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Ballet dancer Chase Finlay talks about his return to NYCB

NYCB principal Chase Finlay discusses his injury and recovery

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Chase Finlay has been a dancer to watch since his School of American Ballet workshop performances. After entering SAB in 2007, Finlay made a meteoric rise through the company, from apprentice (2008) to corps member (2009) to soloist (2011) to principal (2013). And then—of course—at the peak of his career, he broke his foot and had to stop. Now, back again after months of recovery, Finlay talks about NYCB's fall season at Lincoln Center and why he's poised to be better than ever.

I wasn't at the performance when you were injured. What happened?
It was my very first show of the fall season, Swan Lake. I was doing the pas de quatre, and I came out-it was during the opening section-and there's this one little section where I jump around the side and do a figure eight through the girls; I just did one jump traveling backward and came down on the side of my foot, and it was the loudest...[Shudders]. It was gross. I could hear it. I didn't want to believe it at first. When you twist your ankle, it just feels weak for a while, so I tried to make myself stay calm. I had so much adrenaline running from the show anyway. I was like, You just twisted your ankle and it'll be fine. I kept jumping and it was okay, but the weakness never went away, and it started to become more painful, but I finished the first section and walked offstage and all the ballet masters were backstage already: They were all sitting in the audience and they heard it. It sounded like a tree branch snapping. Everyone thought that I kicked the scenery because it was so loud. I said, "I went over on my foot-I don't know." They cut the solo, but I went out there in the finale. By the time that came around, my foot was like [He shapes his hands like a balloon to show how swollen it was.]


What did you do in the finale? 
I made up my own choreography! [Laughs] Peter [Martins, the company's ballet master in chief] said, "Just do whatever it takes, we need someone to go out there and finish it." So I did a bunch of chaînés and jumps off my right foot landing on my right foot, and then there's that one part with the à la seconde turns, so I did my very first à la seconde turns to the left. It was actually better than to the right. [Laughs] It helped me be a little ambidextrous if anything. But it was not a very great night at all. I had to cut my tights off. My foot was so swollen I couldn't move it. I went up to the therapy room and then got an X-ray, and it was a Jones fracture in the fifth metatarsal. It's a place in the bone where the blood flow doesn't fully get to, so it's the worst place to break it. I was taken into surgery another two days after that, and they put a screw in the bone to hold it together. They told me that they could just put it in a cast, but sometimes these fractures don't fully mend, so they drilled it together and I healed it in physical therapy. 

What was your immediate recovery like? 
I went home to my parents' house in Connecticut. I was there for a good week after surgery just because I couldn't even move. I was on my back. My mom took care of me a little bit, which was nice. Once I started to be able to really get up on my crutches and move around a little bit better, I came back to New York. I couldn't do anything for a while. I couldn't put weight on it at all for a good four weeks. I was pretty landlocked. 

What did you do?
I kept myself busy. I watched lots of series on TV: Breaking Bad. Game of Thrones. True Detective. 

Thank God for HBO. 
Right? [Laughs] Once that passed, I got my hard cast off, which was the reason I couldn't put weight on it. I was put into a boot where I could put partial weight on it, but with crutches, and that's where I slowly started physical therapy. It wasn't about strengthening at all; it was getting the mobilization back, because it had been locked in one place for a month and after being cut open and [inserted with] metal, it was so stiff. There was no range of motion in my foot at all. It was locked in one spot. As a dancer, that's something you have to get past. The hardest thing was it felt like all the muscles were just frozen. It was me sitting at home and taking the boot off every once in a while and mobilizing the ankle a little bit and starting to get that very first range of motion in. It was weirdly painful because everything was so stuck. It was like stretching your whole body all over again, but in your ankle. Another two weeks passed, I could start walking with the boot on. That was another four weeks. It was a long time. It was eight to ten weeks and then physical therapy, physical therapy, physical therapy. I was there all day, every day and taking little baby ballet classes. I went back to my school, Ballet Academy East, and took classes from Darla [Hoover], because the structured training that she has is the best to come back to. I took class with eight-year-olds. 

How humbling is that? 
It's what you need sometimes. These injuries, they suck. But you learn so much about your body. I feel like now I have a really good regimen on what I need for myself, between physical and nutrition.

