Artist Spotlight
 | | | Soloist Moises Martin |
8/24/2004
Born in Reus, Spain, Moises Martin joined the Company in 1999 and was promoted to soloist following the 2005 Repertory Season. Recently, Martin took time out of his busy rehearsal schedule to discuss the upcoming season, his new challenges as soloist, and way his family influenced his development as a dancer.
How did you first become interested in ballet?
Our family is made up of four brothers, and things were a bit tight at home; both of my parents had to work just to provide. As a result my mother wanted us to participate in any activity after school that would occupy us. At the time we were playing basketball and soccer, but then my mother saw an audition for gymnastics. She thought they were for men, too, but it turned out that they were only for girls. The gymnastics studio recommended the ballet school in Zaragoza. Since there were four of us boys, and it is hard to find men to take ballet in Spain, the school said, “We’ll take them and give them a scholarship!” In the beginning I wasn’t too passionate about it. Then after a couple of years ballet grew on me more and more. After training at the Escuela Municipal De Danza, we went to the Studio de Danza de Maria de Avila. I studied there for about four or five years, and then I came here to San Francisco Ballet School in 1997.
With four dancers in your household at one time, was there any competition growing up?
I always wanted to get better, and being around family can be helpful. As brothers we could talk in a more sensitive tone, and help each other try to improve. I tried to push them as much as they pushed me. The relationship has always been very healthy.
What is it like dancing in the same company with your brother Ruben?
It’s great! I’ve never had a problem with it, and I’ve never been jealous of him. I think he is a wonderful dancer and I admire him very much. I hope that he will continue helping me with his advice, because I really value and respect his opinion. Ruben is older than me by three years and because we’re different heights we were never really cast in the same roles. I feel very lucky to be able to dance with my brother in the same company, especially being so far away from our family.
Helgi created Bagatelles on you for this past Gala. What was it like to have a work created on you? How does it compare to learning a role that has already been performed?
I was still in the corps de ballet at the time, and for him to do that was a great opportunity. It was funny because I came from vacation in Puerto Rico and I had eight stitches in my toe, so that made it a little difficult in the beginning, but Helgi was not aware of that!
It was a great experience to get to work with him. Helgi’s very busy and often spends his time working with the principals, so I got to know him a little more and had a better sense of what he wanted from me As a dancer Helgi won’t always tell you what you have to do to please him, so you have to find your own way. He would say, “Do it this way, or do it that way. That will work better for you,” and that helped me to understand my body. Helgi has a good eye for that, and knows what will look best on stage.
When I had a work created on me, I found that I could talk to Helgi and try to find movements that would match my body and ability as a dancer. He designed the variation at the beginning with a lot of jumping, but nothing too fast because I’m kind of tall and it’s hard for me to move that quickly. It was an interesting process because it felt organic for me to move in the way that he wanted me to.
What other hobbies or pursuits occupy your time when you’re not dancing?
I am very interested in photography, so whenever I have a chance I go around the city taking photographs with one of my best friends. He is a professional painter and he’s quite amazing. I like to paint as well, I just never have enough time.
I’m also interested in photographing ballet. Being a dancer I understand how the movement happens and the timing of steps, so I think that will make a nice transition someday. This past year I found it so hard to combine ballet with all of my other interests, so for now I’m just focusing all of my attention on dancing.
What roles have you enjoyed performing the most at San Francisco Ballet?
Espada from Don Quixote is a very enjoyable role for me because it is very close to my culture and it has the feeling of home. I also like character roles because I was very shy and self-conscious when I was younger, and those roles demand more facial expression and projection of me, which is good. The role of Cavalier in last year’s Nutcracker was a big challenge for me—I was still in the corps and I was dancing with a principal dancer, Katita Waldo, at that time.
What are you looking forward to most as a soloist?
I look forward to improving my technique and feeling more comfortable with my dancing. I’m looking forward to dancing with more of the wonderful ballerinas in the Company. I’d also like to have the confidence to take on new challenges, difficult roles, and greater responsibility, but ultimately just to feel even more comfortable on stage.