Big Interview: NI’s globally acclaimed ballerina, Melissa Hamilton, on returning to her ‘home stage' at the Grand Opera House
When she was 16, Melissa Hamilton was turned down by the Royal Ballet School. A late starter to ballet, she was accepted by Elmhurst in Birmingham, another prestigious ballet school, but was soon advised to give up.
Only one teacher, the former Bolshoi dancer Masha Mukhamedova, believed in the girl from Dromore, Co Down.
Mukhamedova took Hamilton under her wing and taught her privately in Athens. And determined not to give up on her dream, Melissa’s unshakeable grit, talent and ambition saw her audition successfully for the Royal Ballet Company in 2007.
Now 35, she is a first soloist with the Royal Ballet and a global star with a string of acclaimed appearances behind her, including the title role in ‘Manon’, Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Mary Vetsera in ‘Mayerling’, Sugar Plum Fairy in ‘The Nutcracker’, Queen of the Dryads in ‘Don Quixote’ and Olga in ‘Onegin’, to name but a few.
And next week, she will be appearing on her ‘home stage’ at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, for three performances only of a special Ballet Gala.
“I am beyond excited to return to Belfast and perform on the iconic stage of the Grand Opera House,” says Melissa, speaking on the phone from London, where she lives.
“This performance will be like no other, with talent from around the world coming together to create something magical.”
She is also excited that friends and family will be there to watch her on stage.
“My family have booked in to watch every show. And my niece will watch me perform for the first time, and for a lot of my extended family it will be the first time that they've seen me perform. It's going to be very, very special.”
Founded by Melissa and her husband, luxury property developer, Michael Christou, their production company, Hamilton Christou Productions, presents and produces outstanding live performances on some of the world’s pre-eminent stages.
Created by Melissa, the exciting programme for Belfast showcases excerpts from much-loved ballet classics such as ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Swan Lake’, and ‘Giselle’, amongst other favourites.
“It is an honour that together with Michael we can enliven the ballet world with fresh ideas while giving a platform to the stars of tomorrow.”
Melissa will be joined on stage by Lukas Brændsrød, first soloist of the Royal Ballet Company, one of Melissa’s frequent on-stage partners at the Royal Opera House; principals Sangeun Lee, Gareth Haw and soloist Vsevolod Maievskyi from English National Ballet; principal of Vienna State Ballet, Liudmila Konovalova, along with Martin Diaz and Hanna Park, artists of The Royal Ballet.
It is only the third time Melissa, once dubbed ‘Charlize Theron in pointe shoes’, will have performed in Northern Ireland, and she agrees that ballet is perceived as more of a hobby here, than as a viable career.
So how did a young girl from Dromore make it to Covent Garden?
“Whenever I was growing up I didn't know that you could be a ballerina. I didn't know it was a career because it wasn't something that there was access to, or I just didn't know that that was a possibility.”
However, a summer ballet course in Aberdeen when she was 13 opened her eyes for the first time to the possibilities of dance as a career.
“I remember after that week going home and saying to my parents (Keith and Linda), ‘Ok, I know what I want to do, I want to audition for a ballet school in England and I want to train to be a professional’. It was when I knew it was a possibility (as a career), that I jumped at the chance.
“I left home then when I was 16 to join a vocational school in England to train full-time, because you basically have to leave Northern Ireland in order to take this (ballet) into a profession.
“At the time it didn’t feel daunting. I was so excited. Everything was so new. It felt like such a new life and a new experience.
“At the same time it is a big step. I left my family, my friends, my life that I had lived for 16 years and started a whole new chapter and went into the unknown, but that in itself is exciting – I revel in challenges like that.”
Melissa has had, and continues to have, a phenomenally successful career, with her electrifying performances and compelling stage presence captivating audiences around the world.
“I have been very, very lucky in the career that I’ve had. The list that I made in my student days of what my dream roles were, I have actually been able to perform those. I’ve had experiences that I could only ever have dreamt of.”
Ballet is notoriously competitive, and physically and mentally gruelling (anyone who has watched Natalie Portman as an unstable ballerina in the film ‘Black Swan’ will be familiar with this).
“It’s my lifestyle,” says Melissa. “It's not like we have to do this, and we have to give up life, you learn to have your life alongside what you’re doing.
“It sounds like it’s a mental schedule and a crazy career, but that is what we do. We are like any other adult and we do have a glass of wine at the end of the day. Obviously, we can’t neck a bottle of wine and expect to get up on stage the next day,” she laughs.
“There is also the understanding of our body is our tool and what we put into our body then means that we have longevity within our career, we have less injuries. There’s a lot to manage in order to have the best and most longstanding career that we possibly can. And it’s something that we always want to extend because there's so much opportunity, there's so many different things, experiences that you want to have, and the longer you can dance the better.
“I think also your career morphs as you go along. Now, I have the production company and that wasn't possible until I got together with my husband. That was a brainchild of the meeting of the two of us. He’s a businessman and he wanted our two roles to join to create something together. He brings in all his business knowledge and I bring my artistic vision to curate for the shows.”
And she says every day in her profession is ‘completely different’.
“Today, for example, I had rehearsals from 12am until 5pm, going to different studios for different rehearsals, for different roles. It’s very dependent on what ballets are being put on, what roles I’m doing. It shifts and it comes in waves. There's really busy periods, then there’s productions that I won’t be involved in, so I have more downtime, but right now whilst I’m preparing for the gala (in Belfast) as well as my roles within the Royal Ballet, it’s quite a heavy schedule.”
What would her advice be to up and coming ballerinas from Northern Ireland?
“I would say that you make your opportunities and it has been done and it is possible, I am proof of that. I have stood exactly where they were and I trained in Northern Ireland until I was 16 and I am now able to dance on stages all over the world.
“Surround yourself with the right people and the people that do inspire creativity and motivation. Success breeds from the right environment.”
Outside of dancing, Melissa loves spending time with her husband Michael and dog, Apollo, a Japanese Spitz.
"We have such hectic lives, but when we have time together it’s very nice to go for a walk in the park with Apollo. He’s exceptionally fluffy. He’s our little light."
l Melissa Hamilton’s Grand Ballet Gala runs at the Grand Opera House, for three performances only, on October 26 and October 27. Ahead of the performance on October 27, Melissa will deliver an on-stage ballet masterclass to aspiring young dancers from across Northern Ireland.