Laura Morera's proud farewell to Covent Garden
Royal Ballet principal dancer Laura Morera talks proud endings and new beginnings as she prepares to forsake the stage after a long and remarkable career
Laura Morera and Ryoichi Hirano rehearsing Kenneth MacMillan's Anastasia © ROH Photo: Alice Pennefather
At its core, Kenneth MacMillan’s Anastasia is a ballet about absolute belief, delusion, sanity and insanity. Centred on the real-life figure of Anna Anderson, a woman who maintained she was Anastasia, the only surviving daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the climax of the work, set in a clinic, is a harrowing expressionistic piece where historical reality melts into Anastasia’s feverish, distorted memories.
It is the piece with which Laura Morera will end her career with the Royal Ballet, a calling which brought her, aged 11, from her native Madrid to the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge and then straight into the company in 1995.
And it’s a work that suits a highly intelligent dancer, who invests a lot of time and heart into understanding and developing every character she has danced over almost 30 years – as she told Culture Whisper, when we sat down in an unpretentious Royal Opera House office to review her remarkable career.
Anastasia, first.
‘I really see it as a woman that absolutely believes she is this person,' says Laura. 'And in my mind when I get on that stage I have those memories, I know I am that person and I’m living through my memories over and over.
‘Somebody said to me, “oh, it’s very sad that for your last show we’re going to see you in that short wig, circling [the stage]” but I always felt that last kick was really the final freedom in her mind: “I know who I am.”
‘So, for me it’s a sense of freedom and liberation for this woman; it doesn’t matter what anybody else says, finally she’s won. That’s how I see Anastasia and how I’ll be approaching her.’
Laura Morera’s ability to communicate the complexity of her characters through her dancing means she has excelled in Kenneth MacMillan’s works from, for example, Manon, through Song of The Earth to Mayerling, in the recent run of which she alternated in the contrasting roles of Prince Rudolf’s older lover, Countess Larisch, and his teenage mistress, Mary Vetsera, giving profound, detailed accounts of both characters.
Laura Morera and Matthew Ball in Mayerling, 2022 ROH. Photo: © Foteini Christofilopoulou
But her talent, versatility and, equally importantly, her exquisite musicality have contributed to making her also the best Ashtonian dancer of her generation.
Her interpretation of the sassy Lise in Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardée earned her Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) in the 2015 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards.
La Fille Mal Gardée, Laura Morera as Lise, Vadim Muntagirov as Colas © ROH 2015. Photo: Tristram Kenton
She counts The Royal Ballet founder choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton among her favourite dance makers, her fascination with his style having started while still at school.
‘I love Ashton! The musicality, the intricacy of the footwork, the elegance, the femininity – it’s feminine, it’s curved… I truly love it, and I think it relies mostly on the musicality and that he choreographed for women.’
Currently dancing the lead role in the Royal Ballet’s glittering new production of Ashton’s Cinderella, Morera says,
‘He really knew how to tell a story!
‘That entrance in the ballroom, he sets it up for you so that you feel a million dollars, you feel like the whole world has stopped and is just looking at you; and then the kitchen scene… it’s all set out with so much heart and soul, you just have to guide yourself through all of that, because only then does the work really shine.’
Totally convincing throughout the ballet – from put-upon girl in rags to belle of the ball – she does make it shine, every step, every emotion adding to the audience’s sense of wonderment.
Laura Morera’s third favourite choreographer was the late Liam Scarlett. She created roles in all his ballets, and very much enjoyed the collaborative process.
Laura Morera and Steven McRae in Liam Scarlett's The Age of Anxiety © ROH 2014. Photo: Bill Cooper
Over such a long career, she’s been partnered by many of The Royal Ballet’s male dancers. She singles out Ricardo Cervera, Federico Bonelli and Johan Kobborg, but has particularly warm words for Ryoichi Hirano.
‘We have a lot of love for each other, because we’ve done a lot together, we know each other really well, we're both of a similar age, and a similar status in the company, and he is a wonderful partner!’
Laura Morera as Masha and Ryoichi Hirano as Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin in Winter Dreams, The Royal Ballet © 2018 ROH. Photo: Alice Pennefather
So, there have been many highs, but also some lows. Doubts about her physical suitability for traditional ballerina tutu roles and casting decisions that made her feel less than her peers all contributed to a catastrophic loss of self-worth.
‘It got to me. It was hard. I thought very little of myself for a long time. My love of dance kept me going. Have you come across that spiritual thing, the hungry ghost? They’re basically people that walk around starved of love, and they’re dead behind the eyes; you’re like a shell of yourself.
“When I got somewhere that really helped and I started my holistic practices that got me out of this very dark place, I remember coming back and somebody said to me, “Oh! There’s light behind your eyes.”'
She has now developed those holistic practices into a methodology she hopes to use for the benefit of young dancers in the future.
Directors come and go – in her time she's seen four – and although she says ‘dancers are always going to clash with directors’, she has nothing but words of praise for The Royal Ballet’s current supremo, Kevin O’Hare, ‘one of the nicest directors you could really hope for.’
And so, having but scratched the surface of a sublime career, we come to the present. She looks younger than her 45 years, but her body is telling her it’s time to hang up her pointe shoes. The ballet world, however, is not ready to relax its grip on her.
‘Deborah MacMillan's [the choreographer’s widow and custodian of his work] told me she wanted me to supervise the artistic direction of the MacMillan work here at the Royal Ballet. I mean, "an honour" doesn't even begin to cover it. I asked her, “why me?” I’ve done almost every role and I think she saw a nurturing side in me, and I’m very true to the styles of the choreographers.’
As well, Laura Morera is one of four people to whom, before he died, Liam Scarlett entrusted artistic supervision of all his creative output, something she is very keen on.
