Olivier Paradina - by Kate Mattingly
Many people can cite a particular professor who served as a role model and inspiration for their career. For Olivier Pardina, this person served a double role: he was also Pardina’s father. “He was everything to me; my teacher as well as the reason I am here,” Pardina says. “When my father passed away I felt as if I had lost half of myself.”
Born in Bordeaux, France, Pardina moved frequently, depending on where his father found work as a ballet teacher, choreographer, and artistic director. His mother was an opera singer. Pardina’s own interest in ballet began rather circuitously. “When I was about eight years old, I was really in love with this girl. My way of seeing her more often was by taking ballet class with her, and my dad was the teacher,” Pardina says wit a huge smile. His love affair with ballet outlasted his childhood crush.
When Pardina became more serious about dancing, his father was direct with him: “He sat me down and said, ‘Olivier, so many people have the wrong idea of what ballet is. It’s a very difficult way of life and I want you to understand this.’ I thought about what he said and decided I would fight for it”.
The advice served him well. At age sixteen, after years of training with his father, Pardina went to Paris to continue his studies. “It was a wake up call,” he remembers. “I went there thinking I was the best and quickly realized I was not!” He laughs at this irony, and recalls the impact of this father’s counsel. “He told me I had two choices: I could quit or I could continue fighting.”
Pardina chose the later and, between the ages of sixteen and thirty, was a principal dancer with various European ballet companies. During the final years of Rudolf Nuryev’s stage career, Pardina had the honor not only of working with him, but also taking over several of his roles. In London during a tour of the show “Hommage à Diaghilev,” Nureyev became ill and Pardina was asked to replace him in “Petrouchka.”
Pardina remembers the fateful day: “I heard the audience members gasp when they learned Nureyev wouldn’t perform. He was like a god at that time. Then, I had to go on stage. There was total silence. But, at the end of ‘Petrouchka’, I received a standing ovation. It was one of the most touching moments of my life.”
Overcoming obstacles and nurturing the next generation of dancers drives Pardina’s career. “When I stopped performing, people asked me why I ended my career so early. It was clearly because I had a desire to teach.”
In his classes, Pardina is “constantly learning… analyzing the dancers’ personalities and figuring out how to get what I want. The most-rewarding thing for me is finding the way to connect most effectively with each student.”