En Pointe and Star-Crossed: A Backstage Exclusive with QB’s Tony Lewis

Queensland Ballet Romeo and Juliet Tony Lewis Brit Mobbs

Queensland Ballet’s blockbuster ballet event of the year, Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet opens in just under two weeks for a limited season at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre. Set to be Queensland Ballet’s cultural event of the year, it offers a night of drama, romance, and timeless beauty for audiences of all ages. The Scoop sat down with Strength and Conditioning Coach Tony Lewis ahead of opening night for an exclusive chat to discuss how he helps to prepare the dancers.

Tell me a little bit about your role as Strength and Conditioning Coach.

It’s similar to what we would do for most other sports. There’s strength training, squats, deadlifts and presses, those types of things. But we look at a bit more refinement around the movement. We are always thinking about what the dancers have to do on stage and how that needs to look. For example, when they come up out of a squat, we will be checking that they’re actually in the correct alignment. We’re imagining what they’d be like in the air. So that’s what we’re looking for; that their end range is almost balletic.

How many classes do the dancers take per week with you and are these sessions one-on-one?

Most of the dancers will have one session a week with me, and I see two dancers at a time. They’ll also do one or two sessions on their own. And then they do Pilates as well.

Tony Lewis Queensland Ballet — Tony Lewis Strength and Conditioning Coach at Queensland Ballet

Is there a difference in their training when they’re just doing class work versus when they’re actively preparing for something like Romeo and Juliet?

Yes, at the beginning of the year, we undergo what I call a general conditioning phase. So it acts like a bit of a welcome back. We’ll work on a full range of motion, trying to get the dancers strong through all their joints.

Then once we get into a season, we’ll start to get a bit more specific about what they’re doing, and it can sometimes even be role-specific. Romeo and Juliet is a big ballet for Romeo in particular because of all the pas de deuxs and all the lifting. So that becomes very much a focus.

Because Romeo and Juliet is a such a long, three-act ballet, what general considerations do you put into the sessions?

Endurance is a massive part so the dancers will do a fair bit of cardio work as well. We want to build a nice, what I call aerobic base. Then ideally, the dancers will recover faster between efforts on stage. So that’s what we’re looking for, particularly for a long ballet like this.

What would training look like on a show week? Do they still continue their sessions with you?

What we tend to do is reduce the amount of reps from what they would normally do. So we lower the volume, but the intensity stays pretty high. We’re wanting the muscles to still be ready to go.

Let’s chat a little about your own time as a dancer. I believe you also performed several roles in Romeo and Juliet in your career?

Yes, a very long time ago. In 1995 I performed the roles of Romeo and Tybalt for Queensland Ballet.

Amazing! Are you enjoying your pivot from dancer to Strength and Conditioning Coach?

Yes, but it was a bit of time in the making. When I retired, I worked with a couple of gyms over the years. It was probably about seven years from when I retired to when I started working with dance, and I’ve carried on since.