winter 2003

Persson's Evolving Passion
Johan Persson retires from dance to pursue photography

by Michael Crabb

For Swedish-born Johan Persson, the year 2003 will go down as one of landmark decisions and singular accomplishments. He quit dancing. He married. And he published his first book. Persson's decision to upgrade his lengthy common-law relationship with Canadian ballerina Jaimie Tapper into a fully fledged marriage was easy. The couple's romance began in 1995, when former National Ballet of Canada Artistic Director Reid Anderson paired the then 18-year-old Tapper and 23-year-old Persson to compete for the Erik Bruhn Prize. They both won - the first time a man and woman from the same company had taken top honours.

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By 1996, Persson had become the National Ballet's youngest male principal and Tapper was widely expected to mature into one of the company's leading lights. The two gave incandescent lead performances together in Romeo and Juliet and Coppélia, and in 1999, Tapper, a freshly minted first soloist, made a dazzling debut in National Ballet of Canada Artistic Director James Kudelka's new staging of Swan Lake. Then she horrified fans by announcing that she would be quitting Toronto to accept an initially lower rank among the women of Britain's Royal Ballet. The tittle-tattle at the time was that Tapper did not see eye-to-eye with Kudelka. Tapper has always maintained that she simply aspired to fresh challenges.

As feared, Persson could not survive long at the National Ballet without Jaimie. "I'd find myself feeling depressed and not really able to understand why," he later recalled. "It was a really tough year." By March 2000, Persson had announced his own departure for London, where he accepted a first soloist contract from The Royal Ballet. Before he had even arrived, an unexpected vacancy amongst the male principals allowed Persson to enter the British troupe at the top, to the consternation of a few of his new colleagues. Reunited, Tapper and Persson initially rented a flat in West Hampstead and immersed themselves happily in work, each winning both the respect of colleagues and generally approving media attention.

Their August 16 open-air wedding in Comox, B.C., conducted in the presence of some 75 guests and under favourable weather conditions, was idyllic. The newlyweds honeymooned with a driving tour of the American southwest, including a stay in Las Vegas. They arrived back at their Bethnal Green flat in East London - the building was once a vicarage - just in time for the official release by Oberon Books of The Royal Ballet: 161 Images, Persson's

evocative behind-the-scenes record of a year in the life of Britain's leading classical dance troupe. Persson's 164-page hardcover book, featuring Jonathan Cope and Tapper on the cover and with a foreword by Royal Ballet Artistic Director Monica Mason, will now be prominently displayed in the Royal Opera House bookshop at Covent Garden. There it will take its place alongside another earlier photographic release from Oberon, Bill Cooper's The Royal Ballet: In House. Cooper's book includes a wonderful full-page image of the dancing Persson. What makes the appearance of Persson's own book bittersweet is the fact he will dance no more. Ironically, it was the enforced rest from the grind of rehearsal and performance, necessitated by a chronic injury to the left knee, that gave Persson the opportunity to return to his other great passion - photography. "I love the whole magic of it," he says, "capturing a moment that tells an entire story."

Although he had snapped away with a Kodak Instamatic as a child, Persson's serious involvement with photography did not begin until his mother bought him a Canon single-lens reflex camera in 1987 as a late birthday present. Thus well-equipped, Persson enrolled in former National Ballet School teacher Jeanette Collins' Grade 11 photography class. "She gave me an excellent grounding in photography, including lab work," Persson recalls appreciatively. "Jeanette gave us a lot of freedom to explore ideas and when she saw how much I enjoyed it, she used to let me use the lab on weekends and even bought me extra printing paper."

