Ballerina

Notebook: goes backstage at The Australian Ballet for a look at the demanding but exhilarating lives of husband-and-wife dancers Danilo Radojevic and Lucinda Dunn.

He has danced with Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She is a world-renowned prima ballerina. Lucinda (Luci) Dunn and Danilo (Danny) Radojevic are a down-to-earth couple who devote their lives to the extraordinary world of ballet.

7am: Danny, 47, sets out for a jog around Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens. It has been 13 years since he last danced on stage but he likes to keep fit, not least for his demanding role as associate artistic director of The Australian Ballet.

8.30am: Luci, 31, sleeps in a little most days, especially if she has performed the night before. Being a principal dancer with The Australian Ballet, she needs all the rest she can get. “Performing is physically and mentally draining, and I’m not a great sleeper,” she says, “so I don’t make myself get up too early.” Still, Luci never feels like taking a day off. “I feel blessed to be able to do something I love,” she says. The couple eat breakfast together and Luci then makes a lunch of sandwiches, fruit and yoghurt for herself and Danny.

9am: Danny arrives at The Australian Ballet’s Southbank premises for meetings with artistic director David McAllister and perhaps the production, wardrobe or medical teams. He checks the dancers’ schedule to see who will be rehearsing and performing that evening. His job is to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible. “There’s never a dull moment,” he laughs. “There might be emergency rehearsals, someone might be ill, and then there’s the casting, costumes and logistics that go with any production.”

10am: Luci heads to the Ballet Centre to warm up and attend ballet class. All 68 dancers in the company, from the corps de ballet to the principals, must attend the daily class. “You never stop learning in ballet and you’re always striving to be the best you can possibly be,” Luci says. “We go to class six days out of seven every week, for our entire careers.”

11am: As part of his role, Danny takes the class two or three times a week. He begins by softly calling out a series of French terms to which 136 beautifully toned legs and arms respond by forming corresponding poses. The precision devoted to each movement is a sight to behold. Over the 75-minute class, almost every muscle in the dancers’ bodies will be strained to its limit in an extraordinary display of the human form. “It’s very tough and, believe me, we don’t always feel like going through the rigours of class, but it’s part of the discipline. I’ve done it almost every day of my life, so it’s second nature to me now,” says Luci.

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