Sophie Martin

 

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1) What is your favourite ballet? Or role?
My favourite ballet that I’ve danced was Suite from Artifact by Forsythe as it was a challenge but I really enjoyed doing it on stage. I really felt like pushing myself into this and I worked very hard on it. It definitely pushed the limits that I thought I had.

 

2) How do you relax whilst on tour?
I try to spend as much time as I can out of the theatre! I think I can only relax when I’m not there as otherwise it feels as though you’re waiting all the time and you can’t think about anything else apart from the performance that’s coming.
It’s nice to go for dinner, try new restaurants and walk around a different city to what I’m used to.

 

3) What is your favourite meal/type of food?
I can’t imagine a meal without good bread – I’m definitely into bread! I’ve actually started to make my own bread. When I go out for dinner I like to go to a seafood restaurant and have a nice glass of white wine.

 

4) What made you take up dance as a career?
My parents brought me to my first ballet class when I was five and I’ve never wanted to stop dancing. Before training in Paris, I think I kept dancing because I enjoyed being on stage for the school show once a year. Even if I wasn’t doing this for a job, I’d still want to dance as I like it so much.

 

5) What is or has been your favourite venue to perform in?
With the Junior Ballet, we went to Como in Italy. It was quite magical as the theatre looks as though it was one of the first theatres ever built as it was so old. It was a really nice place.

 

6) What is your greatest extravagance?
I don’t mind spending a lot of money on a good restaurant. I also like buying pyjamas – I think I could sleep in a different set every night!

 

7) Describe yourself in five words
Curious, clumsy, chilled, positive, small

 

8) If you hadn’t taken up dance as a career, what else would you be doing?
I have no idea but I think I’d need to get personally involved with my job and feel quite free as well.

 

9) What’s your favourite album?
I don’t have a favourite album, but I like chill-out music and things like Nitin Sawhney. My favourite album would probably be a compilation of lots of different types of music.

 

10) If you could be stuck in a lift with anyone, who would it be?
Someone who would be able to laugh about the situation with me!

 

Biography

 

Born in the French city of Cherbourg, Sophie trained at the Conservatory National Supérieur of Paris under the tuition of Noëlla Auguste, and performed with the Junior Ballet. She has also worked with leading dancers and choreographers in France.

 

She joined Scottish Ballet in 2003 and has danced in Page’s The Nutcracker (Marie), Acrid Avid Jam, Nightswimming into day, 32 Cryptograms, The Pump RoomCinderella (Cinderella), Fearful Symmetries and The Sleeping Beauty (Aurora and Cinderella), Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, Apollo, Agon, Episodes, and Rubies, Richard Alston’s Dangerous Liaisons (which she also performed as part of the Dance Umbrella Gala), Darrell’s Othello (Desdemona), Loosmore’s Chasing Ghosts, van Manen’s Two Pieces ForHet, Forsythe’s ArtifactSuite (Duet I and II), Ashton’s Façade and Petronio’s MiddleSexGorge and Ride The Beast.  

 

 

Quotes

 

 

The Sleeping Beauty (2007-2008)

 

 

 .Scotland on Sunday, 16 December 2007 – Some of the duets in the wedding scene, particularly the stylish, spiky pas de deux between Sophie Martin and her Prince and the pure romance of the ballet danced by principals Claire Robertson and Erik Cavallari as Princess Aurora and the Prince, showcase Scottish Ballet’s talent at its best.

 

 

EIF 2007
Page’s Fearful Symmetries
.The Herald, 21 August 2007 – Erik Cavallari is the wonderfully self-possessed Alpha Male, with three stunning ballerinas – Eve Mutso, Claire Robertson and Sophie Martin – servicing the different facets of his technique.

 

Petronio’s Ride The Beast
. The Scotsman, 20 August 2007 - …an awkward male crumbling in the face of perfection (aka Eve Mutso and Sophie Martin)

 

SPRING 2007
Balanchine’s Agon
.Edinburgh Evening News, 19 April 2007 – It was Sophie Martin and Ruth Vaquerizo Garcia who stole the show, however. Their duet was so perfectly symmetrical that it looks as if there was only one ballerina onstage, dancing in a mirror.

 

Darrell’s Othello
.The Scotsman, 16 April 2007 – Sophie Martin [as Desdemona] is fast becoming a compelling force to be reckoned with.

 

Pastor’s In Light And Shadow
.Sunday Express, 15 April 2007 -  a stunning opening duet by the breathtaking Sophie Martin partnered by Blyde

 

CINDERELLA 2006/2007
.Criticaldance.net, 10 Dec 2006 – Of the seasons, Sophie Martin (Summer) and Ruth Vaquerizo Garcia (Winter) were the standouts.

 

EIF 2006
Balanchine’s Agon
.Sunday Herald, 03 Sept 2006 – The women, especially Eve Mutso, Sophie Martin and Claire Robertson, are ravishing.

 

SPRING 2006
Balanchine’s Episodes
. The Daily Telegraph, 20 March 2006 - … a meditative piece that boasted some strong individual performances (Eve Mutso, Sophie Martin, Paul Liburd)…

 

. The Scotsman, 1 April 2006 – When Ashley Page arrived at Scottish Ballet, one of his aims was to create “star” performers, much like Royal Ballet. In Patricia Hines, Claire Robertson, Paul Liburd and Sophie Martin, he’s got them.

 

. Sunday Herald, 9 April 2006 – In Episodes, we are dazzled by Sophie Martin (with Adam Blyde) in the opening sequence, as she makes vivaciously slinky work of Mr B’s sharp-edged choreography.

 

AUTUMN 2005
Page’s The Pump Room
. The Herald, 12 September 2005 – Pump Room – danced by its original quartet of Diana Loosmore, Jarkko Lehmus, Sophie Martin and Paul Liburd – now feels like a thrumming pressure cooker where each heat exchange bodies threatens to blow the roof off. Utterly brilliant…

 

. Ballet-Dance Magazine, October 2005 - Patricia Hines and Erik Cavallari (in jazz shoes), and Sophie Martin (on pointe) and Paul Liburd all gave an excellent showing of smooth virtuostic contemporary dance.

 

Balanchine’s Episodes
. The Independent, 1 September 2005 – The lead couple, Sophie Martin and Adam Blyde, capture the mood perfectly in their swift, neat, measured but lyrical movements.

 

. Dance Scene International, October 2005 – Sophie Martin illuminates the opening Symphony.

 

SPRING 2005
Page’s The Pump Room
. The Herald, 14 April 2005 – His new piece, The Pump Room – to pistoning rhythms by Aphex Twin – celebrates the physicality and technical prowess of four dancers: Diana Loosmore (off pointe), with Jarkko Lehmus and Sophie Martin (on pointe) with Paul Liburd.

 

. The Observer, 1 May 2005 - The Pump Room is for two powerful men – Jarkko Lehmus and Paul Liburd (both with contemporary dance background) – interacting with rogue particle women, Diana Loosmore and Sophie Martin.

 

Balanchine’s Episodes
. The Independent, 19 April 2005 - Sophie Martin gives the first theme a grand, flowing shape.

 

AUTUMN 2004
Van Manen’s Two Pieces for HET
. The Stage, 23 September 2004 – Sophie Martin and Cristo Vivancos dance a beautifully different pas de deux.

 

. Nairnshire Telegraph, 5 October 2004 – Sophie Martin and Cristo Vivancos were equally convincing in the sexual display and sparring of the later work…