Thiago Soares, former principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, dances in Brazil on final tour

The show has a self-explanatory title, but dancer Thiago Soares, 42, has a lot to tell about “O Último Ato”, his last international tour, which has already passed through Lisbon and has stopovers in Rio, São Paulo and Curitiba. A former principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London, he has danced in over 30 countries and wants to be seen in action by Brazilians as well.

“After representing classical dance so much around the world, I wanted to collaborate with people and styles from my roots —urban dance— and perform for audiences that haven’t had the opportunity to see me dance,” he says. In 2001, at the age of 20, Thiago left for Russia as the second foreigner hired by Ballet Kirov.

“O Último Ato” goes back to the beginning of his life in dance, when he joined his brother’s street dance group, and brings representatives of break, samba, folk dance, among others. “Having other dance languages ​​in the show is a bit like a portrait of who I’ve become,” he says.

Thiago says that the audience can expect a show with a narrative about his career and reflection on the end of a cycle. The title, in fact, brings an irony about the “last act”. “When the light goes out, does another one come on?”, he jokes.

In fact, the dancer born in São Gonçalo, in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro and raised in the neighborhood of Vila Isabel (Noel Rosa’s land), in addition to dancing, seems to take pleasure in talking about his life. He recalled the time he broke protocol with Queen Elizabeth II, when he went to greet the monarch after a premiere at the Royal Opera House.

“She approached but didn’t say anything for a few seconds. I then said ‘Hi’ and held out my hand,” he recalls. Everyone laughed at the Brazilian who didn’t know the royal protocols. The queen, elegant, did not leave Thiago in a vacuum and shook his hand.

Now that he’s left behind the regimented routine of working as a contracted professional for a company -and especially soon, after the end of the tour- Thiago will dedicate himself to Ballet de Monterrey, where he is artistic director and choreographer.

Personal projects, for which I didn’t have much time, will also get off the ground or be followed more closely. This is the case of the dance studio that the dancer has in Rio. A baby.

O F5 chatted with Thiago the day after his 42nd birthday. “I spent years and years not even there to celebrate”, he comments, giving a practical example of how he started to give more importance to his personal life.

“I never had the mental availability to do my life project and most of the people I had a relationship with also had that professional drive that motivates you to go from project to project”, says the dancer, who was also married to Royal Ballet prima ballerina, Argentine Marianela Núñez, from 2011 to 2015.

Thiago remembers that at the age of 14 he was already “on the run”, when he started his studies at Centro de Dança Rio, in Méier. He joined the corps de ballet at Teatro Municipal at 17 and never stopped. “Dance entered my life in a nice way, but the ‘what are you going to live on? Are you going to have a salary?’ It’s always been an important issue.”

“O Último Ato” is showing in Rio de Janeiro at Teatro Multiplan, on the 26th, 27th and 28th of May. In São Paulo, the show arrives on October 7th and 8th, at Teatro J. Safra. In Curitiba there is still no set date.