How did your life and profesional journey bring you from Italy to Rijeka?

I think that the life of an artist can not be static. To constantly grow, it's fundamental to have experiences and know a lot of cultures and people. So I always wanted to go abroad for a while. Moreover, unfortunately in Italy there is no job for a lot of dancers, or artists in general. I started to do auditions around Europe, and in the end, I landed in Croatia.

How are you prepering for the premiere - mentally and psihically?

Every performance we prepare is different from the ones before. That's why, it feels a bit like preparing every time from 0. We have to adapt our body to a new style and way of working. Some times it can be easy because the type of movement is closer to your own, sometimes very hard because the style and coordination is far from how you move. So we have to be ready to work physically in different ways. But ballet training remains the best way to train through the years, because it gives you mobility, strength and control. Mentally it depends usually from piece to piece. What the choreographer requests. I usually try to let the emotions guide me and not to let the brain overcome before the shows, to avoid anxiety to take over.

Regarding your personal experience, what is the biggest lesson you have learned through ballet?

I think through ballet, you learn a lot of discipline and respect for what you love. You learn as well to face pain and delusions because life in the art world is very hard. It is subjective, and you will always find people who like and appreciate you artistically and people who don't. And you have to accept it. And of course there is a lot of competition and you have to be persistent to reach your goals.

What advice would you give to a girl who is putting on ballet slippers for the first time?

I would tell her that, if she really loves it, although it is hard, she has to keep pushing and believing in her passion. Bad moments will come, but those are the ones making us grow and building us stronger.

And finally, for the last question, which Kalla bag did you choose for yourself?

I chose Kalla Nr. 7 in chocolate brown because it's elegant but in a way as well a bit casual, and I felt it closer to my personality. I like brown because it's a warm colour, not elegant as black, but that goes well with a lot of other colours (and because I like chocolate 😜).

In conversation with Isabelle Zabot, a ballet dancer

petravukelic
Aug 5
3 min read

Updated: Aug 7

Ballet is a discipline that combines artistry, athleticism and a years of hard work and dedication. I‘d like to introduce you to my dear friend Isabelle Zabot, an Italian ballerina who currently lives and dances in Rijeka, Croatia.

Isabelle is wearing Kalla floral dress in linen

1. How did your love for ballet begin and did you always want to be a ballerina? I started to dance at the age of 6, because of my mum's passion for ballet. The moment I entered my first ballet studio it was love at the first sight and I new, this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

2. How did your life and profesional journey bring you from Italy to Rijeka? I think that the life of an artist can not be static. To constantly grow, it's fundamental to have experiences and know a lot of cultures and people. So I always wanted to go abroad for a while. Moreover, unfortunately in Italy there is no job for a lot of dancers, or artists in general. I started to do auditions around Europe, and in the end, I landed in Croatia.
Isabelle in Kalla floral linen dress

3. How are you prepering for the premiere - mentally and psihically? Every performance we prepare is different from the ones before. That's why, it feels a bit like preparing every time from 0. We have to adapt our body to a new style and way of working. Some times it can be easy because the type of movement is closer to your own, sometimes very hard because the style and coordination is far from how you move. So we have to be ready to work physically in different ways. But ballet training remains the best way to train through the years, because it gives you mobility, strength and control. Mentally it depends usually from piece to piece. What the choreographer requests. I usually try to let the emotions guide me and not to let the brain overcome before the shows, to avoid anxiety to take over.

4. This year you were deservedly awarded two main roles in two ballets, premiered at the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc in Rijeka. You danced as the Little Princ in the timeless classic of the same name, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. and as Frida - an icon of mwxican painting. How did you prepared for the role of Frida? Frida's world was for me an important experience. It was my first big role in this beautiful theatre, and of course, I was feeling a lot of pressure and responsibility. Moreover, Frida is an iconic figure, and it's hard to interpret the role of a person with such a big and strong personality. Physically, it was, of course, very demanding because the piece is very long, but I think for me it was mostly emotionally hard. The choreographer was demanding a lot regarding the emotional interpretation, and I always try to bring out from me the real emotion that I need to transmit to the audience. That's why I was trying to remember and evoke in myself some emotions or personal experiences that I could put in relation with Frida's life.

Isabelle is wearing our linen set Issa and Kalla No. 7 bag in chocolate brown
5. Regarding your personal experience, what is the biggest lesson you have learned through ballet? I think through ballet, you learn a lot of discipline and respect for what you love. You learn as well to face pain and delusions because life in the art world is very hard. It is subjective, and you will always find people who like and appreciate you artistically and people who don't. And you have to accept it. And of course there is a lot of competition and you have to be persistent to reach your goals.

6. What advice would you give to a girl who is putting on ballet slippers for the first time? I would tell her that, if she really loves it, although it is hard, she has to keep pushing and believing in her passion. Bad moments will come, but those are the ones making us grow and building us stronger.
7. And finally, for the last question, which Kalla bag did you choose for yourself? I chose Kalla Nr. 7 in chocolate brown because it's elegant but in a way as well a bit casual, and I felt it closer to my personality. I like brown because it's a warm colour, not elegant as black, but that goes well with a lot of other colours (and because I like chocolate 😜).

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