Sarah Lamb

Monday 25th April, 2005.
Crown Court Church of Scotland Hall, London W.C.2.

Our guest tonight was Sarah Lamb, First Soloist, Royal Ballet, who has been with the Company for eight months. Michael Ludgate introduced Sarah by going through the "family tree" of her historic teachers, starting with Bournonville down the line of direct descent to Madame Tatiana Nicholaevna Legat, who trained Sarah in Boston.

Sarah Lamb's father is British and her family moved to the USA after the last war. Her Grandmother had been a fan of Sadler's Wells Ballet and brought her ballet programmes with her to the USA when the family moved there. Her mother had done some modern dance and Sarah and her two sisters were encouraged to dance at home to music on the radio. She started ballet at the Boston Ballet School when she was six years old, with her sisters, and the three of them appeared together in "The Nutcracker". She was lucky to have had sympathetic teachers when she was very young, who knew how to encourage small children and not put them off by too much strictness. At the age of 13 she began her serious training with Mme. Legat.

Sarah explained how the dancers were trained in Boston. The ballet school teaches dance only, so she had to go to a Public State school for her academic studies and fit in her ballet training after school hours. She was sent to Montreal on an exchange visit and found that the students there, who danced all day, were not necessarily better dancers than Sarah and the other Boston students, who only did two hours a day. However, Sarah had been to Summer schools where she got used to full days of dancing, and when she joined the company at the age of 17, she said the long hours were just like a really long Summer programme!

In Montreal she came in contact with the Paris Opera School curriculum, and started to prepare for her first competition. She enjoyed meeting other students from different branches of the arts and described her progress through competitions before joining the Boston Ballet as an apprentice. Her first ballet with the Boston company was "Giselle" and as Sarah had been coached by Mme Legat in Giselle's friends she was put in the first cast as one of the friends. While with the company she continued to work for competitions and went to Nagoya in Japan, where she won the silver and Alina Cojocaru won the gold. Sarah was impressed by Alina's modesty and kindness, as well as by her wonderful dancing. Sarah continued working her way through a wide repertoire of more important roles with Boston Ballet and after two years in the corps de ballet, and two years as soloist was promoted to Principal. Eventually she decided spread her wings and leave Boston to join the Royal Ballet.

Boston Ballet had a good repertoire ranging from contemporary to the classics, but due to financial problems the season was very short and it was difficult for the five Principals to have enough performances. Sarah felt she had too much time in the studio and not enough time on the stage, but due to similar financial problems with other American companies and their need for commercial success (e.g.. The Nutcracker), she did not wish to join another US ballet company. She wanted to develop artistically while still young and felt that ballet is not really valued in American culture, but is seen as a money making enterprise. Sarah discussed the companies she considered joining and her reason for wanting to join the Royal Ballet was that they have such a wide repertoire of ballets by choreographers that appealed to her. She auditioned for the Dutch National Ballet and was offered a contract as Principal, and was also offered a First Soloist contract with the Royal Ballet. After much thought, she decided to take the Royal Ballet contract for the lower rank, as it would be easier for her to take this position now than apply to be a Principal with the Royal Ballet at a later age, which would be more difficult. She enjoys doing soloist work, even though she has danced Principal roles, and has already had some wonderful opportunities with the Royal Ballet.

When asked about a favourite role, Sarah said before she left Boston she was coached by Mme Legat to dance Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake" and that was a great experience. Mme Legat told Sarah she had been an ugly duckling at 13 and was now a swan, which was a truly great compliment. Sarah said Mme Legat moulded her and she still feels her influence. She would love to dance Juliet, Tatiana in "Onegin" and has enjoyed the strong evil women, such as the Queen of the Wilis and Gamzatti, and spoke about the other roles she had enjoyed. Another reason Sarah had for joining the Royal Ballet was to develop a partnership, as in Boston she was one of the tallest dancers and had difficulty in finding a suitable partner. She described what is needed to form a good ballet partnership and how the best dancer isn't necessarily the best partner and a special sympathy needs to be developed between the two dancers. She enjoys Ashton and the feeling his choreography gives of wanting more from the dancer - it does not feel foreign to her. She is looking forward to the coming RB Japanese tour.

Before she left Boston, Sarah danced in Maina Gielgud's production of "Giselle" and was coached by Tatiana Terekova for the Queen of the Wilis and also Gamzatti and other roles. She listed many modem choreographers whose work she has danced, and has got used to the Royal Opera House where the audience is visible from the stage, unlike the Wang Theatre in Boston (a converted cinema) where the audience cannot be seen at all. Sarah is now happily adjusting to life in London with the Royal Ballet, though she had to get through the "British reserve" when she first joined the Company. When asked about her shoes, Sarah does not favour one particular maker and has danced in shoes made by Chinese, Russian and European makers - basically she can dance in most makes of shoe.

Speaking about the value of competitions, Sarah said the great advantage for her was the intensive coaching in all the great classical ballerina variations and pas de deux. From a young age she has danced these roles on all sorts of stages and in difficult circumstances and now has the confidence and technical security to dance the complete ballets, due to her early experience. She doesn't feel afraid of these great variations now that she has danced them so many times when very young. Also there is the opportunity to see other great dancers and meet them again in later life. It is not necessarily those who win first prize who go on to become outstanding dancers.

Michael thanked Sarah for giving up an evening off to speak to us about her career so eloquently. She was presented with a gift of Champagne from the members, to enthusiastic applause.