Today is the 11th of December and behind this little Advent door you can find Alysson Rocha. He has Brazilian roots and is former dancer of Ballett Dortmund. Now he is working in Dortmund as the First Ballet Master of the main company. He is also working with the NRW Juniorballett (junior company of the Ballett Dortmund). That is why I met Alysson – he was on tour with us in October 2021, when the NRW Juniorballett performed Die Vier Jahreszeiten by Raimondo Rebeck in the Theater Gütersloh.

Alysson describes himself as an uplifting human being who loves to learn and share and found his life mission through Dance and Arts. For him the words “Love”, “Respect” and “Devotion” are very much related to dance and culture.

We asked him the following questions:

NDKD: Why did you become a dancer | technician | choreographer | cultural worker | theater director | ballet master?
Alysson Rocha (AR): I started playing Piano at 5 and because of music I wanted to join ballet at 6, very uncommon for a boy and even more so in Brazil. Since young I liked to watch all the other classes as well, as much as performances and rehearsals. When I graduated at 16 years old, that gave me the opportunity to assist teachers in parallel my dancing career in the State Theater. After 11 years as a professional dancer, Xin Peng Wang gave the opportunity of transitioning to Ballet Master, since this was my wish. As much as I enjoy dancing, I believed I could make a better impact collaborating with other dancers, choreographers, and team members and indeed it fulfills me.

NDKD: How do you work exactly?

AR: I believe teamwork is the key. It is everybody´s contribution with their tasks that makes the final product.

In my tasks, besides sharing with my fellow Ballet Master colleagues teaching company classes and rehearsing the ballet programs, I´m also responsible for making the working plans, communicating with the different Theater Departments and ballet team.

NDKD: What role does music play in connection with dance for you and why?

AR: That is a great question. I started to dance because of music. Music follows me since I wake up, and I follow music since I wake up. Besides giving me a rhythm, it also gives the colors and moods of that rhythm until the body moves organically by itself, or until you get so creative with it that you start to combine movements. For choreography or even for class. 

NDKD: Do you have a special Christmas tradition?

AR: Yes, no matter where I am during Christmas, I do have to make "Rabanada", a Brazilian type of French Toast we eat on Christmas. 

NDKD: Do you have a particular thought that you would like to share with us?

AR: As a thought I would, humbly, wish for love in everybody's career. We are lucky to work directly with art. However, for people with different job careers as Doctors, Gastronomy Chefs, etc., dare yourself to also be an artist. An artist to deal with your job, with your colleagues, with your customers or patients. There is so much the whole world can learn from art. 

NDKD: We thank you very much, dear Alysson and wish you MERRY CHRISTMAS!



Photo by Leszek Januszewski