A short talk with Prisca Zeisel - Oct.23rd, 2017

Munich: 2017, March 11th

A short talk with Prisca Zeisel – first soloist/ Bayerisches Staatsballet, ex Demi-Soloist of the Vienna State Ballet.

RL – Dear Prisca, first of all thank you for such a lovely performance yesterday – I saw another „Prisca“ on that stage yesterday, one I had never seen before. Can you tell us a bit about your Aegina, or better said, how is your creative process while rehearsing a role?

PZ – My creative process is quite different from character to character. You see, for me “the theatrical side” of the character is utterly important. Technique is also quite important but therefore I have my daily classes – it is a tool for my art.

RL – You have showed us many times how well you develop your characters… I am thinking for example of your Mizzi Kaspar in MacMillan’s “Mayerling”…

PZ (smiling) – You see, when I was 16 years old I even took acting lessons in order to be able to portray my first Effie in “La Sylphide”…

RL – But back to your creative process… Your Aegina impressed me as a woman full of lust, possessed by a wish to have power, voluptuous…  Who coached you?

PZ – The coaching by Oxana Tsvetnitskaya was very special and dear to me. She told me quite simply: Chatscharujan’s music is extremely imposing and strong. It tells us all about the exact emotions of each part… That was immense good advice, which, added to the fine-tuning from our Ballet mistress Yana Zelensky made this experience a great joy.

RL – Something else?

PZ – Yes, I must confess that I watch many videos of different productions. I watch them closely but very critically. It is not that I “copy” things – sometimes I make them stronger or even smaller… according to me, to my type, to the definition that I have found for this certain character.

RL – I thank you very much for sharing a bit of your time and personal insights with me and our readers!