Mary Li - A lifetime of ballet —
It’s hard to believe that after 36 years of being away from Queensland, my home state,
I find myself happily settled in Brisbane, back in the studio, back doing what I love. As I hear the sounds of Serenade in our studios in preparation for its return after its first outing with us in 2014, I’m reminded of the times I danced Balanchine’s ballets. It was always a privilege, always a challenge, and Serenade stands out as a personal highlight. It demands so much of a dancer — precision, speed, stamina — such a test of artistry! I can’t wait to see our beautiful dancers in their blue tutus once again.
I’ve been Ballet Mistress here at Queensland Ballet for seven years now, and I spend my time in our studios working with our dancers on all aspects of ballet but most importantly, I’m committed to unlocking their individual artistry. Each dancer has his or her own essence and combined with technical know-how, magic happens. It’s what excites me the most and it’s what keeps my eyes shiny every day: nurturing true artists.
For female artists, pointes are a seamless extension of themselves, allowing them to extend their lines and shape their characters. Dancers have incredible expression through the fine detail of their footwork. Pointe shoe preparation is very personal for each dancer and will change depending on the repertoire. For Serenade, the dancers’ pointes will need to be softer for the faster footwork, so they’ll spend considerable time breaking them in for performance.
Each dancer develops her own way of preparing her shoes, honed after years of trial and error, and often incorporating tips passed down from dancers who’ve come before them. Back in the day, I used shellac on my shoes, on the arches and the toe, and put them in a hot oven. Then I would work them in and prepare for whichever ballet I was performing next. I did not like to hear any noise from my shoes when performing, so I bashed and squeezed them so they would eventually feel like slippers. I preferred to wear the same pointes for an entire performance, so they had to last a full Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty.