David Alvarez & Taïs Vinolo Leap Into ‘Étoile’ After Dance Hiatus
Étoile premieres on Prime Video on Thursday, April 24. The story follows two renowned ballet companies — one in New York, the other in Paris — hoping to save their livelihoods by trading their most talented stars. The premise is no different than a sports team’s annual draft, a concept that’s foreign to dance.
Story and Interview By Kristyn Burtt for Inside Dance magazine
It’s been 12 years since Bunheads delighted ABC Family fans with tales of a Las Vegas showgirl landing in a small-town dance studio. The series had dedicated fans, but it only lasted one season. The good news is that creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino weren’t done with ballet, they had another tale to tell.
Hot off their five-season run on Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the duo is back on the streaming network with Étoile which means “star” in French. The story follows two renowned ballet companies — one in New York, the other in Paris — hoping to save their livelihoods by trading their most talented stars. The premise is no different than a sports team’s annual draft, a concept that’s foreign to dance.
Two of the stars of the series, David Alvarez, the Tony Award-winning actor for sharing the title role of Billy Elliot on Broadway, and Taïs Vinolo, a French ballerina formerly of the National Ballet of Canada, play key roles in the show.
Alvarez is Gael Rodriguez, a dancer who returns to his former company to partner with a temperamental ballerina. Vinolo is Mishi Duplessis, a sheltered ballet dancer who gets shipped back to her old company in Paris after finding comfort in New York City.
Coincidentally, they both scored their roles on Étoile after a hiatus in dance. Vinolo was nursing an injury and “was not really doing anything at the time” when casting director Cindy Dolan reached out to her about the opportunity.
“I was like, ‘Oh, like that’s a challenge. That could be fun,'” she tells Inside Dance. ‘And this is how I got the role, and yeah, here I am today.”
Alvarez’s pause from dance was entirely his decision. He’s jumped in and out of the industry to join the U.S. Army and play Isaac English in the TV series, American Rust. He’s had to get himself back into dance shape several times, most notably for Stephen Spielberg’s West Side Story as Bernardo and of course, Étoile.
“It was a year-long preparation for me, taking dance classes pretty much every day, prepping my body, getting my body to be flexible again, doing the splits, all that jazz, which is not fun, especially as you get older and your muscles tighten, your ligaments are tighter,” Alvarez admits. He focused on “turns and jumps and partnering” and was grateful he didn’t have to be en pointe like female dancers because “it’s such a delicate thing to do.”
Working with an Emmy Award-winning choreographer Marguerite Derricks was also a dream for the duo because of the “collaborative” process.
“We all have very different body types, and something might not look good on someone, and it can look good on another person,” Vinolo explains. “So, I really like how open she is to make those changes and listen to us.”
Alvarez agrees, praising Derricks, “She’s very thoughtful with her dancers and she wants to make sure not only that she’s creating something beautiful for the show, but that the dancers, who are presenting this, look good doing it. It’s a beautiful experience to work with her.”
The fast pace of television was also dramatically different from their history of working with a ballet company or on a Broadway show. There was often rehearsal going on with one group of dancers while another group was filming because the show takes place in New York City and Paris. It was a “big challenge” for them both.
“We would have to miss some of the rehearsals,” recalls Vinolo. “I remember being sent some videos because there would be changes in the choreography. On set, I would need to navigate through learning the choreography for the next day to get ready.”
“As soon as you feel like you have it down, it’s pretty much time to shoot it,” Alvarez adds.
With eight episodes under their belts, Alavarez teases that Étoile captures the “immense drama behind the curtains” at a ballet company. The dancers are holding their breath for an already promised second season and a chance to shine on that stage once more.
Étoile premieres on Prime Video on Thursday, April 24.
Photo and Video Credits: Prime Video/ Étoile
