I promise, she wasn’t expecting it. She assures that she has not heard any of the rumors that have been circulating about her for weeks in the corridors of the Paris Opera. Or would she prefer not to hear them? It was only last Saturday, after the performance of Paquitain which she played the leading role, that Roxana Stojanov allowed herself to believe it. When she saw the director of the Opera approaching the Bastille stage, Alexander Nephew and its dance director, Jose Martinez. In the images, we already see her crying, trembling with emotions even before the sacrosanct phrase is pronounced. Roxane Stojanov, 29, has been named star of the Opera Ballet.
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“I don’t remember ever having experienced such a powerful emotion,” the dancer tells us. Three days later, reached by telephone, Roxane Stojanov still seems on cloud nine. “I am overwhelmed by the messages of congratulations. It’s so beautiful, all the love I receive. »
“As if I could see myself doing it”
The whirlwind of emotions in which she gravitates is all the more powerful because ten days ago, the dancer was in a completely different mood. On December 20, she was to dance this role of Paquita for the first time. The same day, she learned of the cancellation of the performance, due to a strike by Opera staff. “It’s already a very complicated ballet, the preparation was hard. But there, I had to tell myself that it would only be one one shot. »
Only one performance to shine. The ballerina says she spent a few days consumed by the “apprehension of not taking up the challenge as we wanted”. And finally, on December 28, waking up was less painful than expected. “In the evening, I had a great show. I really gave it my all. I wasn’t dancing, it was like I saw myself doing it. Everything seemed so natural. We were Paquita and Lucien, not Thomas [Docquir, son partenaire] and Roxane. »
If it comes as a surprise to the main person concerned, the appointment of Roxane Stojanov to the highest rank was anticipated by the community of ballet lovers. On December 6, Vanity Fair, had also met her at length. Selected in the ranking of the 25 new faces who will make 2025, the dancer then took the time to look back on her strange itinerary.
Tinkerbell
She grew up with a Picardy mother who was a translator and interpreter and a Macedonian diplomat father. So to imagine Roxane Stojanov’s childhood, you have to unfold a map. She was born in Auch (Gers) in her grandparents’ house, spent a few months in Lille, then “Brussels, Macedonia, and back to Brussels. »
A little twirling girl, she danced from a very young age. Her mother is fond of opera, so she begins to improvise on Carmen by Bizet. To channel this desire to dance, her parents enrolled her in oro classes, the traditional dance in Macedonia where she lived between the ages of 6 and 9. She also remembers performing Tinkerbell at age 9, “in a sort of musical comedy where I sang playback.” Already, she is a little exhilarated by the scene. So at eight and a half years old, and not before, she took her first classical dance lessons. “The teachers didn’t want to take me before, for fear that it would hinder my growth. » But when she starts, young Roxane is immediately put on the stand. “I remember this requirement very well, the folded ones first, the released ones later. » An Eastern European rigor, which does not frighten him: “On the contrary, I liked it. »
When she was 10, she returned to Belgium, with one goal in mind: to be able to enroll in dance. After a few months, his new teacher suggested that he start pointe. “It was the happiest day of my life and at the same time I couldn’t do it. It was hell but I said “next class I’ll get on it”. And by the next class, I was on it. » This famous teacher also told him about the Paris Opera dance school. She explains the principle to him: school in the morning, dancing in the afternoon. She also advises him to watch documentaries about this rather special establishment. We show the harshness of teaching, we film children in tears. “To my teacher, I replied: “I will go but I will not cry.” I didn’t see why it had to be hard. »
“I wanted to dance, that’s all”
Roxane Stojanov still admits to having shed a few tears in the months following her admission to the prestigious school. “Obviously, the difficulty of being separated from your parents at 12 years old…” However, she describes a schooling in a boarding school far from the clichés of a temple of stupid and mean rigor. Either way, with her, the passion for dancing dominates everything. The child will even take several years to understand that being a dancer can be more than just a pleasure, but also a vocation. “I wasn’t very curious about how it all happened. I wanted to dance, that’s all. »
Little rat, she passes all classes with flying colors. First failure in the entrance exam to the corps de ballet. She doesn’t give up. The second attempt, in 2013, was the right one. It all starts now. No more being mothered like at school. To be distributed, you will have to climb the ladder. So much the better, the dancer doesn’t have dreams of grandeur. Just the will to take the next step. Looking back, she speaks of her journey as something “fairly regular but not dazzling either. »
Ultimate objective
Three years after being hired in the corps de ballet, she was promoted to “coryphée”. 2017 smiles on her: she dances her first role as a soloist, in Ruby by George Balanchine, The Street Dancer in Don Quixote and receives the Carpeaux Prize which rewards each year a dancer from the corps de ballet of the Paris Opera under the age of 24. The following year, she became a “subject”, after a difficult promotion competition. “On D-Day, I wasn’t at my best. I was promoted but I didn’t take it well. I told everyone I didn’t deserve it. I got yelled at by my parents, the coaches, who told me I was unbearable. “You can no longer work in these conditions.” It changed something in me, to tell myself that perfectionism is a quality to a certain point. » Even if his stubbornness continues to pay off. Two years later, she received the AROP Prize. In 2022, she finally reached the penultimate grade, that of “First Dancer”. There remained only one final objective, the title of star. The grail.
