5 Lessons We Could All Learn from Marianela Nuñez

Pace Yourself So That You Don’t Burn Out

Nuñez tells Dance Magazine that she’s grateful for the way her career has been “managed,” as she puts it.

“I did everything at the right time,” she says. “The way the roles came my way, even my guesting. I started guesting quite late on in my career and that helped me stay free from injuries.”

It’s interesting to hear her talk about being “managed” at a time when some dancers are seeking to take more independent control over their careers. “I feel sometimes people are too young, they travel the world, they do all the repertoire,” says Nuñez. “They are 28 and you look at them and, well, you can see that it’s not fresh anymore.”

Work Hardest On Your Weaknesses

Nuñez makes a heartbreaking Odette. Photo by Bill Cooper, courtesy Royal Opera House

As a teenager, Nuñez was nothing short of a prodigy, and her dazzling technique net her a company contract with The Royal when she was only 16. But, she tells Winship, there was a lot left to learn.

A skillful technician, Nuñez never had any trouble with the steps, but she credits her coaches at The Royal, including former ballerina Lesley Collier, with teaching her “how to develop properly as an artist.” Having thought she might be consigned to flashy supporting roles—Gamzatti in La Bayadère, the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty—Nuñez has proved herself the consummate all-rounder, a deeply lyrical, moving actress as well as a dancer of bravura flair. She makes a heartbreaking Odette with wings fluttering like sobs; in Bayadère, she dances both Gamzatti and Nikiya. She is particularly strong in the sparkling allégro and specific épaulement of Sir Frederick Ashton, The Royal’s founding choreographer, the very definition of the English style.

Don’t Let Personal Worries Distract From Your Work

With Thiago Soares in Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain. Photo by Tristram Kenton, courtesy ROH

Nuñez has learned to not let life’s natural ups and downs throw her off course when she’s on stage.

After her marriage to Brazilian Royal Ballet principal Thiago Soares ended, the pair kept their split quiet for over a year, going to work as normal and dancing together. It must have been hard for her, I mention. “Well, you know,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Life!”

“We respect each other as artists and as people,” she says, by way of explanation. “We are lucky that we could keep that relationship onstage. Life moved on. I’ve got my boyfriend [Argentinian dancer Alejandro Parente, who just retired from Teatro Colón], I’ve got my life, but we need to dance together, and professionally it works.”

Never Settle

Nuñez rehearsing Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote. Photo by Kristie Kahns.

Winship had an obvious question for Nuñez: After 20 years in the same company, what can there be left to do? But the ballerina finds plenty more to discover within each role—sometimes even returning to roles that some might consider “beneath” her.

“I still have a big chunk to improve,” says Nuñez, ever the perfectionist. There are a few ballets she hasn’t danced (she mentions Ashton’s A Month in the Country), but she also loves to revisit old ones. Two years ago, after dancing many Giselles, she effectively asked for a demotion to revisit Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis. “I thought it would be great to go back, now that I’ve learned more over the years,” she says.

“You grow up as an artist, and also as a person, so every time you revisit a role you see it with different eyes,” she says. “If I do a ballet I’ve done 300 times, it still feels like it’s the first time. I just want to keep growing. I still want more from myself and from the ballets.”

Embrace The Pressure

Nuñez in Christopher Wheeldon’s Aeternum. Photo by Bill Cooper, courtesy ROH

And the adrenaline of an opening night never fades. “The pressure felt from every angle—I don’t know if people are aware of what it takes, mentally. It’s a big night! But I love it.” She grins. “You press that button on me and vroom!”