Laura Morera ends her ballerina career on her own terms, proud of what she's accomplished and looking forward to the new chapter in her life behind the scenes in the company she still calls 'home'.
Laura Morera dances Cinderella on Thursday 27 and Saturday 29 April and Anastasia on Friday 9, Wednesday 14 and Saturday 17 June.
Details and tickets here.
It is the piece with which Laura Morera will end her career with the Royal Ballet, a calling which brought her, aged 11, from her native Madrid to the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge and then straight into the company in 1995.
And it’s a work that suits a highly intelligent dancer, who invests a lot of time and heart into understanding and developing every character she has danced over almost 30 years – as she told Culture Whisper, when we sat down in an unpretentious Royal Opera House office to review her remarkable career.
Anastasia, first.
‘I really see it as a woman that absolutely believes she is this person,' says Laura. 'And in my mind when I get on that stage I have those memories, I know I am that person and I’m living through my memories over and over.
‘Somebody said to me, “oh, it’s very sad that for your last show we’re going to see you in that short wig, circling [the stage]” but I always felt that last kick was really the final freedom in her mind: “I know who I am.”
‘So, for me it’s a sense of freedom and liberation for this woman; it doesn’t matter what anybody else says, finally she’s won. That’s how I see Anastasia and how I’ll be approaching her.’
Laura Morera’s ability to communicate the complexity of her characters through her dancing means she has excelled in Kenneth MacMillan’s works from, for example, Manon, through Song of The Earth to Mayerling, in the recent run of which she alternated in the contrasting roles of Prince Rudolf’s older lover, Countess Larisch, and his teenage mistress, Mary Vetsera, giving profound, detailed accounts of both characters.
Laura Morera and Matthew Ball in Mayerling, 2022 ROH. Photo: © Foteini Christofilopoulou
But her talent, versatility and, equally importantly, her exquisite musicality have contributed to making her also the best Ashtonian dancer of her generation.
Her interpretation of the sassy Lise in Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardée earned her Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) in the 2015 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards.
La Fille Mal Gardée, Laura Morera as Lise, Vadim Muntagirov as Colas © ROH 2015. Photo: Tristram Kenton
She counts The Royal Ballet founder choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton among her favourite dance makers, her fascination with his style having started while still at school.
‘I love Ashton! The musicality, the intricacy of the footwork, the elegance, the femininity – it’s feminine, it’s curved… I truly love it, and I think it relies mostly on the musicality and that he choreographed for women.’
Currently dancing the lead role in the Royal Ballet’s glittering new production of Ashton’s Cinderella, Morera says,
‘He really knew how to tell a story!
‘That entrance in the ballroom, he sets it up for you so that you feel a million dollars, you feel like the whole world has stopped and is just looking at you; and then the kitchen scene… it’s all set out with so much heart and soul, you just have to guide yourself through all of that, because only then does the work really shine.’
Totally convincing throughout the ballet – from put-upon girl in rags to belle of the ball – she does make it shine, every step, every emotion adding to the audience’s sense of wonderment.
Laura Morera’s third favourite choreographer was the late Liam Scarlett. She created roles in all his ballets, and very much enjoyed the collaborative process.
Laura Morera and Steven McRae in Liam Scarlett's The Age of Anxiety © ROH 2014. Photo: Bill Cooper
Over such a long career, she’s been partnered by many of The Royal Ballet’s male dancers. She singles out Ricardo Cervera, Federico Bonelli and Johan Kobborg, but has particularly warm words for Ryoichi Hirano.
‘We have a lot of love for each other, because we’ve done a lot together, we know each other really well, we're both of a similar age, and a similar status in the company, and he is a wonderful partner!’
Laura Morera as Masha and Ryoichi Hirano as Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin in Winter Dreams, The Royal Ballet © 2018 ROH. Photo: Alice Pennefather
So, there have been many highs, but also some lows. Doubts about her physical suitability for traditional ballerina tutu roles and casting decisions that made her feel less than her peers all contributed to a catastrophic loss of self-worth.
‘It got to me. It was hard. I thought very little of myself for a long time. My love of dance kept me going. Have you come across that spiritual thing, the hungry ghost? They’re basically people that walk around starved of love, and they’re dead behind the eyes; you’re like a shell of yourself.
“When I got somewhere that really helped and I started my holistic practices that got me out of this very dark place, I remember coming back and somebody said to me, “Oh! There’s light behind your eyes.”'
She has now developed those holistic practices into a methodology she hopes to use for the benefit of young dancers in the future.
Directors come and go – in her time she's seen four – and although she says ‘dancers are always going to clash with directors’, she has nothing but words of praise for The Royal Ballet’s current supremo, Kevin O’Hare, ‘one of the nicest directors you could really hope for.’
And so, having but scratched the surface of a sublime career, we come to the present. She looks younger than her 45 years, but her body is telling her it’s time to hang up her pointe shoes. The ballet world, however, is not ready to relax its grip on her.
‘Deborah MacMillan's [the choreographer’s widow and custodian of his work] told me she wanted me to supervise the artistic direction of the MacMillan work here at the Royal Ballet. I mean, "an honour" doesn't even begin to cover it. I asked her, “why me?” I’ve done almost every role and I think she saw a nurturing side in me, and I’m very true to the styles of the choreographers.’
As well, Laura Morera is one of four people to whom, before he died, Liam Scarlett entrusted artistic supervision of all his creative output, something she is very keen on.
Laura Morera ends her ballerina career on her own terms, proud of what she's accomplished and looking forward to the new chapter in her life behind the scenes in the company she still calls 'home'.
Laura Morera dances Cinderella on Thursday 27 and Saturday 29 April and Anastasia on Friday 9, Wednesday 14 and Saturday 17 June.
Details and tickets here.
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