Marlon Dino - Danseur: Guest Principal (Ballet Dortmund) & International Star - Part 1

There are moments in life which do not consist of coincidences – do they really exist? - but are blessed with such an abundance of empathy and comprehension, which can nearly be „described as indescribable". I was lucky enough to have a precious experience like this with Marlon Dino. From the moment we met and started our talk, there was just understanding „in the air". As if we already knew all answers to all questions, even to those which had not yet been formulated. This is very rare. And to be a bit repetitious, empathy at its best.

Such a pleasure to meet at last Marlon Dino, who is concentrating a lot now on teaching and choreographing Neo-classical Ballets ("Just" 19 pieces by the way).

Due to many personal reasons, which I am not going through now, the conclusion of this piece took much longer to be concluded than I usually need. Being abroad and luckily enough not having an internet connection at 1.300 meters height in Brazil - but having my computer with me - gave me just the chance to work and rework this very intimate conversation as I perhaps had only done once or twice before. And as that happened I began to realize that this „freedom" (of not having „wifi" and mobile data) is exactly what we all need now. I had never thought I would have enjoyed so much a situation like that. I had not felt as free as this in life for years. Just in connection with my thoughts and ideas, not with the internet, even writing them down in a notebook. A refreshing new way to start work on another season, to be a guardian of thoughts and moments that should not be forgotten by other generations. A good thing. Simple and plain. But extremely beautiful – and rewarding!

All pictures kindly ceded by Mr Dino - from the Artist’s private collection. Giovanni Tacca Photography.

„Hi," said a very friendly Marlon Dino with an open smile „How are you?"

„Fine, Thanks... how punctual we are, isn't it? British punctuality at its best! Even though I must apologize that I had to change the date of our Rendez-vous. Sorry about that! But good things take time and, as I normally say, they also need to be made at the right time! So, here we go... By the way, we have a friend in common"

„Who?" he asks.

„Eno (Note: Eno Peçi, Soloist at the Vienna State Ballet)! I called him to ask if I could call you for this interview if it'd be alright – and he assured me that I could do it and just spoke the best about you!", I say „But before starting I have just a question I am curious about: you studied in Albania but you finished your studies in Geneva? Is this right?"

„I finished my studies in Tirana then I won a scholarship to go to Geneva. There was some problem with my passport at the time; it had not been done correctly or something, so I could not go to France as planned – so I went to the Ministry of Arts and asked if they could find out why I could not go to school in France. There was this mistake on my passport... then they proceeded to ask me if I could fill out some applications for a scholarship in Geneva. About 3.000 people were applying for this scholarship and there were just one or two vacancies. After about three months I got an answer that luckilyI was one of the chosen ones. So I went to Geneva – to the Geneva Dance Center under the direction of David Allen – and basically from the first day on I started to learn something very different from all I had been learning in Albania, something very new for me. Our school had been very “1960s Russian” and very strong in jumps, turning, and also in partnering. They were very good but the problem was that in Europe they needed Dancers who danced fast and that was something that we all lacked. So when I started work David Allen told me: „If you want to dance with any European Company, you have to be fast and to dance fast even if you're tall" - and I am tall, I am 1.95cms tall"

„Yes, even if dancers are taller nowadays; this is definitely still very tall for a Dancer!" I add

All pictures kindly ceded by Mr Dino - from the Artist’s private collection.

„So you see, for me to start learning everything new from scratch and having to be fast was a big challenge – but all this effort was paid off as about a little more than one year later I got my first contract and went to Vienna, to the State Opera !"

„I remember you at the Corps here – to be quite honest, there were not that many tall dancers like you!" I say.

„Exactly!" he adds with a big smile as if remembering good things „this was 2001. The next year I went to Munich"

In Munich Marlon Dino quickly advanced to half soloist, as he very soon began taking over a succession of solo roles. In 2007 he became a Soloist and during the 2009/10 Season a Principal.

