Wherefore Art Thou, Juliet?

From the north-eastern suburbs to the world and back, Beechboro dancer Leanne Stojmenov is returning to the Crown Theatre stage in one of ballet's most iconic roles as the doomed heroine in Graeme Murphy's Romeo & Juliet. Indeed, since joining the Australian Ballet in 2001, Stojmenov has danced in classical ballet's biggest shoes; as Odette is Swan Lake, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and the title role in Manon. It's a glittering CV, one that has earned her the mantle as principal artist with the nation's flagship company. It's a big rep to bring back home. “It's pretty amazing because, y'know, I have done a lot of shows around Australia and internationally, but it's really special when I get to come home,” she declares. “I get to perform in front of my family and where I've come from, and there's just a special edge to it.”

However, rather than confessing to extra hometown nerves, Stojmenov says, “It's quite a surreal experience being on stage. Y'know, you're not really focusing on the audience or thinking about who's out there, you're just focusing on the show. Perhaps beforehand things like that might go through my mind, but once the curtain goes up it's usually just about doing the job.” The job in this instance is bringing Australian choreographer Graeme Murphy's re-imagined Romeo & Juliet back to life. Murphy's place in Australian dance is absolutely pivotal. It's fair to say that he's the only local dance creator that many Australians have ever heard of. For Leanne Stojmenov his signature is his ability with narrative. “I think that Graeme very much produces a piece of theatre, so the story is the biggest thing in each of his ballets that draws in the audience, especially for people who are technically trained or know about ballet.”

As a dancer, Stojmenov is also privy to Murphy's technical and choreographic proclivities. “He always seems to have lots of hard partnering, lots of hard lifts,” she reveals. “Y'know, pretty risky stuff to do on stage.” For his reworking of R&J, Murphy may have dressed the cast in contemporary Akira Isogawa costumes, but he has kept the original Prokofiev score and, of course, the classical heart of the piece. “Well, I don't want to give too much away,” Stojmenov teases, “but I think he has kept the integrity of the tragic love story. Y'know, that story will still unfold; but really he's experimenting with the idea that love is eternal and it's happening everywhere.”

As much as the choreographer has room to re-interpret, so too do the dancers. For Juliet, Stojmenov not only watched plenty of previous productions but spent time workshopping, note taking and refining, much like an actor. “Ultimately, I think you have to draw on your own life experience,” she states. “It might not necessarily be literally, but from what you imagine those situations might feel like … It's your energy and your feeling of that situation, the feeling you have in your body movements. If a dancer is doing their job correctly and they're giving off those feelings an audience should be able to feel that.”

While the company celebrates its fiftieth anniversary and Perth patrons cheer on the home favourite, Leanne Stojmenov is still busy pinching herself. “It really is all I thought it would be,” she admits. Audiences will doubtless be hoping the same.

WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 10 to Sunday 14 October, Crown Theatre