Mayara Magri, 31, was born in Brazil and joined the Royal Ballet company in 2012. She has been their principal artist since 2021 and is among those dancing the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy in this year’s “Nutcracker”.
“I’ve danced the Sugar Plum Fairy for four years. But no matter how many times you’ve done it, it’s a big push – and very tiring.
Strength wise, I’m lucky that my muscles have always responded quite well. But the role is tough stamina-wise. You have to be aware of your back, your head, the twist of your torso, your leg at 90 degrees. And that’s just the solo.
When you begin rehearsals with your partner [The Sugar Plum Fairy is partnered by the Prince], you have to understand his role, too. How much weight you can put on him, how closely you step towards each other, how you both listen to the music so you can take off and land together.
It’s a big build up for a quick burst of dancing – despite how well-known the Sugar Plum Fairy is, she only comes on stage towards the end of the ballet for around 10 minutes. But we do dance a lot in that 10 minutes. We spend days working on the physicality of managing the intensity of it. The combination of steps is very intricate. We do movements like échappés and gargouillades [both difficult ballet jumps] – and they’re kind of old school because most ballets we perform these days don’t choreograph like that anymore. It’s tricky to get the body moving in that way.
It’s a much shorter process these days, but when I danced The Nutcracker for the first time, I rehearsed for an hour every day for three weeks. Now on the day of the show, I come into the Opera House to do my standard 75-minute ballet class, instead of just going over the Sugar Plum Fairy steps.
After that, I stay in Covent Garden ahead of curtain up, and try to go out to get some fresh air. I sit outside a cafe with a coffee and read a book. You want to feel a bit of normality before you go on stage.
A couple of hours before the show, I sit down with my wig lady and we play some music – last week it was Ed Sheeran – while she does my hair and makeup. By that point, I’m already covered in glitter because it runs out of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s wig. It’s weird to dance while wearing that because of the weight, plus the height of the crown.
There’s always a wig and make-up lady in the wings during the performance to check that everything is alright. Once you come off stage, and you’ve hardly had a minute to recover, there is someone drying your back – like you’re a sweaty boxer – just so you can go back on.
I can’t really eat before a performance because I feel quite sick, so I usually have a banana. People think that ballerinas don’t eat because they want to look skinny but actually we work so hard, over so many hours, that if we didn’t eat we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. However, when the nerves get in the way, it is tricky to eat food.
Instead, I drink a lot of water with electrolytes – whenever I go off stage I have a big gulp so I can hydrate. Afterwards, I usually have a protein shake in my dressing room – strawberry is my favourite – so I can feed my body with what it needs straight away. Then once I calm down, which usually takes about an hour, I think about dinner. I’m a true Brazilian, so I have my steak and frites. It ticks all the boxes.
As for whether anything has ever gone wrong? Oh yes. Once, I slipped before I went on pointe and I was on the floor. I heard the audience gasp. My partner looked at me as if to say: are you okay? You don’t want anything like that to go wrong. You don’t want to be down on your back – it’s the worst thing that could happen. But you carry on with a smile.
I completely transform into the part. A couple of weeks ago, I performed with my stage partner – also my partner in real life [the Royal Ballet Principal Matthew Ball] – and when I looked into his eyes it felt so strange, because we were both ourselves and not. But the performance went well, we were both pleased with it, and it was really nice going home together with bouquets of flowers. We both understand what it takes, we both know how it feels to dance at this level.
Growing up in Brazil, I never dreamed I’d be dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy at the Royal Opera House in London. And I do find time to appreciate where I am when I’m dancing it. At a certain point, I always look up at the amphitheatre and think of how unbelievable it is to be dancing here. It’s always a very emotional moment for me.”
As told to Kat Lister
‘The Nutcracker’ is at the Royal Opera House to 5 January. Mayara Magri’s performance in ‘The Nutcracker’ will be screening in cinemas nationwide throughout December. rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/live-in-cinemas-the-nutcracker-details
