The youngest dancer in Royal Winnipeg Ballet history to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet is taking the stage again in another leading role – Nathalie in Moulin Rouge: The Ballet.
Maureya Leibowitz
Maureya Leibowitz, now 20, was 18 when she played Juliet. She joined the company in 2007.
She’s known since she was very young that dance was her passion. “I started creative movement when I lived in Malibu at the age of three, and then I started actual ballet when I was five, but I didn’t start training professionally until I came to Winnipeg when I was 11,” she said.
“Right when I came [to Winnipeg], I was surrounded by kids my age that wanted to [dance] as much as me, and had the focus and determination in the classes that I really enjoyed.”
Of the roles Leibowitz has played, which, in addition to Juliet and Nathalie include Wendy in Peter Pan and Clara in The Nutcracker, she said Juliet is her favourite.
“It was exciting,” she said of finding out she would be playing Juliet. “Right away your first thought is, ‘Let’s start this process.’ You don’t think, ‘Oh my goodness, you just picked me to play the role,’ you accept and thank them. You’re already on top of where do I begin to start learning the role, but more importantly, how I want my Juliet to be.”
The feedback from critics and audience members for Leibowitz’s portrayal of Juliet was overwhelmingly positive, which she said left her “appreciative and touched.
“Just that the audience was able to connect with me and go through the story with me, and I was able to convey what I was feeling to them, was amazing. I was so pleased that I touched people.”
Leibowitz’s work with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet has seen her do her fair share of travelling, including a visit to Israel in October 2010. In 1975, it was the first Canadian ballet company to perform in Israel.
This was not Leibowitz’s first time in Israel – she went on a Birthright trip and extended her stay for two months – but being there with the company was an entirely different experience.
“It was so nice to return, because when I was there I had a great time on my vacation, I got to let loose and go to the beach, the markets,” she said.
“I kept feeling that it would be so amazing to come [to Israel] on tour and be in the homeland with the people that I love around, but doing what I’m passionate about and dancing on the stages.”
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet production of Moulin Rouge: The Ballet will be in Toronto from Feb. 10 to 12 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.rwb.org.
