It was a night and day experience; it was really life changing. What I gained from that experience goes further than a normal ballet competition. It extends to a deeper level, it’s about how to get to know yourself better.
Paloma Livellara Vidart, Gamsatti variation (La Bayadère, choreography: Marius Petipa), © Gregory Batardon / Prix de Lausanne 2024
How did the Prix de Lausanne change the way you see yourself in the profession, and the way you see the profession?
Sometimes we become a bit trapped in the same routine. I spent five years in Monaco. I went to the Prix de Lausanne in my fifth year, my last year. I really needed that change in terms of how I viewed myself.
Meeting all these new people, getting all this new feedback, receiving all this support and all these comments really helped me to understand that we get used to hearing the same things over and over, whether they're good or bad, so it's really good sometimes to freshen up the idea that we have of ourselves. And being able to do so in such an environment of freedom!
Everyone is just so important at the Prix de Lausanne that it's very normal to feel very afraid of just showing yourself. But once you're there, meeting all those people and getting feedback from those people, it really helps you to understand that there's always more, there are always different points of view, there are always going to be different opinions about yourself, whether they're good or bad. I think it's good to face that. No matter what the outcome is, I think it's very necessary for us artists to be able to experience this, to remind ourselves that no one is ever going to think the same about yourself that you yourself are thinking about yourself. It's good to remind yourself of this and to hear this from other people.
In a very personal way, the Prix de Lausanne really helped me with that. But this was a very personal experience. Other people see it more as a competition to get a prize and a scholarship, a job, a contract. I saw it more as an experience to get to know myself from a different point of view.
At the Prix de Lausanne, you gave a very personal performance of the contemporary solo “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon to a song by Joni Mitchell. How did you work on your interpretation of this piece? Your interpretation was so fresh and free, it almost looked like you were improvising.
Honestly, in a way I was. Of course, there's always the choreography and the rehearsals and the whole preparation behind it, but back in Monaco, with my director, with my teachers who helped me prepare that variation, I actually didn’t work on this variation for a very long time. I only rehearsed the variation for about a month before traveling. Technically, it's a very easy variation. Once I had learned the steps, we just focused on the interpretation of it, there weren’t really any rules on how to approach this variation.
My coaches kept telling me: “Imagine there are people around you. Just try and play with this. You can imagine whoever you want to, whatever you want it to be. Just play with people, with things around you.” I focused on not thinking that I was alone on stage. It’s very common at competitions for people to get very afraid because there’s such a big stage, there are people watching you and judging you and scoring you. Sometimes it gets very overwhelming to step on that stage, on a stage as important as the Prix de Lausanne stage.
I tried to approach it this way: just go out there and play, try to charm and to just have fun. Dancing the variation, I honestly never thought of the same thing. Every single time I did the variation, I would approach it in a different way. I'll just go out there and imagine either a friend, or an imaginary person I've never met. I would just create people and things around me to try and keep me safe, in a way, to make me feel like I am not alone.
That’s really the way I approached it. I just went out there. I listened to the music, to Joni Mitchell's song. It's beautiful. I love it. That really helped me, because I always feel very moved by the music I dance. When I love the music of a piece I'm dancing, it really helps me to get into the mood and into the character that the choreography is asking for. With this music, I just try and listen to the lyrics and just try and feel what she was trying to create with her words.
That's pretty much the way I invented that interpretation.
Let’s talk about ABT Studio Company. You had several offers – how did you make your decision?
This was a very tough decision. After the Prix de Lausanne, there were so many offers. As a prize winner, you basically have the possibility to choose from a lot of companies and schools, in my case, companies.
It was a very hard decision. I made it back in Monaco, together with my director. Our idea behind this decision was: it's very common for dancers to come out of a school, get into a big company and get a bit lost. In big companies, it's very easy to just lose yourself. You join the corps de ballet, you start from the bottom. You need to work your way up. Personally, for myself, I didn't think this would have been the right thing to do right now. I didn't feel mentally ready to face this. By being in a studio company, in a junior company, I feel like I can have the care and the attention that helps me to keep me focused, to keep me going and begin my professional career with this kind of support. Personally, if I don't have the right hand by my side, I might let myself go because of my own thoughts. My director knew this, he had been the one who had been there for me in Monaco all those years. We both reached the conclusion that it would be a wise decision for me to begin in a junior company, because I would be more supported. He knows Sascha Radetsky, he knows he's an amazing director, he really trusts him. The fact that he trusts him made me trust Sascha, because I trust Luca with all my heart. I think it was a great decision to not begin in a big company. For the beginning of my professional career it was the best decision.
