25-year-old Estonian ballet dancer Anna Roberta began her solo career in 2022 and was named principal dancer in 2023.

Nowadays, she says, it's become increasingly common for dancers to be named principal dancers at a younger age already. The start of the Paris Opera Ballet, for instance, is three years younger than she is.

According to Roberta, a ballet dancer's solo career depends a great deal on luck. "I was very lucky, because I got to dance many roles at a young age," she acknowledged. "They threw me in the deep end to see if I would sink or swim."

Nonetheless, experience and the decision of a company's head ballet master are both crucial in becoming a soloist. "You become a soloist based on your mileage – how much and what you dance," she explained. "But the principal dancer is someone who represents the Estonian National Ballet."

Major first solo role

While their work contracts list principal dancer as their title, these dancers are more commonly publicly known as prima ballerinas.

Roberta's very first solo role was in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake." She admitted that this was very unusual, since most dancers start out with smaller, less significant roles, only entrusted with such a major role after years of experience. For Roberta, however, the assignment worked out well.

"I've done both 'Swan Lake' and 'Anna Karenina' – the latter was very close to my dream role," she recalled, adding that more and more dream roles emerge over time as well.

While onstage, the ballet dancer thinks first and foremost about feeling good themselves.

"The way I am on stage is a reflection of my and of course also my teacher's taste," she said, noting that it's important for a dancer to find a teacher whose taste aligns with their own.

"Like I'm really tall, while [Russian ballet dancer Maya] Plisetskaya was very short," Roberta explained. "If I tried to imitate Plisetskaya, that would make for one comical 'Swan Lake.'"

Anna Roberta said that for ballet dancers, practice is sacred – and daily. A dancer's week is divided between practice, rehearsals and performances.

"For instance, we have three or four performances a month, all of which need to be practiced," she noted. Performances take place two days a week, and on those days, their day ends earlier.

Ballet dancers as athletes

After particularly important performances, Roberta goes out to dinner to celebrate. "If it's a special performance, I go out for pizza and have a glass of beer," she added.

Although it doesn't fit stereotypical perceptions of a ballet dancer's diet, she said that dancers actually eat a lot.

"Fortunately, diet culture is now a thing of the past," she emphasized. "More and more people are starting to understand that if you're a top athlete, then you have to eat like a top athlete."

This Saturday, August 10, the 25th anniversary Leigo Lake Music Festival will feature the premiere of the ballet "The Brain," and Anna Roberta is part of the cast.

"We've mapped out some ideas about how the brain should work and will be trying to express them through dance," she said, describing the production process. "It's incredibly exciting! For example, we'll be mimicking the movement of neurons in the brain. There's a lot of experimenting and getting to know one another."

Typically, however, ballet dancers don't participate in summer productions and instead spend that time recuperating from the season behind them.

"That first week after the end of the season, your body just hurts," Roberta admitted. "All that pain you've been suppressing all season long finally bubbles up to the surface."

If they are involved in any performances over the summer, typically they aren't classical ones. "We don't maintain our classical conditioning over the summer," she added.

Ballet dancers' health is delicate, but one or two minor injuries per season is typical.

"I've had two or three major injuries during my career that have taken me out for several months," the principal dancer recalled. "But minor injuries happen all the time – nails falling off, leg cramps, your body being covered in bruises." Even her doctor is now familiar with the peculiarities of her profession.

In the past, ballet dancers often aimed for companies like the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, but nowadays their horizons are much broader. Prestigious companies today include La Scala in Milan, Italy, and the Columbus, Ohio-based BalletMet.

Another company that has recently gained prominence, Roberta highlighted, is the Australian Ballet, which provides strength training for its dancers.

"It's the first ballet company in the world with a dedicated team responsible for the dancers' health," she highlighted.

Longer careers

Contrary to popular perception, ballet dancers' careers today have surprisingly gotten longer. The principal dancer of the English National Ballet, for example, is 42 years old, and there are dancers in Italy that are over 55.

"How long one's career may last is highly individual and depends on the dancer's health," the Estonian ballet dancer explained. How long you want to pursue this career is another matter.

"In the past, it was customary in Estonia for a ballerina to dance until they earned a state pension – that meant 20 years of work at a theater," Roberta said. "I no longer have that, so I'll dance for as long as I have the drive to."

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