It was natural for Persson to photograph what he found around him, and in Grade 12 he was shooting class and

rehearsals for the National Ballet School yearbook. "Jeanette would also take me to other companies' rehearsals, such as Ballet Jörgen, and we'd sit together so she could give me useful pointers." Persson did not restrict himself to the studio and stage. As a year-end school project, he prowled the streets of Toronto, capturing their characters amidst scenes of everyday life. Persson graduated in 1989 and spent what he remembers as a disagreeable year as a National Ballet apprentice. Becoming a full National Ballet of Canada member in 1990 inevitably limited his photographic activity, but Persson could still often be found shooting rehearsals at both the school and company. He captured Tapper on celluloid long before he won her heart.

By the fall of 1991, Persson had saved up enough money to invest in a Leica M6 rangefinder model. Leicas, even entry-level ones, are still regarded as the Rolls Royce of cameras. "I dreamed about owning a Leica for years and waited until we were on tour at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. I took the bus to Los Angeles because I knew I could get a better deal there." He still has the M6 and has added a range of attachable lenses. "It's a fairly basic camera and I Þnd I still turn to my SLR, a Canon EOS Elan I bought several years ago, for theatre work."

During National Ballet of Canada's 1994 tour to Europe and Israel, Persson took what he calls "lots

of incidental shots" and continued to do all his own lab work, improvising darkrooms wherever he happened to be living. For a while he even worked out of a closet. When he bought a house on Toronto's Delaware Avenue in 1995, installing a basement darkroom topped Persson's agenda. In London, he rented lab time until he had built his own home darkroom. Given the demands of a dancing career, which only intensified after his move to London, Persson found less and less time for photography, although his interest remained strong. Then the knee trouble began. The first injury, the result of accumulated wear and tear on his landing knee, manifested itself more than two years ago. "The problem wasn't going away, so I had it scanned and that led to a small operation in London to clean out the debris."

Persson was back dancing in the summer of 2001 and continued until February 2002, when the injury flamed up again. "I got through my performances on sheer willpower. The knee swelled up constantly. Even walking was painful. I would be icing it six times day. All the fun had gone." Persson journeyed to both Toronto and Vale, Colorado, in search of expert advice, but finally settled for an innovative procedure in Gottenburg. "In Sweden, they have developed a method of growing your own cartilage in the lab. Then it's a two-year process of it growing back inside your knee." The operation took place in June 2002, and initially Persson had looked forward to returning to the stage.

Meanwhile, in search of something fulfilling to replace his dancing, Persson approached Royal Opera House management with the idea of an extended photo essay that would give audiences a glimpse into the private world of the dancer. The fact that he had an extensive portfolio to offer for viewing doubtless strengthened his application. "It really wasn't that hard a sell." Tony Hall, the Royal Opera House's new chief executive and a champion of accessibility, was immediately enthusiastic. The company's existing relationship with Oberon Books ensured Persson had a publisher. By 2002, Persson had become a popular and familiar member of The Royal Ballet, and found his colleagues more than co-operative. "The dancers were great. I tried to be unobtrusive so as not to distract them. In the end, it was easy to sustain their trust. I offered them approval of the results and only one photograph was withdrawn by request."Persson's images create their own

narrative and follow the season right through until The Royal Ballet's Moscow visit earlier in the year. "I was shooting to within just a few days of my publisher's deadline. I had only a week to get the final prints in."

Creating his first book proved to be a pleasure. The decision to quit dancing was an ordeal, triggered by endless self-questioning and many sleepless nights. "It was a very hard decision to make, but when you're dealing with a type of injury that can even threaten your ability to walk, you have be very serious about it. It would have been very hard to come back. In the end, you have to rely on instinct."

Persson made his decision in February. The Royal Ballet delayed announcing it for a month in case he changed his mind. Now that it is all official and a new season has begun without him, Persson says he has no regrets. "As a dancer, I have accomplished more than I ever dreamed possible. Now, of course, I have to figure out how to earn a living. The Royal Ballet has a few photographic jobs for me and I'd like to be able to develop that, but clearly there's a lot of soul-searching still to do. I don't want to just abandon photography, so for the moment my intention is to make a go of it and see where it takes me." Congratulations.