What has been the most challenging bit about transitioning from school to a studio company?
First of all, living in New York; the change of living in Monaco to living in such a big city. I lived in Monaco alone, without my family, but I was at a boarding school. Now it's very different. In New York, there are so many people, so many things. It's very easy to lose focus if you're not really in the right mindset. That was the biggest shock when I first arrived about a month and a half ago.
I'm now getting more used to it. I'm actually loving the life here. It is a very refreshing change. I think I needed that.
On the ballet side, the change of dynamics is the biggest. In Europe, I was at a school, so everything was more methodic, stricter. Now being here, we just work, work, work, it just never stops, which is something I love. I really needed that, you know, to keep me going on the right track. Apart from that, as far as ballet is concerned, nothing really changed much.
I’m approaching this move like I approached my move to Monaco: this is a learning experience, I'm just here to try it out. If it doesn't work out, it's just not meant to be. I am just taking it day by day, trying my best and trying to find joy in everything I do, trying to not think too much about what's going to happen next. I just try to keep it as simple as I can, which can be hard in a place like this, where there's so much going on. It's such a big city, with so much art, there is inspiration everywhere. It can get a bit suffocating at times. But I think the way we approach things is the way we end up feeling them and remembering them. And I'm just trying. In Monaco, it turned out really well. I'm trying to approach New York the same way.
What do your days look like?
I’m living in a students’ residency, there are a few of the studio company dancers living here. I am living with another girl from the studio company. We normally start around 9:00 or 9:30 am every day. We are very lucky, we have the subway right outside of the building. We get to the studio about forty, thirty minutes before our first class in the morning. We have class, and then we'll have rehearsal until lunchtime.
There's only a 30-minute lunch break, and then we just keep going with rehearsals, it can be until 4:35 pm or 6pm. We just rehearse whatever we're preparing at the moment. Right now, we have our fall tour coming in one week, we have a bunch of different pieces, classical pieces, contemporary classical pieces. It's pretty much non-stop the whole day. Once we’re finished, I just get back here. I try to detach a bit from ballet, to take my mind off it for the last few hours of the day. I relax and take care of myself and my body. It can be very tough, sometimes: pointe shoes, blisters, soreness. So, I just try to help my body recover. I also talk to friends, to my friends from Monaco. We're now spread out all around the world, so it's very nice to chat with them for a while. I also call my parents. I just try to take a moment for myself. I also read. I sew a lot of pointe shoes at night for the next day, every single night almost. It's just very chill nights.
What are you reading right now?
I am reading a book that this very kind woman sent me. She has been following me since the Prix de Lausanne and lives here in the States. She sent me a bunch of books. She sent me Toni Bentley’s book about George Balanchine’s ballet Serenade which tells the whole story of how the ballet was created and also a bit about Balanchine’s life. I'm really loving it. We did Serenade for our final ballet in Monaco, and I fell in love with the ballet, so when she sent me this book, I was super excited.
During the weekend, when I have a bit more time, I just hang out with my friends. It's a beautiful group of people. We go out. We walk around. Central Park is very close by. We just relax, we are exhausted by the end of the week. It’s just very chill outings.
What has been the most fun part about your transition to ABT Studio Company?
Meeting new people. I was very afraid of coming here and maybe not fitting in. I had such a close friend group back in Monaco, leaving them made me really scared of having to start all over again, to meet new people, to have to make friends and fit in a group. I was very afraid of that before coming here, but I honestly was very surprised by how easy it felt once I was here. The people here were super welcoming. It’s been less than two months, and I feel super comfortable.
Any exciting performances coming up?
Our fall tour is coming up. It's a very big tour, it lasts about two weeks. We have nine shows with a lot of pieces, classical pieces, contemporary pieces, pieces for groups, solos. There are a lot of things I'm working on. It’s very exciting, because it's going to be my first time debuting many of those things. We also have The Nutcracker with the main company coming soon in December. We're going to start with rehearsals in late November, once we're back from our tour. We are going to be traveling to Costa Mesa in California for The Nutcracker, which is super exciting. It's going to be my first time working with the company. It’s definitely going to be challenging. For the girls’ corps de ballet, The Nutcracker is very tough, but I think that's what I'm most looking forward to now. It’s an amazing opportunity.