DANCE NEWS: Young dancer to tackle 'Onegin'
21 Jun'10

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

TORONTO - For the uninitiated, it may seem like no big deal that McGee Maddox, a young dancer who joined the corps de ballet at the National Ballet of Canada less than a year ago, is preparing to tackle the title role in ONEGIN this week. But ask a balletomane and you'll likely be told that it's a little like throwing a third-string quarterback into the final moments of the Super Bowl.

But if being catapulted into the spotlight has unnerved the 23-year-old dancer scheduled to perform the role of the arrogant young Russian nobleman in the matinée performance of ONEGIN, June 24, he's covering it well. "Things are going well,' Maddox says, the warm, relaxed cadences of a South Carolina childhood rolling lazily down the phone line "It's nice." Which is not to say he's blasé about things. He knows what's at stake. "I'm a very young age to be allowed to do this role," he admits, "But I feel that it suits me -- my temperament and my theatrical style. I've really made an effort to make it my own and uphold the integrity of the choreography and the story."

And it's not as if it snuck up on him. Maddox has, in fact, been drawing the spotlight since he joined the company last year after a stint with the Houston Ballet, landing a role in Balanchine's THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS in November and earning a role in choreographer Jorma Elo's PIR TI MIRO in its world premiere last month. He's performed so well, in fact, that his promotion to second soloist was announced Monday by the NBOC.

He's survived his first Canadian winter as well, although, In fairness, it was a mild one. "I heard," he says dryly. "You could have fooled me, but I heard. I went out and got one of those goose down parkas and I didn't feel like it was too much." That parka would no doubt stand out in his South Carolina home, where he says a fleece is about all you need in the winter months. But standing out in South Carolina is something he has had a lifetime to accustom himself to.

"Growing up in South Carolina and being a male dancer and growing up in a liberal family around a very conservative population definitely brought its challenges -- but no drama," he says, laughing. "I think it added a very interesting dynamic to my childhood and my high school experience." It was a world, he recalls, where "if you didn't play football, you weren't too much of anything, and I'm a huge football fan." But it never went much beyond fandom.

These days, Maddox stands 6'2" and weighs in at 190 pounds, but "I didn't always look this way," he admits. "I practised the heck out of that game, but I was always on the bench, because I'd likely get hurt." Clearly, he's thrilled to finally make it to the big game in his chosen profession.

"I feel very comfortable being myself here," he says simply. "I don't feel I have to be anybody but myself and dance the way I dance -- and that's very important to me now. I feel like, since my first show here, I've just grown so much as a solo performer. I feel I can come and do my job and not feel anxious about it."

And politics aside, he just might be ready to score one for the Gipper.