After 8 years in the same company I needed a break. I auditioned to Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and got a job! For one year I danced in that amazingly beautiful place with mountains and the sea with amazingly beautiful people around me. The place suited me and I was suited to the place. I got to dance good parts and I had good friends. Still after my first year I decided to move back.
Katariina Edling
Dancer & ArtistI was very lucky. My ballet teacher was also a very creative choreographer. Parallel with the ballet school she ran a small dance company. At nine years I got a little part in one of her ballets. I spend time with real dancers and learned about the life in theatre, behind the scenes. It wasn’t only a dance on roses, but also tears and pain. And hard work. For us, the students, my teacher choreographed small dances we performed in different events and competitions around my hometown and elsewhere in Finland. The spring term was always finished by a bigger performance for the whole ballet school. I loved being on stage. Especially when I got a leading part! But to become a professional dancer I needed more.
16 years old, I moved to Stockholm to study ballet in the Royal Swedish Ballet School. I didn’t only move from my family and friends, changed language and school, but I also fell from being a star in my ballet school to become ”the girl with talent but no technique”. I can’t deny, it was tough. But I never regretted moving to Stockholm. At the beginning of my third year in high school I got a little payback from my work as I was chosen to follow the Royal Swedish Ballet on tour to Brazil with Swan lake.
After my graduation I got a job as a dancer in Estonia Teatri. Though it was a great experience to work there, the salary wasn’t enough to pay the bills and I missed my friends too badly. After two months I decided to quit and move back to Stockholm. Life as unemployed is not easy, and for a dancer it might be even a little worse. The career is so short and you have to keep on training even if the motivation is down to even have a slightest chance to get a job. I gave myself a year. If I didn’t get a job during that time I would change direction and become something else. In the end of that year I luckily got a role in a small dance project and for the following year I got a full year engagement with the Finnish National Ballet. Ok, finally I could call myself a professional dancer!
After two years in the Finnish National Ballet I got an engagement with the Royal Swedish Ballet. My dream came true! My career took also a jump forward. I got to dance small solo parts that lead to little bigger solo parts and then even bigger solo parts. Every now and then I even got to dance a leading role in a ballet. What I learned to like the most was to dance with a partner. Especially a good one. You can feel a special kind of energy when you dance together as a couple, lifting each other up in the performance.
After 8 years in the same company I needed a break. I auditioned to Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and got a job! For one year I danced in that amazingly beautiful place with mountains and the sea with amazingly beautiful people around me. The place suited me and I was suited to the place. I got to dance good parts and I had good friends. Still after my first year I decided to move back.
I moved back to Stockholm to live together with my husband. I continued dancing at the Royal Swedish Ballet. My first real break from dancing came with pregnancy. I gave birth to a little baby girl, couple of years later to another and two years later to one more. In between I always came back to dancing, my first love.
I retired from my work as a dancer in the Royal Swedish Ballet in January 2018. I’ve had a good and long career. I’ve worked hard. I’ve had good times and I’ve had bad times. I’ve laughed and I’ve cried. But it was time to move on. I have a small pilates studio, I give massage and last but not least, I have a familly to take care of. But I’m not ready to give up dancing just yet. I still have things to give. And that’s why SolistE was born.
Katariina Edling
Dancer & ArtistI was very lucky. My ballet teacher was also a very creative choreographer. Parallel with the ballet school she ran a small dance company. At nine years I got a little part in one of her ballets. I spend time with real dancers and learned about the life in theatre, behind the scenes. It wasn’t only a dance on roses, but also tears and pain. And hard work. For us, the students, my teacher choreographed small dances we performed in different events and competitions around my hometown and elsewhere in Finland. The spring term was always finished by a bigger performance for the whole ballet school. I loved being on stage. Especially when I got a leading part! But to become a professional dancer I needed more.
16 years old, I moved to Stockholm to study ballet in the Royal Swedish Ballet School. I didn’t only move from my family and friends, changed language and school, but I also fell from being a star in my ballet school to become ”the girl with talent but no technique”. I can’t deny, it was tough. But I never regretted moving to Stockholm. At the beginning of my third year in high school I got a little payback from my work as I was chosen to follow the Royal Swedish Ballet on tour to Brazil with Swan lake.
After my graduation I got a job as a dancer in Estonia Teatri. Though it was a great experience to work there, the salary wasn’t enough to pay the bills and I missed my friends too badly. After two months I decided to quit and move back to Stockholm. Life as unemployed is not easy, and for a dancer it might be even a little worse. The career is so short and you have to keep on training even if the motivation is down to even have a slightest chance to get a job. I gave myself a year. If I didn’t get a job during that time I would change direction and become something else. In the end of that year I luckily got a role in a small dance project and for the following year I got a full year engagement with the Finnish National Ballet. Ok, finally I could call myself a professional dancer!
After two years in the Finnish National Ballet I got an engagement with the Royal Swedish Ballet. My dream came true! My career took also a jump forward. I got to dance small solo parts that lead to little bigger solo parts and then even bigger solo parts. Every now and then I even got to dance a leading role in a ballet. What I learned to like the most was to dance with a partner. Especially a good one. You can feel a special kind of energy when you dance together as a couple, lifting each other up in the performance.
After 8 years in the same company I needed a break. I auditioned to Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and got a job! For one year I danced in that amazingly beautiful place with mountains and the sea with amazingly beautiful people around me. The place suited me and I was suited to the place. I got to dance good parts and I had good friends. Still after my first year I decided to move back.
I moved back to Stockholm to live together with my husband. I continued dancing at the Royal Swedish Ballet. My first real break from dancing came with pregnancy. I gave birth to a little baby girl, couple of years later to another and two years later to one more. In between I always came back to dancing, my first love.
I retired from my work as a dancer in the Royal Swedish Ballet in January 2018. I’ve had a good and long career. I’ve worked hard. I’ve had good times and I’ve had bad times. I’ve laughed and I’ve cried. But it was time to move on. I have a small pilates studio, I give massage and last but not least, I have a familly to take care of. But I’m not ready to give up dancing just yet. I still have things to give. And that’s why SolistE was born.