What did you change? 
It's not that I didn't know how to eat and exercise, it's just now I know very specific things. I do Pilates about twice a week. I've started to do yoga classes at the end of the day-restorative yoga. I have very loose ligaments, so I need to constantly tighten them, but then I get to certain days where there's so much lactic acid built up in my muscles from exercising that I just need to breathe and stretch a little bit. And because of the foot thing-because the first exercise I could do was walking in the pool and remembering how to walk again, really-it made me realize that swimming is one of the best things that you can do for full body and cardio. I've been swimming a lot and doing a lot more weight lifting. I'm at the gym any time I'm not at rehearsal. But for foot stuff, it's mostly just TheraBand work. Knock on wood, but I haven't had a back spasm or any problems with my body since I've come back, other than just weakness in the foot. I think I've really found a routine.

You also mentioned nutrition?
Of course, there are going to be football Sundays where I'm going to have burgers and fries. For a while I would have a night where I'd eat something crappy and then the whole next day be like, Oh, I feel so gross, I don't want to eat. And then I'd get to the nighttime and I'd be ravenous, and end up eating junk. Now I tend to eat more often throughout the day actually, but low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, dark vegetables. I always have those KIND bars or Clif Bars with me. Greek yogurt. Just lots of good protein. I usually do smoothies with blueberry, banana, kale, almond milk and protein powder. It's about never letting yourself go hungry to that point.

Dancers join this company when they're so young. Isn't it also a matter of learning how to take care of yourself?

Exactly. I'm 24 now. I was 18 when I got here.

Why is Darla's way of teaching so beneficial?

One, she's just so hands-on. She's really good at vocalizing the way that steps should be done and correct body placement. As opposed to going to an open class somewhere and someone just saying, "Do the steps." It's great because, at this point now, when I'm healthy and dancing, I can go somewhere like that and take a class and it'll be fine, but when you haven't taken class for eight to ten weeks, you start to forget some of those things that your body just remembers day to day. It's just that muscle memory. You need to be reminded. 

Did those eight-year-olds know who you were? 

Yeah. [Laughs] They all freaked out when I walked in. I'm one of the few dancers [at NYCB] who started there. I was homebred from BAE. It was cool and, yes, it's really humbling, but fun. I remember being a kid and having Jon Stafford and Adam Hendrickson come in. I was blown away, and it makes you work that much harder. Actually, there's this one little boy at BAE who's super talented. I stood next to him every day at class. He was a lot better than I was. He's probably ten. 

When could you begin to increase your physicality?

I really started physical therapy when I was doing full walking in the boot, and that was probably for two weeks; then I got the boot completely off sometime in the spring. I was lucky. Most of the winter was spent inside for me. It was a dark winter. [Laughs] That's when I started classes at Ballet Academy East-three days a week and then physical therapy every single day. In the spring, I took my first company class, and I probably wasn't fully ready, but I just did barre, and it was a nice way to feel like I was still around. It's all a blur. 

Did you watch the company perform? 

I did. I usually tried not to see the stuff that I was missing out on. I want to support everybody, but it's just hard to see the stuff that you should have been doing. I went to a show where I was supposed to have danced two of the ballets that night and I was like, Why did I do that to myself? [Laughs] You have to stay in it. You can't completely become disconnected. In a way, it was refreshing to get out. Now my urge, my want, my love for what I do is so much stronger. But I attended a fair amount of shows. I wasn't there every night, but I probably went once or twice a week. 

Have you continued at BAE? 

If I ever have time, but no. I don't have time anymore. I do teach classes there; whenever they need a sub, I'll go over and teach the kids. 

When did you start full-time here? 

I started during the rehearsal period for Washington D.C. I did Christopher Wheeldon's Soirée Musicale.

How did you feel?
Actually, I felt pretty good. My foot was still weak, so that was scary. That was the hardest thing-the fear of going out and doing big jumps again. Every time I would do a jump, I'd look down before I landed just because I never wanted to experience that sound and that feeling ever again. It's kind of like jumping back on the horse after you get bucked off. I had such a high sense of fear of reinjuring myself; spending that much time offstage was scary. But in that ballet, there's not a solo for the male, so it's mostly partnering and group dancing. It was nice for me to get a sense of being back onstage before coming back to New York and having some harder things to do. But you know what? I actually knew I wasn't as strong as I was when I went out-when I broke my foot, I was probably in the best shape I'd ever been in. I was coming from Vail, where I worked with Damian Woetzel and Heather Watts, and I was dancing a lot. So I didn't quite feel as strong, but the stage, at my place in my career, is like my home, really. I'll go out there and feel more comfortable sometimes than I do in regular life. I can express more. 

Do you feel like you don't have any inhibitions?
Yeah. I feel powerful almost. That came back right away. The self-conscious part was just not knowing if my foot was going to be under me or not or be able to brace my landings. For a while it was taking off that was okay, but every time I would land it was weak. Floppy. There are so many tiny little muscles that work to catch yourself if you're slightly off. That's what took the longest. Even now sometimes I'll be up on relevé and be like, Oops-okay, I have to really focus now. It will be a year next week.

Did you perform over the summer? 
Yes. I went to Vail again, and I did Giselle with [girlfriend] Lauren Lovette and Sleeping Beauty with Misa Kuranaga from Boston Ballet and a newly choreographed piece by Brian Brooks. It was myself, Joe Gordon, Zach Catazaro and Carla Körbes from PNB. The altitude there is really tough. It's so hard to breathe. I feel like that really got me in great shape again to come back for the season. I have Apollo, Duo, Mozartiana. Interplay. I'm learningLa Sonnambula, but I think Wendy Whelan's doing them all, so they just want to keep it to one cast, but hopefully in the future. I'm learning that with Sterling [Hyltin]. Morgen. I'm not in any of the new ballets. 

Is that good or bad? 
I think it's a good thing for right now. You always want the appreciation of choreographers coming in wanting you to dance, but coming back for my first season and dancing the number of ballets that I'm dancing, I think it's good. It's so time-consuming for the new ballets. There are so many hours spent standing on your feet that, just for health reasons, I think it's better to bite the bullet and not be upset about it. But I want to be in new ballets! [Laughs]

What is your approach post-injury? 
It's kind of like doing it for the first time again, and it's been a while since I've done any of these ballets. Apollo hasn't gone in two years. Mozartiana hasn't gone in a year and a half. Duo is the most recent, but I missed it because of my injury. It's kind of starting from square one again, like how I did when I premiered all of these ballets. Just going in and having a fresh look at all of them: relearning the steps, number one. Learning how to make them technically precise, two. And three, breaking them down and learning how to put my personality and character into each of them. 

Do you spend a lot of time on that by yourself? 
The other night, I had an Apollo rehearsal from 6 to 7pm. No ballet master came, so I was just in there alone with the pianist. I could have the pianist play one little section and do three steps and then stop and go back and do it and tweak the step a little bit-not necessarily what the movement is, but how it's done and what kind of emotion I put behind it, what the timing is. I'd do that over and over and over for each section of the ballet until it's something that I think is appealing. Hopefully, the audience thinks it is, too. But I think I have a pretty good sense. I see myself in the mirror every day; I know what looks good on my body, and what looks good on my body may not look good on somebody else's body, so I spend a lot of time on little differences, like taking a lunge and having my standing leg be turned in or turned out-just something as small as that. How I put the lute down in Apollo. At one point he puts the lute down and he looks up to the corner before he starts that piqué step. Sometimes guys will put it down and make it a slow head turn, but I've been trying to do it a little faster and then go into it, just to show the youthfulness of Apollo and how he is curious and something grabs his attention. Lauren and I just got a puppy, five months old, and I've been looking at the dog's characteristics; something that catches her attention-she'll be so into something, and then, what? I take that youthful curiosity, and I'm trying to put that a little bit into the first section of Apollo when he's still a child. And Duo-a lot more playfulness, as opposed to being so serious. Mozartiana is about making it playful within myself. There are a lot of leg brushes and small little coupés, and instead of looking out at the audience, I'm starting to look down and use my shoulders a little bit more. 

To make it a little jazzier even?
Yeah. A little jazzier, a little more playful. Something different than the person before did. 

What about Interplay
When I did it, I think I was 18 or 19. Now I'm the oldest one in the cast.

