Once upon a time there was a 4 year old girl, who was so shy that her mom thought she had to do something about it. She took her by the hand and presented her to a new world of movement and music: ballet classes. But it did not go that well at first. The next six months were spent fully “ballet dressed” but sitting on the floor, watching the others, crazy to join, but too shy to do it.
One day courage came and the little girl started taking classes. One day she moved to another city, with a professional ballet school, Petit Ballet in which she could dance every day. The not so little girl now had found her calling, took part in contests, attended summer schools with great dancers, anything that could bring perfection. She was getting there.
The teenager had a family who supported her all the way. Her brothers were always in the front row together with parents and relatives. If she would be a star they would help her shine but not forgetting regular school: grades had to be fine to go on pursuing her dream. Ballet was her potluck party, her cinema, her friend!
All that support and hard work was rewarded at a contest in 1995, when the now 14 year old got a scholarship to study at the ViennaState Opera Ballet School for 6 months. Mom tagged along for a while but it was a tough time: shared bedrooms with strangers, the food was different, the weather, the language… and she missed home. But she would not give up. She had a goal: To improve.
Six months turned into 4 years until the girl graduated from the School, to being a dancer in the Vienna State Opera Ballet (Wiener Staatsballet) for 13 years, where she worked with choreographers such as Renato Zanella, András Lukács, Stephan Thoss, Jiří Kyliáns and William Forsythe not to mention the great directors such as Renato Zanella, Gyula Harangozó and Manuel Legris who also pushed her to the limit. Every new director and choreographer was a test. Sick or not, in pain or not, there she was, like everyone else and when the curtain went up, there was a new chance, a new challenge, a new day: solos, groups, pas de deux, all. The Nutcracker, Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, always someone new to be, to interpret, to bring to the public and show a world of fantasy and dream. And how did she love that!
But one day on stage, there was an accident: the audience was in awe, she was glowing and then the pain. At the hospital, the doctors tried hard. Surgery. Physiotherapy. Hard work to get back on track but one day it was about acceptance: the ballerina was no more. The now grown up was brokenhearted, she thought she had lost it all but inside of her there was still the little girl. The little ballerina, who whispered: let’s try something else! And the grown up listened to the little girl and learned how to teach ballet and later became a teacher in different dance schools and an assistant choreographer at the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera.
On her first day as a teacher she saw a shy girl in her class. Like she once was: quiet with eyes going everywhere, eager to jump in but too scared. And then it was all clear as a kind sun, shiny and warm after a cold night since that accident: teaching. She would go on!
This is my story. From Brazil to Vienna, from a shy little girl to a ballerina on a stage. My name is Rafaella Sant’Anna and I came a long way to now guide other dancers. This is my mission. This is my life.
