From growing up in a flamenco performing family in Europe, to embarking on a ballet career while being raised in Australia that would take him to New York and Nevada, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) principal dancer Stephen Azulay’s journey to Winnipeg has been storied.
As a performer, Azulay is noted for bringing plenty of swagger to some of ballet’s biggest roles, along with his ability to work in a wide variety of styles. In the Winnipeg arts and culture community, he’s also a well-known man about town who relishes the culinary arts (check out Azulay’s cooking account!) and is always attending artsy events that make this city so vibrant.
Azulay recently wrapped up performing as Mr. Hyde in Val Caniparoli’s darkly inventive Jekyll & Hyde, which was met with rapturous applause here in Winnipeg in March before the RWB brought the production to Ottawa’s National Arts Centre in April where it was met with more rave-reviews.
With the celebrated dancer set to choregraph his first Mainstage performance with Bolero, we’ve caught up with Azulay to learn more about his dance history; his favourite roles with the RWB; what has inspired him into choreography; and what dance fans can expect during the triple bill of Bolero with Angels in the Architecture and Hikarizatto –– which runs from May 1-4 at the Centennial Concert Hall (tickets here).
***
How did you get into dance?
I grew up in Sydney, Australia, and lived in Melbourne for a while where I went to ballet school. But before that, we were in Europe.
I was born in London, England but my family lived in Munich, Germany for about four years. My dad and mum at the time had a flamenco production company that was full of dancers with a production team. They would go around doing these shows that my dad had created for theatres across Europe.
That was how I grew up... going around Europe with that flamenco rhythm in me.
Where did you train? And when did you join the RWB?
After my initial ballet training in Australia, I basically left when I was 18. I went to New York for two years; I was at Joffrey Ballet School which also has a kind of pre-professional program. It’s called the Joffrey Concert Group. It was a touring company, basically a studio company. That company [Jofferey] has a very similar vibes to RWB, in terms of touring and doing lots of mixed rep [repertoire] and just the style.
And then I went to Vegas, to Nevada Ballet Theatre for three years. Then I was auditioning for Canadian companies. I audition here, that was eight-ish years ago, and it's been a roller coaster since –– haha! Just kidding, it's been great! I would say that out of all the companies I've auditioned for, this one definitely felt like the best fit for me.
I just feel like when I joined, I came in guns blazing. Five dancers had just left the company, and me and Peter [Lancksweerdt] and Liam [Saito] were hired, so we were busy from the get-go. It was just great for me. At the time I was 24 and at that time your body is so eager and not too jeopardized. It was perfect timing.
I must say, you blew us away last month as Mr. Hyde. What have been some of your favourite RWB roles?
Hyde was pretty spectacular [ Jekyll & Hyde, 2025] –– crazy, but spectacular. At the end [of the ballet], it was may favourite-ever moment on stage. I’m there lying on a bed and the whole audience by that point is absolutely silent –– you could hear a pin drop –– and they are waiting for me to come up to finish the performance. A few nights I wanted to wait a few more breaths, to savour that moment as it was so powerful to have an audience waiting on you like that. It gives me chills still thinking about it.
But honestly, there’s been so many. Playing Bob in A Cinderella Story, Val Caniparoli’s other work [here with the RWB] was amazing. The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, of course Romeo [in Romeo & Juliet].
The first time I played Romeo was quite early in my time here, I think, my second season. So, in that sense, it was just very special because it was so early and it was really a good experience. And I did it again, and it was definitely special as well. But it's nothing like when you do something for the first time like that.
What made you want to choreograph Bolero, and how would you describe your interpretation?
For starters, the music by Ravel is just iconic, and is something I’ve always wanted to choreograph. The ballet first commissioned it [from me] for a gala, and I have to say, I didn’t expect it to grow as much as it did on its own.
It started as a very simple concept; it was just kind of paying homage to my flamenco background. But then it just took legs and became its own thing. In the music, the phrase repeats until the end, so for the dance, each phrase, each repeat, has become its own section. A lot of the steps in the choreography and the overall style is really the result of me collaborating with the artists when we created it. I think what's great about this Bolero is that it's quite simple. There's not much going on in terms of sets or costumes aside from chairs... it's just good music and dance steps. It’s that sweet spot of interesting, simple and beautiful.
When I interviewed Val for Jekyll & Hyde he was saying one of the most interesting things about working with RWB dancers was seeing how they interpreted and helped adapt his work. Have you had a similar experience?
Oh yes. As an artist, when a choreographer is at the front of the room trying to experiment it's really rewarding when a dancer reacts to a choice that you've made.
A lot of the times when you choreograph something, you want the dancer to take a more intelligent approach than the person creating. The choreography is a vessel for a choice. That's the way I see it, at least.
What can people expect from this upcoming triple bill?
If you don’t know what a mixed rep is, it’s three small works that basically don’t have necessarily any connection to each other. So, in that sense, there’s no through line.
Hikarizatto and Angels [in the Architecture] are two staples of the RWB. But it’s been a while since they’ve done Hikarizatto and it’s one that people remember because of the lighting and the steps and the music. I think it’s definitely a crowd favourite, even though it hasn’t been around for a while. It’s a very intense movement style, and very physical. But again, it’s one of those simple concepts –– it’s just squares of light, people dancing in and out of them. But when simple is good, it’s beautiful.
Plus, there’s a kind of primal, just very visceral kind of physical feeling to it that's really quite special.
Angels is something the company has done quite a bit. It’s by Mark Gordon and the music is outstanding and beautiful, and it was something we were supposed to do right as COVID happened. So, it’s interesting working on it in the studio as it feels like we just did it, but we actually didn’t get to do it. It’s a very beautiful piece.
And Bolero as I was saying, the way the music builds up we replicate that with the dancing, and it’s a hard one to do. The last couple of sections, all the dancers have been on stage for the whole time, so by the time they get to the end, they're absolutely dead.
But that can be very rewarding as a dancer, when you know you've left everything on stage, and the audience feels that energy.
***
Bolero, Angels in the Architecture & Hikarizatto run from May 1-4 at the Centennial Concert Hall. Tickets and more info available here.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
