Dancer Jake Mangakahia, 24, formerly of Capalaba has scored his biggest role to date as the lead in the ballet Nijinsky with the Australian Ballet.
Jake is one of three to perform the lead role, along with Callum Linnane and Australian Ballet principal Kevin Jackson. Jake has come from the corps de ballet to do so.
Jake first joined Australian Ballet in 2010, dancing with the corps for three years before leaving to complete a two year mission with the Church of the Latter Day Saints in Toronto, Canada. His mother Anita said he was very fortunate that Australian Ballet froze his contract and re-signed him immediately on his return. His first role after that return was that of Nijinsky.
Mrs Mangakahia said the role was both heart wrenching and beautiful to watch and by far one of the biggest demanded of a male dancer. She said it told the true story of Vaslav Nijinsky, generally judged to have been the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century and the artist who forever altered expectations of what a male dancer could be. Performing the ballet is a coups for Australian Ballet which has taken 15 years to secure the rights to perform it in Australia. The ballet is directed and was created by Neumeier of Hamburg Ballet, Germany.
“The performance is riveting. We left the performance totally stunned. Jake is amazing at telling the story,” Mrs Mangakahia said.
“The role is the hardest he has ever performed. There are huge swinging movements and crashes of the knees. It’s brutal.”
Nijinsky has been performed in Melbourne and will tour to Adelaide and Sydney. It is not being performed in Brisbane this time.
Mrs Mangakahia said this opportunity to perform and his mission has strengthened Jake’s resolve to invest as much as he can in the ballet school with a view of becoming a principal dancer. Since returning, he has become an ambassador for the ballet company’s new value system.
“He invests everything he has in the company. He will never let it go,” Mrs Mangakahia said.
On a visit to Paris, Jake and his family visited the grave of Nijinsky, in order to research his life while dancing the role.
In July, Jake danced with the Australian Ballet company at Covent Gardens, London in Swan Lake. He will be performing in Sleeping Beauty at QPAC in February 2017 for the new ballet season.
Jake comes from a family of dancers with his father Bernard a Polynesian dancer with Mana (The Spirit of Polynesia), brother Sam, 22, performing with the Polynesian Cultural Centre in Hawaii and Kuba, 14, a student at Alexandra Hills High School performing hip hop moves with his father’s dance troupe.
