Adam Cooper: Royal Ballet's prince for the nineties - dancer - Interview

Dance Magazine, Jan, 1997 by John Gruen

In Kenneth MacMillan's preposterously overwrought, full-length Mayerling, which American audiences haven't seen since the Royal Ballet's last visit to the Metropolitan Opera House, the leading male dancer must portray states of wild mental, sexual, and political anguish while seeming to be possessed of true nobility. This ballet is, after all, the story of Prince Rudolf, son of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria and heir to the throne. He was also a manic-depressive (obsessed with guns, death, and suicide), a drug addict, and a syphilitic. His love affair with the teenaged Mary Vetsera ended in a death pact. This shocking event shook up the Hapsburg empire and gave rise, through novels and films, to endless romantic speculations as to the true nature of the double suicide.

When Mayerling (set to the swooning music of Liszt) premiered at the Royal in 1978, David Wall was Rudolf and Lynn Seymour was Vetsera. When the ballet was last done at the Met, there was no Wall or Seymour. Instead, Adam Cooper, a then-promoted Royal Ballet principal, portrayed Rudolf while Gillian Revie danced Vetsera.

Cooper proved entirely up to the drastic demands of his role. With his young-jock demeanor and striking good looks, he offered dancing and acting at once persuasively old world and thrillingly over the edge. Indeed, Cooper is one of the Royal's aggressive new generation - among them William Trevitt, Tetsuya Kumakawa, Errol Pickford, and Stuart Cassidy - who are changing the look of this formerly prim and proper company. A refreshing sense of nowness has infiltrated its profile and, no doubt thanks to director Anthony Dowell, the Royal seems to emit an air of inspired sassiness and passion.

In a talk during a visit to New York City, Cooper instantly confesses that the hysterical traits of Rudolf are far from his own.

"It's really not me at all," he says with a laugh. "I mean, here I am beating my wife on our wedding night - raping her - behaving in the most extreme manner in all those mad pas de deux. But, believe me, I'm a very different sort of chap. Of course, some of it must come from within; the violence must exist somewhere in me and, it's true, I love doing depraved creatures. But I'm quite different."

Since his debut in 1989, Cooper has been dancing a wide variety of roles with the Royal - from the Prince in Swan Lake to William Forsythe's wild and witty Herman Schmerman, partnering Sylvie Guillem. His first part was as the King of the South in MacMillan's The Prince of the Pagodas, and he has danced Balanchine's Agon, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and Symphony in C. During the 1991-92 season he was seen as both Romeo and Tybalt in MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet and as Lescaut in Manon. Other highly diversified roles have filled a career that is clearly destined for major attention.

Cooper was born in London on July 22, 1971. His father is a musician, his mother a social worker. His brother, Simon, one year older, is currently with Rambert Dance Company.

"My parents are separated - have been for four years now," says Cooper. "My father taught music and conducted choirs in which my brother and I sang throughout our childhoods. My mother's job is dealing with problem teenagers. Anyway, my parents weren't really made for each other. They stuck it out for us, really. Then, when Simon and I decided to leave home, they decided to end the charade.

"I was quite a naughty little boy. I liked getting into trouble. I'd fiddle with things and break things. I had too much energy. And I was always fighting with my brother. It was day and night - always fighting. But we basically had quite a happy childhood. And I loved all the music - singing in the choir. My dad also loved popular music, so he would play in a dinner-dance band occasionally. I remember being his drummer once when I was eight. He couldn't get anybody else on short notice. It was great!"

As a multifaceted musician, and to earn extra money, Cooper's father also served as pianist for the local dance school on Saturdays. Adam and Simon went along and were so taken with "some end-of-term performances" that they wanted to start dance lessons themselves. Adam was five and Simon was six. Their parents did not object; in fact, they supported the idea. The brothers Cooper started with tap. Tap gave way to ballet lessons, and upon reaching the ages of eleven and twelve the brothers entered the Arts Educational School.

"This school was a bit like the Royal Ballet School but much more rounded," Cooper says. "That is, we studied every kind of dancing but also academics. We were trained in acting, music, and art. It wasn't all ballet - and that was good, because it would have been quite limiting."

When the brothers turned sixteen and seventeen, they auditioned for the Royal Ballet School and both were accepted. This did not mean that they were on the best of terms.

"From the age of twelve onward, Simon and I sort of fell out, because we were very competitive. I mean, the competition was fierce. We were in ballet class every single day for three years competing! It was too much. So we hardly ever spoke. Physically we're quite similar. Facially not at all. But as dancers we're very similar."