Posted on Mar 04, 2009
Principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada
Sonia Rodriguez
Prim, proper and perhaps even a bit prissy. Having never met a professional ballet dancer, I have to admit, this was the preconception that I had in my mind of a ballerina. Not knowing any better, I thought Sonia Rodriguez, a principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada, would fall under this prim, proper and prissy category. Not so, as it turned out. I got a chance to speak with Sonia at the Walter Carsen Centre on Queen’s Quay and discovered there was just one word that I could use to describe her after our interview: lovely.Born in Toronto to Spanish parents, Sonia and her family moved back to Spain when she was five, “I was born here. A lot of people don’t know that actually. Even here at work, they don’t realize because I have the accent.” In fact, she remembers starting kindergarten not speaking Spanish very well and being extremely shy. After seeing her first ballet on television in Spain, Sonia begged her parents to put her in ballet classes, convinced that it would be magical and that she would be able to float across the stage with grace just like the dancers on television.
Much to her chagrin, however, she immediately found out that dancing is not as fun and easy as it appears, “I didn’t really enjoy it in the beginning. It wasn’t what I thought.” The sense of freedom that she saw on stage was what attracted her to dancing in the first place and when she was told to stand a certain way she thought, “Wait a minute! Where’s the dancing?” She stuck with it though, and by the time she was eight or nine Sonia knew that dancing was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Sonia went on to study dance with Pedro de la Cruz in Madrid and at the Princess Grace Academy in Monaco. She moved back to Toronto when she was seventeen and joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1990. After ten years of hard work, Sonia was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2000.
For being such an accomplished and worldly dancer, I was pleasantly surprised at how down-to-earth and relaxed Sonia was. Catching her in between rehearsal times, Sonia still appeared genuinely interested in speaking with me, not at all hesitant of opening up or talking about her personal life. A genuinely interesting person, she told me about her experiences dancing, being married to Kurt Browning and the one time she uncharacteristically became star-struck.Even though I misjudged what a professional ballerina’s demeanor would be like, there was one thing that was a given – a passion for dance that oozes from her presence and her words when speaking about it. Being supported by a tight-knit, supportive and artistic family was incredibly important in nurturing Sonia’s dream; although there were no other dancers in her family (her younger sister tried to follow in her footsteps only to discover quite early that she hated it), there were painters, musicians and singers – there is no wonder Sonia was drawn to an artistic calling. She never aspired to be like any famous dancer but instead drew inspiration from the closeness of her family; her parents inspired her with their dedication and support, not only of her, but of each other as well.
When speaking about her experiences on stage, Sonia seems to be looking off into a faraway place, remembering an extremely personal and emotional moment, each one special in its own right.
Sonia explains, “Some roles you know that they are amazing from day one. The moment you see the role and you start rehearsing, you know it’s something special,” and for her, Sleeping Beauty was one of those roles where “everything comes to that pinnacle moment where you can just be there,” and everything else just disappears. There was another performance that gave the same kind of experience, however, and it was much to her surprise. During the last pose of the last performance of Opus 19/The Dreamer, Sonia was filled with so much emotion that it brought tears to her eyes, “It was really special to get to that point without really knowing it would.”
Of course, in a dancer’s life not all performances can be perfect. Sonia recalled the first time that she didn’t have a good performance was devastating. While she was a student, Sonia only had to do two performances a year, allowing for a perfect performance every time. Performing more regularly for The National Ballet of Canada, however, was a different story. She missed a step in a technical piece and it seemed like the world was going to crumble. The whole ordeal seemed like a catastrophe, but looking back on it now, she realized it wasn’t a big deal at all. Sonia elaborated, “It always feels worse than it looks. You have this anxiety inside of you and you’re trying to keep it together. All time on stage is precious; you don’t have much. You don’t want to have a day like that. But it doesn’t happen very often.”
Sonia’s passion for dance doesn’t end after a long day of rehearsals or a performance, however. She, in fact, craves going out dancing and clubbing. Unfortunately, with two kids and a demanding career, she doesn’t get to do that very often. She has found a way to get that club experience though, albeit briefly. If you are ever driving down the street and a car pulls up beside you with music blasting it could be Sonia Rodriguez trying to simulate a night out on the town. But every once and a while she and her husband do get to go out and boogie – just not together. Since her husband is a professional figure skater, it’s obvious that he has some moves. Unfortunately, they just don’t mesh with Sonia’s, “I can’t keep up with him. He’s totally out of control.” A nice compromise is made though, and they dance near each other.
As Kurt can share her passion for dancing, I asked Sonia if she has learned how to figure skate since meeting her husband. The answer was a definitive no. When they first met she had never been on skates before, but she thought, “Oh, I’m so coordinated. I’ll pick this up quickly.” This was not the case, however, and she discovered that she is not a natural skater. It has given her a whole new respect for what her husband does, though. She can always give the excuse that she has to be careful of injuries, but she can be proud of the fact that she learned to skate well enough to make a special appearance as an extra in one of Kurt’s shows – even if it was just slowly skating around the rink.
Being a principal dancer for The National Ballet of Canada as well as being married to a Canadian Olympian, Sonia bumps into well-known celebrities every now and again. Thankfully, she is not one to be a star-struck fan. Once in Vancouver while the X-Files were still filmed there, she saw David Duchovny in a restaurant. Loving the show, she ignored her usual instinct of not approaching actors and calmly told David that she really enjoyed his work. He then proceeded to invite her to sit with him at dinner, much to her surprise. Recently at the Canuck Star Walk of Fame, though, Sonia admitted losing her typical cool when she found herself seated across from Sigourney Weaver at dinner. Sonia just kept thinking, “Oh my gosh! I’m having dinner with Sigourney Weaver!” and described her as so real and so nice that by the end of the evening she had to ask for a picture together. Sonia keeps it on her iPhone to boot.
When asked about her connection to her Spanish roots, Sonia remembers when she came back to Canada at the age of 17, not speaking any English. She still had relatives in Canada and her parents felt better knowing that she still could keep that connection to family and Spain while readjusting to life in Toronto. As she became more immersed in the Canadian lifestyle and eventually married to a Canadian, Sonia’s Spanish background became less influential; now she realizes that as she gets older, she craves more of her roots and misses the customs and traditions she was used to while growing up. The need to be in touch with her Spanish identity that had fallen to the wayside has returned, even though she is not as involved in the Spanish community as she would like to be. However, Sonia now makes more of an effort to be aware of the various Spanish events in Toronto. Although she doesn’t think about being a role model for the Spanish community per se, Sonia is always touched when she hears that someone in the community knows of her and that she is the only Spanish dancer at the National Ballet of Canada. She does, after all, carry the nickname “Chiquita” among her peers.
It is clear that Sonia loves what she does and treasures every moment that she gets to spend on stage. As a dancer gets older, she realizes that her career is not as long as it seemed when she was seventeen, but even after taking time off for the birth of her two children, every time she has come back there’s even more desire, according to her. Even after achieving as much as she has in her career, a dancer can never get enough. Sonia sums up perfectly, “Having children has given me time to realize how important dancing is to me and how much it’s just part of who I am. It’s not just a job. Once you’re a dancer, you’re always a dancer. You might retire or might do something else but it’s so in you. It’s in your blood.”
Her top 3 classic ballets that people should see:
The Nutcracker because it’s a good introduction.
Giselle because we’re doing it soon and it’s fantastic.
Sleeping Beauty because I hold it quite dear to my heart, as it’s the first role I did as a principal dancer.
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