Welcome to New York City Ballet. 
[Laughs] I turned 24 and I feel like an old man. The character has changed a little bit. I'm not so shy and boyish, but more just the cooler guy. In the pas de deux-that attraction between the blue boy and the pink girl-I'm trying to be the one to warm her up, as opposed to being that shy, nerdy kid. I guess that comes with growing up and having more maturity and guts myself. I think because I'm the oldest one in the cast, I feel more confident going into it.
Are you looking forward to Apollo or does it intimidate you because you were so heralded in your debut performances?
Oh, I'm looking forward to getting back out there again. It's intimidating in the sense of how much hype I got for it when I first did it and having to live up to that, but if they thought it was good the first time and I still have room to grow in it...I didn't think I was done the first time I did it. Hopefully, it'll get the same response, and if it doesn't, who cares? It's my absolute favorite dream role that I have gotten to do, so if people don't like it, it sucks, but it's what I've been dreaming to do. I've been out for so long. I'm back, doing what I love doing, and it doesn't really matter to me. It's such a high doing that ballet. Before the curtain comes up, the whole overture is playing. You're the only person onstage; you have the lute in your hand, you're looking around the big blue backdrop, and I get chills even just thinking about it. I can't wait to dance it again. I think I'll be able to obtain the more adult side of Apollo this time, a little stronger. 

Who do you like dancing with?
I love dancing with so many different girls in so many different ways. It makes me a better dancer having to be versatile. I mean, really just as long as it's somebody who is enthusiastic about being there in that rehearsal at that time, it doesn't really matter who it is or how good they are; if they're willing to work and make things better alongside me, that's all I really care about. And a sense of humor always helps. I'm that kind of middle size, so I dance with Lauren and Sterling and Megan Fairchild a lot, but right now I'm dancing with Sara Mearns and Maria Kowroski too, and I can't say who I like the best because they're all different. They're all the best. [Laughs] It's hard to pick when you're dancing with those kinds of girls. There are ups and downs about me being that versatile size, but just as long as they're willing to help, that's all I care about. 

So many dancers are retiring younger. You're only 24, but do you think about that? 

I think everyone has their own path. It depends on how many injuries they've had. For me, the more injuries I have, that's time I want to make up at the end. I'm not even close to retiring, but when I start sucking, when my body literally won't do what I ask of it, and I can see it-I don't want to get to that age where I'm totally broken down. 

Like when you can get onstage, but you can't really walk? 
Right. I still want to have a retirement performance where I do Apollo, or where I do things like that and actually look like I'm still somewhat at my peak. Everybody's different and you monitor it as you go through your career. Right now I'm still so focused on what can I learn, not when is this going to be over? I hope to do as many ballets as I can to perfection. You can't say you'll do it better than anybody else, because everybody has an opinion of how they like things to be done, but I want to do each part the best that I can possibly do it and then once I do all the parts I want to do at the best that I can do them, I'll hold on to that for a while and pass it on. 

Is this company a good fit for you?
I think so. I love the variety of ballets that we do. I used to see myself as a purely classical dancer, but going out and doing Duo or something a little bit more jazzy and dancey-when I was a kid, I never thought I'd be doing that kind of stuff, but to do that kind of movement but still stick to my true roots, like have that classical look, but dance in that variety, I just love that. It makes you more of a hybrid-type dancer, and that's what I think I've become. 

How were you promoted to principal? 

It was actually during Sleeping Beauty. I was doing Gold, and I had one of the worst shows I've ever had in my life. It was one of those weird days that nothing worked. I was just really tired or something, but my turns were off, my jumps were off. I finished with a single turn with half a tour down to the wrong knee. It was embarrassing. I was running offstage. My friend was in the audience, and he said that even before I got off, I was like [Deflated]. I started pouting. So I was so embarrassed and the next day I got a call from Peter Martins's assistant saying that Peter wanted to have a meeting with me. I was like, Oh shit. I'm in the doghouse. But I walked in and he told me that I'd really been improving and working hard, and everything they'd been throwing at me I'd been doing to their satisfaction, and that he wanted me to be a principal. I was out of that office so fast! I was like, Okay! I didn't give him any time. [Laughs] It was such a shock. I called my mom and dad right away, and then I called Darla. They were having a show for Ballet Academy East, and at intermission I showed up and she made the announcement and I walked out onstage. It was fun. Getting promoted was definitely not expected. It wasn't like getting promoted to soloist. I'd just done Apollo and he came up to me afterward; I had been doing principal parts, but I don't think you ever expect to get promoted to principal. Maybe some people do. But I would never. 

Did you feel differently or have a different approach with that title? 
Nothing changed at all. I guess there was a little bit more confidence in my dancing? But very slim. I don't really look at titles as a big part of a company member. It's what they dance and how they dance it that makes them a principal.

New York City Ballet is at the David H. Koch Theater (at Lincoln Center) through Oct 19.

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