Luciana takes the good and the bad in ballet twin roles
DANCER Luciana Ravizzi gets the good and the bad in Scottish Ballet’s new production of Hansel and Gretel.
As the good, she plays Hansel and Gretel’s poor but loving mother.
Against this, she also plays the wicked witch, one who undergoes a major transformation of her own.
"She starts as very glamorous in the first act to make the children trust her, and then she becomes who she really is in the second act," the Argentinian-born dancer explained.
"There’s a contrast between both roles, but also in the witch herself. I’m used to dancing, but in the second act the challenge is acting so the public can understand what’s going on.
"There are good and bad people in the world and bad people who try to be good, but that side will always come through. I think of her that way in the first act. She is lovely and tries to be friendly, but you can see under that she’s not nice.
"It’s hard to play it because you need to show that evil side of her and in the second half she lets that side of her go. That has been difficult because I am a nice person!
"It is difficult to make that change, but it has been a lot of fun. A lot of times in ballet you have to be beautiful and nice and sometimes it’s good to let that go because I do become pretty ugly in the second half."
Ravizzi has been a part of the Scottish Ballet family for a decade now, moving up to Glasgow in 2002 after completing her training with the Royal Ballet School.
"I feel very lucky to work in a company like this," she said.
Not only is she comfortable within the company, the Buenos Aires native is also at home in Glasgow, despite her initial concerns when she first moved to Scotland.
"I felt very comfortable from the beginning. My family are still in Argentina, but when I go home, sometimes it doesn’t feel like I fit in as well as I do in Scotland. I feel more settled in Scotland, so in a way it is my home."
• Scottish Ballet’s Hansel and Gretel is at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, from Wednesday 15th to Saturday 18th January and Eden Court Theatre, Inverness from Wednesday 22nd to Saturday 25th January.
