Couples to Remember – Winnipeg Free Press

Many couples have found love at the barre at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Studios over the years.

Sometimes these relationship states remain dormant; other times they go public. Last season, former RWB principal dancer Yue Shi popped the question to then principal dancer Chenxing Liu on stage during the performance's final bow. Nutcracker.

This mating bias makes sense. Many dancers move to Winnipeg on their own to pursue a ballet career, and their social circle consists primarily of fellow students or company members. It's clear that these couples share a passion for dance, but they also understand the sacrifices that are necessary to pursue that passion at the level it demands in every way.

Ahead of Rudy van Danzig's performances this week Romeo and Juliet — an RWB production and one of the most romantic ballets in the company's repertoire — Free press Unlike Shakespeare's timeless tale of star-crossed lovers, RWB shares two love stories with a much more happily ever after.

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Second soloists – and six months ago husband and wife – 26-year-old Liam Saito and Katie Simpson grew up on opposite sides of the continent. He was born in Washington, DC; he is from Cranbrook, BC

But they share a formative experience. The first professional ballet they both saw was a performance by the American Ballet Theater Romeo and Juliet in New York City; this made them both want to become professional dancers.

The couple met as students in the professional department of the RWB school. Simpson came to Winnipeg at age 11 to study ballet; Saito arrived a few years later. They started dating in the 2014-15 academic year when they auditioned for the same piece.

“We spent a lot of time in the studio talking, not actively dancing,” Saito says with a laugh. “And that probably distracted him a bit.”

It was a huge relief for the newlyweds that they both landed at RWB after graduating from the Anna McCowan-Johnson Postgraduate Program.

“It's hard to get a job with one company—there's only one company in town, and ballet can take you all over the world,” says Simpson.

“It's very competitive,” adds Saito. “We're lucky to find work anywhere, but especially both in the same place.”

Saito popped the question at a cabin in Onanol in the summer of 2021, where he and Simpson took their chihuahua Azuki for a walk so their friends could secretly throw a surprise party.

“We got back to the cabin and I suggested standing outside,” Saito says. “He said yes, we were really happy, and then we looked down and realized our dog was gone.”

“It's very competitive. We're lucky to find work anywhere, but especially both in one place.”– Liam Saito

Azuki, all seven pounds of him, was somewhere in the woods.

“He likes attention, so we think he did it on purpose,” says Simpson. “We went from emotional happy crying to hysterical crying.”

In the end, Azuki sat at the end of the road, waiting to move on, and Saito and Simpson got married last summer.

Maintaining a work-life balance can be difficult when working with a partner. “We spend a lot of time together,” says Simpson.

But because of their height difference—Simpson is on the taller side for women and Saito is on the shorter side for men—they often don't work together.

“But I think it's for the best, maybe,” Simpson says. “We both have very strong personalities, so I think we help each other from afar rather than criticize each other. I think we enjoy watching each other succeed.”

According to Simpson, he is one of the two. “I give Liam a lot of corrections,” she says with a laugh.

“I think we help each other from afar rather than criticize each other”-Kathy Simpson

“I think Katie is already criticizing herself; I don't need to play this role,” added Saito.

Having a partner who understands the ballet life on a cellular level is not a simple thing for them.

“It comes with a lot of sacrifices and a lot of highs and lows,” Simpson says. “And it's hard to explain these low conditions to people who don't understand the physical toll or the mental toll of the work environment and job demands.

“—things like injuries,” Saito finished. “Both of us were seriously injured before.

“We can empathize with each other because we understand each other deeply, and work is a big part of our lives and identities,” says Saito. “It's really special to have someone who doesn't have to explain everything to us.”

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When Stephan Leonard joined RWB as a soloist in 1998, partner dancer Vanessa Lawson (now Leonard) immediately noticed him.

“I was very attracted to a young, charming man from Montreal who seemed very exotic,” she says.

Stefan, 56, now RWB school principal, and Vanessa, 46, now director of the candidate program, will have been married for 20 years this August, but they still remember their first date.

“I was a terrible cook at the time, and I didn't know it,” says Vanessa. “I don't know why I decided to do this, but I decided to invite him to dinner at my apartment.”

Vanessa had a recipe book her mother had given her and made a pork roast that looked easy. He called her at 7 p.m.; she suggested 6pm so she could be with him while she cooked.

“Obviously, I'm nervous because I have to read this recipe and do the deal and try to talk and feel cute all at the same time,” she says. “Anyway, it was an accident. I think I overcooked the pork. It was so chewy. It was like a boil. It was terrifying. I don't know why we met after that.”

They married four years later in Fort Gibraltar. Stefan proposed with a ring he bought in Greece, where he took the stage. Romeo and Juliet Dedicated to the Greek National Opera and Ballet. Now they have an eight-year-old daughter.

“And her name is Juliet,” Stefan says, standing up.

“No it isn't.” Vanessa immediately sets the record straight, which makes her husband laugh. (It's actually Veronique.)

Although Vanessa and Stefan's dance careers are not as disparate as Simpson's and Saito's, they are often not paired together due to their height difference. “And Vanessa quickly moved up to principal dancer (the highest rank in the company), so I was out of the game,” Stefan says with a laugh.

“It's really fun to connect with someone on that level, who really understands why they're so important to you and why they move you as a person.”– Vanessa Leonard

“You've been my father as a character artist many times,” says Vanessa. Lord Capulet to Juliet instead of his Romeo.

Stefan laughs. “I'm a little older than Vanessa. At the end of my dancing career, I played character roles.”

Since retiring from dancing, both have established subsequent careers in the RWB organization, which has taken them all over the building since then, but they've never worked with each other.

“Most of the time we don't see each other during the day, and I think it's a good thing that we don't spend 100 percent of our time together,” says Vanessa. “That's what happened in our career here. We both worked in different fields, but never side by side, we always work.”

However, a lifelong passion for ballet is something they will always share. Early in her relationship with Stefan, Vanessa remembers walking downtown and having an animated discussion about the French choreographer Maurice Béjart.

“It just energized him,” he says. “It's really fun to connect with someone on that level, who really understands why it's so important to you and why it moves you as a person.”

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