American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Gillian Murphy recently took her final bow in New York after nearly three decades of performing. The University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumna returns to the Triad this week to share her experiences at the Winston-Salem Dance Medicine Conference.
She spoke with WFDD’s David Ford.
Interview Highlights
On lessons learned from her time at UNCSA:
"Melissa Hayden particularly emphasized that in any great art, it's not just the big moment that people anticipate, but how you get there — the transitions, the connection between the steps, a step like a glissade, which is sort of a gliding step that kind of gets you to usually a bigger step. Those moments are critical from a dramatic standpoint ... it's the moments of pause and stillness that can speak volumes."
On navigating the transition to being a principal dancer with ABT:
"That was the dream to be a principal dancer, and for me, I did feel ready for it. I was fortunate that the roles that I took on sort of led to, like the next role, that there was a good progression there. I joined ABT as a professional; I was 17, and there was a year when I was 19, I got thrown into a whole bunch of principal roles, and I felt a little bit overwhelmed, but I was still technically in the corps de ballet, so kind of had an underdog feeling to the whole experience. But yeah, there is added pressure to be promoted to the role of soloist, and then a couple years later to be promoted to principal dancer."
On her role as keynote speaker during the Winston-Salem Dance Medicine Conference:
"I think the main questions will be about my experience with injuries and with physical therapy, with cross-training, all the developments that have happened in that area in the course of my 29-year career. The developments during that time frame have been absolutely monumental. So I think a lot of it will be about how to manage physically and emotionally those moments of injury or setbacks, and how professionals have also helped in those moments."