„But somehow I feel like leaving the chapter Munich out of our conversation, " I say „What is past, is past – but of course, we are going to talk about roles, attitudes, thoughts, OK? I had the pleasure to watch you in many roles – Onegin, Legende, Petruchio just to mention a few. But let us start at the very beginning: First of all, I feel that your attitude towards dance is a very unique and beautiful one. Something that I cannot help but admiring very much. Nowadays everybody wants to be a Star quite quick – remember Andy Warhol said that „in the future, everyone will be a Star – for 15 minutes?"

He laughs and adds cleverly „Yes, the 15 minutes of fame" (Note: Warhols' „In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.")

"What I feel about you, and I want to be very open about that because this was one the main reasons for wanting to interview you, is that I love your attitude toward dance because you serve the Art and you are not using Art to serve you. And this is beautiful – and has become quite a rarity in the present days. I'm not sure if you are following the ego trips that are happening in some "State Operas" in Central Europe... "

"No, I'm not and you might have much better information than I do. I got a little bit out of this "scene" because there was a lot of stuff I didn't like. Such a pity; exactly what you have just said before. What concerns me is that, to be honest, is becoming quite rare. Everybody wants to be a star and everybody is looking at the wrong direction. This thing of achieving higher jumps, doing more pirouettes, having more “technique”, being acrobatic – it just shows that this form of Art which is basically a form of transmitting something, is being misused and misunderstood. I feel that what was most important to me is getting lost”.

"Good, Marlon, that you have mentioned that – although I disagree a bit because for me technique is also the way you hold your hands or incline your neck and head but people now are just relying on their abilities and call that "Dance", isn't it?"

"Yes, abilities" he speaks with wide eyes "like acrobats. But acrobats can do it better. And that is the point. There are so many good people out there and they can do anything when it comes to "tricks" but what has been forgotten is that those "tricks" can be displayed together with a form of Art that slowly, slowly is being completely consigned to oblivion. There are a few people who can still dance and transmit that feeling. Very few. It is not all about "tricks", it is about feelings. Basically, I sometimes see dance as a movie from Charlie Chaplin's time. There was no need to use words. Even with just piano as accompanying music, he could make us understand everything that was happening, the emotional depths of the story of the characters. And it is the same thing when it comes to ballet" as he says this I can feel how disappointed he feels about this, about this lack of comprehension of Dance nowadays.

"This is sad, so sad... I have just seen a video one of those days – and by coincidence, it was in Munich – this dancer was doing a terrible Madness scene from Giselle, completely wrong... but this is not the point – there was her "Albrecht" looking totally bored during the whole thing because he was not "dancing" or in fact doing pirouettes and turns and jumps which is now the Cuban way of understanding dance – or should we call it a circus? - the man was bored. There was no projection, no transmission, no story-telling, no acting... just a bored man on stage counting the minutes to his”golden moments” of glory doing a bit of a circus... "

"Yes, Ricardo. And now they stay like this through the whole ballet just thinking of "When will my moment come when I can show off?" forgetting that there is a whole ballet with a beginning and an end with 2 and half hours in between to fulfill. Two hours and half hours in which everyone on the stage should be connected and involved in the story! They are forgetting that the main thing is to play, be the role, put yourself into the character"

"And interact with the others" I add.

"Yes, and that is also being forgotten, a lot!"

„I just remembered one thing: while doing some research before talking to you, by chance I saw a video of you that really impressed me but also made me very sad. In it, you were in a studio, rehearsing and you say: „When you dance, you dance, I have no time for anything else, I have no private life, no friends, I just dance". I was shocked!"

Marlon began to laugh hearty and said „Oh, I think you saw a video I did in 2018 with a friend of mine and that was a joke, really a joke. I was comparing a dancer's life with one of a drunken man who wants to become a dancer!"

