From the Beginning till the End: an interview with Josephine Ann Endicott

Abstract

Marcelo de Andrade Pereira-Why did you choose to be a dancer? Josephine Ann Endicott-I never chose or wanted to be a dancer. It seems it choose me. I just loved to dance and I was born with this amazing gift. As a child I cried a lot. My two brothers were continually pestering me. My mother and father quarrelled often. At the age of 7 my mother took me to a ballet school in one of the suburbs close to home. The movements both physically, rhythmically and mentally came easily to me. Taking class made me happy. I know it sounds like a fairy tale but truly it was like this-I stopped crying! Marcelo de Andrade Pereira-For how long did you study dance before meeting Pina and entered the company? How was your training? Did you dance with any other company before? Josephine Ann Endicott-At the age of 15 years my teachers sent me off to an audition for the most known School in Australia. The Australian Ballet School. I was chosen as one of the best 8 girls throughout the entire country. The School was based in Melbourne. I was very sad to have to leave my home in Sydney, my mother, father, brothers and friends. It took me ages to adjust. I knew no-one in Melbourne and felt very lonely. My training was basically classical-R.A.D. but it included lessons in Modern, Music, Mime, Jazz, Character, Choreology and Pas-des-Deux. I loved to be in Tu-Tu, pink tights and pink satin pointe shoes. After a period of 2 years at School the best two to three girls and boys were then selected to enter The Australian Ballet Company. I happened to be one of them but after 4 years I left the Australian Ballet Company and flew to London. I was tired of being told what a wonderful, highly talented dancer I was but that my face was too round and if I couldn't have some teeth extracted so my face would look smaller and perhaps loose 2 or 3 kilos. Anyway! The life of a dancer is/was never easy for the majority of us I would say. Marcelo de Andrade Pereira-Could you tell us a little about starting to work with Pina? How did you meet her? Where? When? Josephine Ann Endicott-I first met Pina Bausch in 1973 at the Dance Center London I was 23 years old. Pina 34 years. Pina had just been appointed Director of the Wuppertal Ballet and was searching for dancers.