by Tammy Ballantyne,
I AM completely in love with ballet. It is the ‘perfect’ art form and so complex that perfection is almost unattainable and, for me, a never-ending experience and journey,” says Brooklyn Mack (pictured), the 26-year-old superstar from The Washington Ballet, who is in Joburg to perform in South African Mzansi Ballet’s (SAMB’s) Don Quixote.
Sports-mad Mack grew up pursuing athletic activities from Taekwondo to basketball to his first love, American football. He believed he was destined for the National Football League and then, at 12 years old, he went to his first ballet.
“There were two things people had told me about ballet: it was for sissies and it might help me get better at football. The morning after the charity ballet gala performance, I told my mum I wanted to do ballet and she gave me the craziest look. Only later did she tell me that she had been a dancer.”
And so his mother researched dance schools and he was enrolled at the Pavlovich Dance School before winning a scholarship to study at the Kirov Academy of Ballet.
“I’ve never been scared of anything. I throw myself wholeheartedly into everything. The athleticism of ballet appealed to me but also the emotional and expressive side. I got hooked and had to prove I could take on the challenge.”
Although he oozes confidence, Mack doesn’t have the prima donna attitude often associated with young stars. He spoke affably to youngsters from the National School of the Arts at a rehearsal of Don Quixote in the ballet studios.
Last year, Mack was touted as one of the 25 people most likely to succeed by Pointe Magazine; was invited to perform at the Bolshoi (even though he didn’t get there in the end); won gold at the Boston International Ballet Competition; won the Grand Prix at the Istanbul Ballet Competition; and crowned the year with a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria — the Olympics of ballet.
“It was such a great honour to win that medal. I’m only the third American to do so and the first African-American. This is very important for me; where I come from, young people don’t aspire to the arts and have very little exposure to it. The medal carries a big responsibility, there is a huge legacy — Baryshnikov and Makarova are past winners.”
Mack, who made his debut in SA at the International Ballet Gala in 2011, shares the role of Basilio in Don Quixote with Australian guest artist Aaron Smyth, Cubans Javier Monier and Randol Figueredo, and SAMB dancers Michael Revie and Jonathan Rodrigues.