Ryoichi Hirano 2016

https://balletassociation.co.uk/pages/reports-2016-ryoichi-hirano

Ryoichi Hirano 2016

First Soloist, The Royal Ballet

interviewed by David Bain
Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, March 09 2016

会に少し遅れてやってきて、亮一は日本でのバックグラウンドから話し始めた。彼の母親はバレエの先生で、大阪で教室をしており、父親は建築家、3歳年上の兄は最近までナショナルバレエカナダで主役級の役を踊っていた。彼は自分で踊れると思うようになる前から踊っていた。日本でのバレエ界はとても狭いのでプレッシャーが多く、兄を追い越すよう彼をけしかける先生もたくさんいた。彼はそれをプレッシャーと感じず、よりよい方向に向かうための力にした。亮一は普通の学校に通い、夕方にバレエの練習をし、日本の大きなコンクールの準備をした。年に2回バレエ学校の公演があり、公演でのソロの練習をした。彼にとって大きな意味を持っていたのは兄が最終選考に残ったローザンヌコンクールだ。日本ではプロのダンサーになる機会は限られていて、もしそうなりたければ、ヨーロッパなどで本物のバレエを見て経験しなければならないが、ローザンヌコンクールはそのための最も確実な方法だった。英語は話せず、正式なバレエ教育を受けていなければ、プロのバレエ団に入るのはとても難しい
After a slightly delayed start to the meeting, Ryoichi began by telling us of his background in Japan. His mum is a ballet teacher and has a school in Osaka, his father is an architect and his brother, who is almost three years his senior, was till recently with the National Ballet of Canada dancing principal roles. He started dancing before Ryoichi who thought he could do just as well. There was lots of pressure as the ballet world is quite small in Japan and they knew lots of teachers who were urging Ryoichi to out-shine his brother. He felt he didn’t need that pressure though it does encourage you to do better. At home, Ryoichi went to an ordinary school and took ballet classes in the evening as well as rehearsing for competitions which are a big thing in Japan. They gave school performances twice a year and just rehearsed one solo. The biggest thing for him was the Prix de Lausanne where his brother had been a finalist. As opportunities were limited in Japan, Ryoichi knew that if he wanted to be a professional dancer he would have to go abroad to Europe or elsewhere to see what real ballet was and experience it for himself, and the Prix was the easiest way to achieve this. Speaking no English and having no proper ballet tuition it’s really hard to get into a company.

He’d always followed his brother, who had reached the finals, and now Ryoichi had reached the same level. It was the most emotional day of his ballet life

ローザンヌコンクールに出場した時は17歳で、とても楽しかった。母親と先生は舞台裏で彼に指導できなかったが、世界中から集まった指導者がクラシックとコンテンポラリーのレッスンをした。彼が振付家から受けた指導は素晴らしく、母親に意見を言わせなかったくらいだ。日本、そしてほかの国からやってきた多くの人々と会い、驚くような人たちから指導を受けたのは素晴らしい経験だった。唯一楽しめなかったのは舞台のぞっとするような傾斜だ。彼は今でも最終選考者リストに自分の名前を見つけて、泣き出したときのことを覚えている。彼は常に兄の後をついていった。そして今、亮一は兄と同じところにたどり着いた。彼のバレエ人生で最も感動的な日だった。彼は眠れる森の美女第3幕のソロとコンテンポラリーダンスを踊った。2年前にロイヤルオペラハウスで眠れる森の美女を踊ったときに驚いたのはこのソロが彼がここにいる理由のすべてだということで、彼はモニカ・メイソンにこのソロが彼にとってどれだけ感情がこもっていてワクワクするものなのか伝えたという。彼女は当時は上司で今はいい友達だそう。亮一はローザンヌで3位だったが、金メダルを取れなかったことを残念には思わなかった。大事なのは奨学金だったから。
He was about 17 when he went to the Prix de Lausanne and thought it was fun. His mum and teacher weren’t allowed back stage to give advice or coaching but they had teachers from all over the world and did classical and contemporary work. He was coached by his chosen choreographer which was great, particularly as he didn’t have his mum mouthing at him all the time! He met so many people from Japan and other countries, and to be coached and taught by amazing people was a wonderful experience. The only thing he didn’t enjoy was the hideous rake of the stage. He still remembers the feeling when he saw his name on the list for the finals and burst into tears. He’d always followed his brother, who had reached the finals, and now Ryoichi had reached the same level. It was the most emotional day of his ballet life. He danced Sleeping Beauty Act III solo and a modern piece. Two years ago he had the opportunity to dance Sleeping Beauty on the stage of the Royal Opera House which was amazing as that solo was the whole reason he is here and he told Monica Mason how emotional and exciting it was for him. She used to be the boss and now she is a good friend. Ryoichi came third in the Prix but he wasn’t worried about not winning the gold medal (the winner went to San Francisco) as all he cared about was the scholarship!

2001年、ロス・ストレットンが監督の時期に彼はロイヤルバレエの奨学金を得た最初の実習生だった。日本で9月5日の誕生日を祝い、9日にロンドンに旅立ち、10日にバレエ団での生活が始まった。英語が話せず、知っている人は誰もおらず、どこへ行けばいいかわからず、ROHへのパスカードに必要な写真だけを持って、どうすればいいかわからなかった。日本では学校に行って、バレエをして、家に帰って眠っていたが、ここではそういうわけにはいかなかった。彼は英語を勉強し、パートナーや指導してくれるクリス・サンダーズやクリストファー・カーとコミュニケーションが取れるようになった。英語の字幕入のたくさんのDVDや映画を観た。ロイヤルバレエの舞台では研修生がどういう役割で何をするのかよくわかっていなかった。彼はおおむね群舞の担当だったが、全くうまくいっていなかった。ローザンヌからの支援を受けていたがそれは最小限のもので、舞台に出ると学生としての支払いしかなく、うまく機能していなかった。舞台にいるだけでうれしかったけれども、思い返すともっと良い方法があっただろう。今は改善されている
In 2001 during Ross Stretton’s tenure as director, he was the first dancer to get an apprentice scholarship to the Royal Ballet. He celebrated his birthday at home on 5th September, travelled to London on 9th and started in the Company on 10th September. He spoke no English, knew no one, didn’t know where to go, had his photo taken for the ROH pass and didn’t know what to do with himself. He’d been used to going to school, doing his ballet, going home, going to bed but here there was nothing like that. He tried to study the language so he could communicate with his partners and with Chris Saunders or Christopher Carr, who were teaching. He watched a lot of DVDs and films with English sub-titles. At that stage the Royal Ballet didn’t really know what to do with apprentices. He was general cover for the corps, but it was all very difficult. He got funding from the Prix but it was minimal, for performances he was paid as a student and the system hadn’t been properly worked out. At the time he was just happy to be here but, thinking back, it could have been managed better. Now it’s improved a lot.