From The Stork To The Swan

Sun Herald

Sunday March 30, 2008

Andrew Taylor

Childbirth couldn't keep Lynette Wills from the ballet, writes Andrew Taylor.

AFTER dancing with the Australian Ballet for 17 years, Lynette Wills is no stranger to the intense physical demands of her profession.

Yet Wills says it took longer than she expected to regain her ballet body after the birth of her first child, Thomas, last August.

"Dancing is all I've ever done so working that hard and getting my body into shape is all I know how to do," she says.

"I was hoping to throw myself on the floor and do a few sit-ups and my tummy would be flat again. But it wasn't quite as easy as that."

The 36-year-old Wills, who is now the company's oldest dancer, is the second principal artist currently juggling motherhood with dancing for the Australian Ballet.

Fellow principal artist Kirsty Martin has a son, two-year-old Oscar, while 34-year-old Lucinda Dunn is expecting her first baby in July.

In the Australian Ballet's latest production of Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake, Wills plays the Baroness von Rothbart, who conducts an adulterous affair with Prince Siegfried both before and after his marriage to the young, vulnerable Odette.

The parallels with the real-life British royal love triangle are obvious as Odette is committed to an asylum where she finds solace among white swans in an icy dreamworld.

Murphy's Swan Lake departs the realm of fantasy, turning the famous ballet into a human story of betrayal and unrequited love, Wills says. "I guess it's a story you can relate to now. It's not a fairytale about a man falling in love with a bird, which was always a bit weird."

Wills's part in Odette's downfall cannot be overestimated; one reviewer described her as "satanic" at the end of Act One when her rival is taken away.

"I was surprised by that," she says, laughing. "I try not to think of her as quite as evil as that. She's certainly much more knowing and mature compared to Odette who doesn't really know how to fit into society."

Wills admits to feeling nervous on the opening night of Swan Lake's Melbourne season earlier this month but is treating every performance as a "bonus".

"When I was pregnant I hadn't completely decided if I wanted to come back to dancing," she says. "It was really dependent upon what sort of baby [Thomas] was and whether I felt I could get back to work."

Wills performed until the third month of her pregnancy but continued with barre work as her belly grew bigger.

"There was no bending backwards or jumping or kicking your legs up in the air," she says. "Everyone had a big laugh at my big tummy poking out."

Five weeks after giving birth by caesarean section she was back in training, albeit under the strict supervision of the Australian Ballet's medical staff.

It can be a challenge for a mother to return to work after giving birth, but the physical demands of dancing were the least of Wills's problems.

"It's more about planning your life with a child," she says. "We tour for six months of the year so you have to decide what to do with the child when you're away. We work in the evenings, too. There's so much to consider. If both parents work, do you get a nanny and how do you afford it?"

Happily, Wills's husband, Tim Burke, was able to take paternity leave to care for Thomas while Wills resumed her career.

The Australian Ballet has also made a concerted effort not to waste the talents of its dancers by becoming a more family friendly workplace, offering 14-weeks' paid maternity leave and allowing pregnant dancers to move to other jobs when they are no longer able to perform. The company does not have child-care facilities but Wills says children are always welcome.

"Everyone loves it when Thomas comes in," she says. "There are 70 pairs of arms reaching out to hold him. We're a bit baby-starved in this building."

However, Wills admits that many dancers fear pregnancy will put an end to their career: "It's a real concern when you're at that age - the mid-to-late-20s. You're really starting to blossom as a person, a dancer and an artist and many people are hesitant to just stop."

Swan Lake plays at the Sydney Opera House Opera Theatre from April 4 to 24, $30-$145. Phone 9250 7777 or see www.australianballet.com.au.

© 2008 Sun Herald

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