Star lovers cross: Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo take to the stage for Romeo and Juliet
Pregnancy used to end a ballet dancer’s career. But Ako Kondo and husband Chengwu Guo are set to take to the stage as Romeo and Juliet with a whole new perspective.
Ever since Ako Kondo was a little girl growing up in Nagoya, Japan she has dreamed of the day she would dance the role of Juliet. The romantic young heroine of the much-loved tragedy Romeo and Juliet is on the bucket list of many dancers. For Kondo, who began training aged three, her determination to dance the role was inspired by seeing celebrated Romanian ballerina Alina Cojocaru perform the famous balcony scene during a tour to Japan.
“The role of Juliet is my dream role; it’s beautiful and tragic and a pure love story, such a special ballet for a ballerina to dance,” Kondo says.
Little did she know it would be decades before she would get her shot, and many years after she moved to Australia, in 2007, to accept a scholarship to the Australian Ballet School.
A principal artist with the Australian Ballet (AB) since 2015, Kondo was thrilled when she was cast to dance opening night Romeo and Juliet opposite her new husband and fellow principal, Chengwu Guo in 2021, only to see her dream slip away as the pandemic put paid to not one, but two, cancelled seasons of John Cranko’s storied ballet.
“When I found out it had been cancelled I was devastated,” Kondo says.
Now the chance to dance this longed-for role is finally here, as Kondo prepares to take to the Sydney Opera House stage for her debut performance dancing Juliet partnered by Guo dancing Romeo. But when she does there will be subtle but undeniable changes to the woman, and dancer, who was cast pre-pandemic. On April 27 this year Kondo and Guo became parents for the first time, welcoming baby George Guo into the world. Now life – and dancing – has taken on a whole new meaning.
It wasn’t so long ago that a pregnancy typically signalled the end of a dancer’s career. With only six weeks’ maternity leave and no so-called “safe duties” available for a dancer later in the pregnancy, many ballerinas would simply retire once they were expecting, conscious the AB’s heavy interstate and international touring schedule posed a huge challenge for any new mum, let alone one needing to return to the gruelling physical demands of a career as a professional dancer.
All that changed with former artistic director David McAllister who in 2005 implemented a sophisticated maternity leave policy offering 14 weeks paid leave (in addition to the government’s 18 weeks), two weeks paid partner leave and a family touring allowance to cover costs such as childcare. Dancers are supported by the company’s six-member artistic health team before and after the birth, including team director and principal physio Sue Mayes and former dancer, strength and conditioning coach Sakis Michelis. When they decide to stop dancing during the pregnancy they are moved to safe duties, including working with the marketing and philanthropic teams.
“I’ve seen so many ballerina mums giving birth and coming back better than ever, it gave me the confidence that I could do it too because I knew I had the support from the company,” says Kondo.
At 31, she joins a long list of ballet mums now confidently dancing into their late 30s and beyond, often returning fitter and arguably dancing better than ever. Current principal artists Amber Scott and Amy Harris have both returned after the birth of two children (Harris’s husband Jarryd Madden is a senior artist), while senior artist Dana Stephensen is a mum to three children. Former principal dancers and parents include Lucinda Dunn, Olivia Bell, Leanne Stojmenov, Madeleine Eastoe, Lana Jones, Kirsty Martin and Lynette Wills.
Kondo was elated when she discovered she was pregnant last year but acknowledges there was also some anxiety. “I was nervous, to be honest, I’d never had a kid before and didn’t know if I could still jump. Ballet is an athletic movement and can sometimes be extreme.”
Her obstetrician reassured her it was safe to continue dancing at such an early stage of her pregnancy, although Kondo opted out of the large expansive jumps known as “grand allegro” during class.
“I think some people might have got the idea I was pregnant because I was always doing those in class and all of a sudden I stopped jumping,” she says. By the time she reached 12 weeks and with the support of artistic director David Hallberg she stopped attending rehearsals, working instead with the AB’s archives team and completing her graduate diploma of elite dance instruction while continuing daily class and pilates until not long before the birth.
When baby GG, as he’s affectionately known, was born in April life for Kondo and Guo was delightfully turned on its head.
“The first two weeks were overwhelming; everything was new and I had no idea what to do. Chen kept telling me ‘This is brand new, we’re learning together and if we make mistakes we learn from them’,” Kondo recalls. “But at the same time I was just so, so happy George was here and healthy.”
