The Body Perfect

The theatre might have been closed for the better part of the past year, but that hasn’t stopped Etienne Ferrère from refining his craft. The Singapore Dance Theatre principal artist shares what goes into making ballet look effortless.

- Mitchell Oakley Smith

“The most special thing about ballet is that it has to look easy,” says Etienne Ferrère. “Performers cannot show the strenuous side of the activity when we’re on stage, and this creates a magical aspect—a make-believe that can take people on a journey.” As a principal artist at Singapore Dance Theatre, where he’s worked for a decade after training at the revered Paris Opera Ballet School, Ferrère knows well the physical demands of making a performance appear effortless. Having danced most of his life, he’s been subject to years of the intense pressure and strains that are inherent in a sport that’s physically taxing on the body. At our photo shoot for this story, Ferrère flippantly recounts some of the many injuries that he’s endured: broken toes, a fractured nose, other nagging ailments. “The body is pushed beyond its limits all the time to achieve greater results, and over time it definitely takes a toll on the joints, muscles and bones,” he says.

It’s strange, given these rigours and challenges, that there still remains a stigma—though dwindling—about men, and perhaps more specifically boys, entering the world of dance. Perhaps the effortless-looking nature of it means that as onlookers, we can’t truly appreciate the physical specificity required, and yet a landmark 1975 study by Dr James A Nicholas in The Journal of Sports Medicine ranked ballet as the most physically and mentally demanding sports activity, above bullfighting and football. “Ballet is definitely very demanding,” confirms Ferrère.