Relieved I said „Yes, yes, yes... now I can understand it. The drunken scene etc., I see... "

„Now, if you see that video again, you will understand it better. I was speaking of Marlon who made his career dancing and then the drunken guy with a tutú... basically, it was fun! The true story behind it, Ricardo, is that dancers, and you know many, really have to sacrifice a lot. Making friends is nearly impossible as you are 11 hours a day at work, and many other things. I sacrificed also a lot because I said to myself: I'm going to do it as well as I can for as long as I can but I am not going to let dance be my whole life. Many people, after stopping dancing, find themselves in very dark moments. Because they have nothing else. So when I was around 25 years old I said: „This is not going to be my life, this will be part of my life", so when I stop dancing I am not going to be as depressed. Many get emotional, and psychological problems after they quit. I saw it differently... I trained myself to be like that"

„Oh, Marlon, I like that – another priceless attitude of an intelligent man! But what about the issue with „time", which is becoming less and less for dancers? To rehearse 5 different ballets at once and perform 15 times a month and then in between fly somewhere for a gala... "

„If you think of most dancers – and they know their career is so short – and the way they are trying to do more and more and more... yes, it has become too stressful for everyone and I think that by not having „Time" sometimes you forget to enjoy what you are doing. Now. If one would have more time between performances, one would have more time to analyze and recuperate not only physically but mentally as well as to enjoy more what one is doing! People are always thinking of the future and what will be one day... they forget about the present moment now, they forget that we are here and about how we are “doing this” now" he says with a feeling that reveals so much of how he has been reflecting about that.

„I think that people are so greedy and nervously thinking of getting on. Just getting on. They forget that they are living now, here... „ I mention quite spontaneously

„Getting back a bit in our conversation, there is sometimes also no difference between what you see on a stage from what you see at „Cirque du Soleil" where they can turn 6 pirouettes attitude, which a dancer normally can't although they all now turn 8 to 9 plain pirouettes, which was not „common" before... but what do I do when I, as a member of the audience, get home and don't have the feeling of „This was a performance I won't forget"? What do I do when I don't get emotion anymore?"

„I try, Marlon, to remind people that Makarova, Plissetskaya, Kirkland among many others, even if they many times never managed “the” 32 fouettés - and did them all as piquets en tournant instead -, were DANCING. Grandly. Most dancers think now that if you do not manage them, you are „unable" to dance... that you are not good enough! I know “a machine” here in Vienna that manages 32 double ones... but she is not dancing... „

„A friend of mine once said „Do you know what the difference is between a Soloist and a Principal? A Soloist can dance by himself and will always be better than a principal Dancer. But a principal can partner and can act. That is a big difference. Partnering has changed me completely. I fought every day for my technique like jumping higher, turning but that was not the reason I advanced to a Principal. It was something different" he pauses for a second and then continues with one of the most revealing insights as he says „Being an Artist in your soul nowadays is something that became quite rare! For example, let's talk about dramatic ballets. Extremely important for my career. They are the ones I enjoyed most. You don't think about yourself but about the characters. You are just in the mood and become them. Just to put a Onegin costume or a Bayadére or Giselle or Swan Lake one, this mood makes you become it! Most people now are copying what others did – He did this, She did that... Forgetting that they should this time do what they can personally do to contribute to the character..."

„That is why because a simple word called interpretation has been so often forgotten – is it still in our vocabulary?" I add jokingly „Such a huge word, it represents it all – not only the way of displaying the role but the feeling and understanding of it!"

„Exactly, Ricardo, exactly!" __________________________________________________________________________

And then he went on to say something that made me very happy and proud. Especially because it came from this beautiful Artiste. I figured out for a long time if I should include it in this interview or not. But I am not going to be coy about that and will publish it.

All of a sudden, quite spontaneously he just said (Quote) „Ricardo, you are one of the best interviewers I have ever had. You truly understand what you are talking about. You don't make questions just because you heard questions from other interviews. You make your own thing. I really appreciate you. You know exactly what you want. I love that!"

Blushing a bit I just said „Thank you, Thank you" to which Marlon answered, „I thank you".

Well, I could not resist publishing this. It made me very happy and very proud – but now enough of “self-worship”, let's get back to work and Marlon Dino, the one this is all about!

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To be continued on November 28th.