With Guo doing the night feeds Kondo felt rested enough to return to pilates six weeks after George was born and within two weeks she was keen to begin some gentle ballet in the studio, with the support of Mayes. She was initially alarmed by what she discovered. “I felt like a rock, there was no movement in my body!” she exclaims. Slowly and methodically she began building up her strength and fitness and after three months felt ready to progress her dancing with ballet mistress and rehabilitation specialist Megan Connelly, and ballet mistress and repetiteur Liz Toohey. While Kondo is an exceptional case – most dancers take at least nine months to return to the stage at full dancing capacity – she had a goal she was determined to reach.
“When Romeo and Juliet was first programmed it was a long time ago, then it got postponed and postponed again and I felt Covid was stopping my life,” Kondo says. “Chen and I decided we didn’t want to waste time because I wanted to have a baby a bit early so I could come back to ballet and I was lucky to get pregnant quickly. The new timeline meant Romeo and Juliet was going to be on this year and Chen and I really wanted to dance it together so I chatted to David straight away saying I still wanted to do it .. and would aim for the Sydney season.”
Juliet is one of the more physically and emotionally-challenging roles in the ballet canon and while Kondo has had to be patient with certain physical changes – her back is tighter meaning she can’t yet lift her leg as high in arabesque, while her skin became inflamed when she resumed partnering, unaccustomed to the regular handling – it is the changes to her outlook that have taken her by surprise.
“Our jobs can be very stressful because of the responsibility we have and I feel less stressed about work now,” she says.
“That doesn’t mean I let go [of] the responsibility, I still have it being a principal dancer and have to provide the best performance for the audience but sometimes that could create a bad cycle for me. Since George was born I see a different side of the world, work and life are well balanced now.”
This new approach has affected her dancing, for the better.
“It’s lighter to dance, and easier to dance, that’s changed a lot. I am a powerful dancer but for some repertoire you don’t need that power and I could sometimes look like I was trying too hard on stage. David would always tell me, ‘Ako, take it easy, 50 per cent and it will still look beautiful.’ And since I became a mum I feel like I’m doing [that] because I’m more relaxed in my dancing.”
As for all working parents, it is a juggle and where previously she would always stay back after rehearsal to do extra practice she now has a baby to get home to. “I’m working so hard to get there right now, my body feels so different .. but I’m trying my best and I think I’m doing well.” She is also quick to point out how much she is relishing being back in the studio and among her peers again.
“I feel like I’ve regained my identity; I did miss ballet,” she says.
Despite being a new mum, Kondo has happily hung on to her inner exuberant teen and is welcoming reacquainting herself with the spirited and lovestruck young Juliet. “Now that I’m a mum I will watch the ballet with a different feeling, especially [Juliet’s mother] Lady Capulet but I still feel very Juliet inside, I still know why she went for Romeo,” she says with a laugh.
As for Guo, becoming a father has brought up emotions he never knew existed. While previously priding himself on his Peter Pan-esque youthfulness – “I’m still a kid” Guo laughingly told this writer not two years ago – he now finds it difficult to control his emotions on stage.
“I feel there’s more emotion in me now than before I had George,” he says. “Sometimes they’re hard to control, especially when it comes to emotional moments in the dancing I get very teary and my tears come bursting out which affects Ako as well as the other dancers.
“I need to learn how to keep them under control. It’s the attachment to George and in Romeo and Juliet when we’re saying goodbye it’s really devastating and that really triggers me now.”
For now Kondo is focusing all her strength on being in peak condition for her debut performance and beyond.
“Once I get on stage I think I’m going to be relieved,” she says. “Mum is coming to Sydney [from Japan] to look after George but also to watch my return show and some of my friends are coming up from Melbourne. I think it will be quite emotional.”
Guo may have matured in terms of discovering deeper emotions but when it comes to his thoughts on taking to the stage with Kondo for their first performance of Romeo and Juliet he is almost jumping out of his skin with enthusiasm and anticipation.
“It is a dream come true. This production is something I’ve always wanted to do and haven’t been able to, because of Covid, we had to cancel all our shows. It was very, very upsetting. Now we will finally get to perform it before Australian audiences, it’s so exciting, and a milestone for me too,” he says. “And I’m going to achieve it soon, alongside my wife, a new mum. It’s going to be so special.”
The Australian Ballet’s production of Romeo and Julietruns at the Sydney Opera House from December 1-21. Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo perform together on December 3 and 8 at 7.30pm. Check the website for further casting, australianballet.com.au.