Backstage With: English National Ballet’s Rising Stars

For many of us, ballet enters our lives early – through a first dance class, a festive trip to see The Nutcracker or Swan Lake, or even just watching it on TV. But while ballet is familiar, the idea of turning it into a career often feels distant, even unattainable – something admired from the stalls rather than lived on stage. 

Recently, Service95 was invited behind the scenes at the English National Ballet’s (ENB) to shadow two of its rising stars, Thiago Silva and Swanice Luong as they opened their Christmas run of The Nutcracker at the London Coliseum, starring as the Nutcracker and Clara. Over two days – one in rehearsal, one on show day – we followed the dancers through the rhythms of their working lives: the discipline and physicality and the quiet trust that underpins a centuries-old art form built on total synchronicity. And you don’t need a ballet background to be struck by what it takes. Up close, ballet reveals itself not just as elegance and spectacle, but as breathtaking athleticism – demanding, vulnerable, and relentless – the kind that leaves even the most casual observer in awe.

Ballet has long been an industry wrapped in mystery, an exclusive “if you know, you know” world often filtered through the dramatic lens of films like Billy Elliot, The Red Shoes, or Black Swan. These stories capture its intoxicating passion and high-stakes, but they also hint at pressures behind a dance form built on perfection. In recent years, ballet – like many traditional art forms – has come under closer scrutiny, particularly around dancers’ wellbeing, entrenched elitism and a lack of diversity both on and off stage.

Change may be slow, but it’s happening. Today, institutions like ENB are beginning to open their doors wider, offering audiences a more authentic, insider view of a world that once kept its curtain tightly drawn. It's a shift toward greater inclusivity and transparency – and a necessary one if ballet is to continue resonating with younger generations.  
 

Our first day with Thiago and Swanice last month took us inside the company’s East London campus, near Canning Town, where we were welcomed into a hive of energy and anticipation. The dance school was buzzing with the kind of activity you'd expect a week before a major holiday performance. Dancers hurried down the halls, leg warmers pulled on, pointe shoes tucked under their arms, each on their way to their next class or rehearsal. 

Every studio we passed held a different scene: some filled with stretching dancers, others deep in focused barre work. Then there was the one we were headed for – a one-to-one rehearsal with Swanice and Thiago. From the outset, the level of dedication was unmistakable – and we were about to see it up close.  

Swanice, originally from Canada, joined the ENB in 2024 as a first artist and was promoted to soloist just a year later, in 2025. Thiago, from Brazil, joined the company in 2022 and was also promoted to first artist in 2025. Since Swanice joined ENB, the two often have found themselves partnering up – and their chemistry is palpable to anyone who watches them dance. 

We watched them repeat segments of their solos and pas de deux (a dance for two people) with relentless precision: chains of turns, soaring leaps and lifts – all guided by their teacher, Alejandro Parente, who coaxed out the emotions Clara and the Nutcracker feel in each pivotal moment. Both dancers experimented fearlessly with how to hold one another, testing balances, catching a stumble, resetting without frustration and repeating until every transition felt inevitable and flawless. The way they carved space across the floor was mesmerising.  

Watching it all unfold, it’s hard to imagine such intensity is their daily reality: six days a week, hour upon hour in the studio, year after year. “Growing up, I never thought about what I was missing out on – friends’ parties, normal teenage life – because all I wanted was to make it,” says Swanice. “That dream was everything I could focus on.” And it was the same reality for Thiago, who left his home country at age 15, to pursue dance, “I originally wanted to become a footballer, like everyone in Brazil! But when that didn’t work out, I was introduced to ballet. When I saw the boys jump for the first time, I knew I wanted to learn how to jump like them.” 

Years of training far from home have made partnership more than a technical necessity – it’s a form of support. “I can feel when she is having a bad day,” Thiago says. “Just by the way her body moves and feels, the way she spins en pointe. Immediately, it is clear when the energy is different, and I have to adapt the way I dance to balance it out.” That sense of care was evident from the very beginning. Swanice reflects on their first meeting: “When I came to do a trial class with ENB, when I was considering moving from New York City to join the company, it was a group class. Everyone is dancing on stage at the same time, and you just have to find a spot at the barre and join in,” she says. “I was nervous and I was just stood there awkwardly, waiting to find somewhere to fit in – and Thiago saw me and gave me his spot along the barre.” 

On the second day at the ENB, we met Thiago and Swanice at the London Coliseum just a few nights after the opening night. The gruelling festive schedule was already in full swing: up to two shows a day for the next four weeks, constantly rotating casts and covers, stepping into whatever role needed filling without hesitation. For them, the Coliseum had become a second home. They moved through the labyrinth of backstage corridors with confidence: greeting stage crew by name, pointing out the details of the transformed set and proudly showing us the props that spark wonder in the audience every night. They waved warmly at the wide-eyed children from the local dance schools who join the production each year and exchanged smiles with fellow company members resting in the wings, feet iced and elevated, ribbons being painstakingly sewn into pointe shoes, or wolfing down a quick meal before the next call to rehearsal. 

As our visit drew to a close, one truth became undeniable: for dancers like Thiago and Swanice, ballet isn’t just a job, it is their world, their passion, their life. As Swanice puts it, “If I can let you taste even 10 per cent of this love, this pure bliss that I have, then that’s enough for me.”  

In that moment, it’s clear why the countless hours, sacrifices and relentless discipline are all worth it – because for them, dance is its own reward.