The ballet world is swooning for Matt Cluff. The Prince George dancer is now a cast member in Romeo & Juliet in one of Canada's most fanatical ballet hotbeds. He was called to this prestigious stage by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montral.
It's an opportunity Cluff seized with the intensity of a hockey player getting called up to the NHL. He had been doing well in his development, most recently as a principal ballerino with Ballet Victoria and in the Arts Club Theatre Company's production of Billy Elliot in Vancouver. The hard work paid off. His audition and stage work caught the attention of Les Grands and they offered him an internship to take his next career steps under their tutelage.
He had been working so hard at lining up work that he almost created an impossible scheduling conflict.
"Billy Elliot was held over for a week, and then I had a workshop to teach in Kamloops, so I had to get a bus to Kamloops that night right after the last Billy Elliot show, do the workshop, I was able to finish that up on the Friday and fly out on the Saturday, and move straight to Montreal ready for work on Monday," he said.
Apart from the dancing, Cluff urges parents in Prince George to open the doors to French for their children. He loves Montral and the opportunity it represents for him to grow as a person as well as a dancer, because the high school French classes and the Rosetta Stone recordings he's been using are paying off in exciting ways. He is seeing his own life potential expanding as he becomes comfortable with this second language, and Les Grands also provides French classes as part of their apprenticeship services.
Cluff was lucky to be one of those double-cast in Romeo & Juliet, meaning he has a part each and every night whereas some of the chorus dancers are cast in alternating performances. And like most chorus dancers, he also has multiple roles to fulfill within each performance.
"Even though I'm starting at the bottom as an apprentice in Montreal, I feel my past experiences helping me, and Ballet Victoria helped me in ways I can't even explain, and before that it was Judy Russell in Prince George giving me training and performance opportunities since I was a little kid," he said. "I'm extremely grateful for the roles, the partnering, getting important experience to learn at a young age."
This is exactly the kind of progressive step he would have drawn up on a career chart before leaving Prince George for the professional ranks. Les Grands is one of those professional companies the whole national ballet community looks to as a leader in the performance profession.
"Ballet Victoria has about 10 dancers and Les Grands has 30-35, and even that is a mid-sized company. It's a beautiful step up," Cluff said. "There are also more artistic staff and marketing staff, so seeing that side of the business is also really valuable for me right now. Ballet Victoria was extremely small on the back end - just a few really dedicated people and a lot of dedicated volunteers. It's great that I got to see how that size company does it, and now this next kind of company."
It demonstrates a system of progression available within the Canadian ballet industry. He was trained at Encha"nement Dance Centre since childhood, where he received many public performance opportunities as well as class work. He was one of several dancers there who turned a passionate hobby into a professional pursuit. Others who crossed paths there with Cluff then went on to professional dance opportunities included Brent Parolin, Cai Glover, Izaak Smith, Vharay Tompkins, Eira Glover, Ashley Perham and others.
"I really was blessed. Everywhere across my career, I have had nothing but thankfulness and gratitude for the opportunities I've gotten and how they have led to the next things and the next things. I can't say enough about Ballet Victoria and what they did for my career. Now this is a new adventure," Cluff said. "Victoria was all classical. They really helped me hone my ballet skills. But in Prince George I got a mix of training, and I think that is what gave me an edge for Montral. They were looking for that well-roundedness, and thank goodness that was something Judy (Russell, proprietor of Encha"nement) provided for us all along, in our development."
After Romeo & Juliet, Cluff and company will move on immediately into Nutcracker mode where they will be performing in a 3,000-seat theatre in Montral.
"It's season by season, for me, that's the duration of my contract," said Cluff. "So far I'm very happy being here and I would see myself being happy here for years into the future, not just one, if they choose to renew my contract."
Anyone spending time in Quebec's largest city is encouraged to check out the schedule for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montral to see Cluff in action.
