Piotr Stanczyk

Principal Dancer

Piotr Stanczyk, Principal DancerClothing provided by Holt Renfrew.
Photo Credit

Piotr Stanczyk, Principal Dancer
Clothing provided by Holt Renfrew.

Biography

Polish-born Piotr Stanczyk trained at the State Ballet School of Poznan before studying at Canada’s National Ballet School. He joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1998 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2008.

With The National Ballet of Canada, Mr. Stanczyk’s repertoire includes lead roles in Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Etudes, The Nutcracker, Theme and Variations, The Four Seasons and Petrouchka.

Mr. Stanczyk has created several roles for the company, including those of Felix in James Kudelka’s An Italian Straw Hat and a Hired Escort in Mr. Kudelka’s Cinderella. Mr. Stanczyk most recently danced in the world premiere of Sabrina Matthew’s DEXTRIS and lead roles in the company premieres of John Neumeier’s The Seagull, Davide Bombana’s Carmen and Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite.

In 2003, Mr. Stanczyk was, along with First Soloist Keiichi Hirano, the first-ever recipient of the William Marrié Award for Dramatic Excellence, for his role as Jaguar in The Firebird. In 2009 he performed at the International Ballet Festival of Miami.

 

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Questions & Answers

Posted on: November 2008

After a decade of dancing with The National Ballet of Canada, this season will be your first as a Principal Dancer. What aspect of being a Principal Dancer are you most excited about?

I’m excited about being able to spend more time to focus solely on my Principal roles. This will let me to explore the characters more fully, getting a clearer understanding of what motivates them and what they are thinking and, hopefully, dance them better.

In this month's classic The Nutcracker, you will be dancing both the lead role of Peter/ The Nutcracker and the character role of Uncle Nikolai. What keeps these roles fresh for you, year after year? Which do you most enjoy dancing?

When it comes to performing the role of Peter/ The Nutcracker, my partners keep it fresh for me. Every year, I dance The Nutcracker with someone else and this year it will be Sonia Rodriguez. When it comes to Uncle Nikolai, I think that it’s the kids in the audience as well as in the ballet that make the role so much fun for me – they are mesmerized by the magical, mysterious Uncle. But I don’t really prefer one role over the other, I love dancing them both.

Being born and raised in Poland, what makes Toronto home for you?

It took me some time to get used to Toronto after growing up in Poland. Toronto’s a relatively new city compared to those in Europe with their old world architecture and history but I just bought a house here and am looking forward to putting down some roots in my new home.

The upcoming season offers a mix of short pieces and full-length classical ballets. Which piece are you most looking forward to performing?

I really enjoyed dancing in The Seagull, which was a very interesting take on Chekhov’s play. I had never worked with choreographer John Neumeier before, but I had seen some of his works and I love his approach to dance, music and to art as a whole.

One of the advantages of becoming a Principal Dancer is that more guesting opportunities arise with companies around the world. Out of any company worldwide, who would you most want to guest with in the upcoming years?

I haven’t really thought about that yet but after performing The Seagull, I would like to work with John Neumeier more, maybe guesting with Hamburg Ballet.

Quotes

West Side Story Suite

"Piotr Stanczyk managed to pull from his gut a Bernardo of swift energy, feral passion and quick hatred."

- Ballet Review, 2008

Romeo and Juliet

"Piotr Stanczyk is a mercury-fast Mercutio, playful down to his final breath."

- The Toronto Star, 2009

The Nutcracker

"Piotr Stanczyk never forgot he was the stable boy Peter transformed into a prince. He danced superbly, but with a sense of freshness and wonder."

- The Globe and Mail, 2008