Playing the flirt in The Merry Widow: On stage she feels passion. And in life, Sonia Rodriguez knows how it feels to be swept off her feet.

Copyright 1998 Southam Inc.

National Ballet dancer Sonia Rodriguez may be shy, as she was when Canadian ice skating star Kurt Browning proposed to her in a crowded arena, but on stage she feels free to express her feelings.

Dancing the second lead in the National Ballet of Canada's The Merry Widow, at the NAC this week, Rodriguez delights in the depth of the role of the Pontevedrian ambassador's young French wife.

"She likes flirting," Rodriguez says of the character of Valencienne, who battles between the love she feels for her older husband, Baron Zeta, and the passion she feels for the French attache, Camille de Rosillon.

"It is a fun role. There is lots to work with. Although she is a shallow person, the role is quite deep because of the many emotions she goes through."

Rodriguez, who was born in Toronto and raised in Spain, has had her own share of emotions since her June, 1996, marriage to Browning. She admits she was embarrassed when Browning proposed during a question-and-answer period after a Stars on Ice show in Toronto in April, 1995.

"Kurt was entertaining the audience. One of the questions was, 'Are you married?' He said, 'No.' Then he got on his knees and proposed to me right there. The spotlight was one me, I bowed, but I thought, 'What is he doing? It is not very funny.' Then he picked me up and glided away with me. It wasn't planned at all."

She says life with a Canadian superstar is "more public" than she would like but, after the initial shock of spending five months of the year apart, they have learned to make their time together quality time.

In spite of the fact that the two have blossoming careers -- Rodriguez was promoted by National Ballet artistic director James Kudelka to first soloist last August -- she believes it is fortunate that both she and Browning face the same kind of rehearsing and performing schedules.

"When I get home, I can share something with him and know he will understand, " says Rodriguez, who shared the lead role in The Red Shoes dance that was part of last year's Karen Kain Farewell Tour.

For The Merry Widow, she will dance the role of Valencienne Friday night, opposite Ryan Boorne as Camille. Tomorrow night, the lovers are played by Stacy Shiori Minagawa and Jeremy Ransom; on Thursday by Je-an Salas and Richard Landry.

Hungarian composer Franz Lehar first presented The Merry Widow as an operetta in Vienna in 1905. The first ballet version was created by Ruth Page in 1953, and premiered in Manchester, England. Choreographer Ronald Hynd's production was first performed by the Australian Ballet in Melbourne in 1975.

The only other companies which have acquired Hynd's three-act ballet are American Ballet Theatre, Vienna State Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada, which gave its Canadian premiere of The Merry Widow at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre in November, 1986, featuring Kain in the main role.

The story takes place in Paris in 1905. The fate of the proud and impoverished imaginary Balkan country of Pontevedro hangs dangerously on the marriage plans of the rich and beautiful widow, Hanna Glawari. To save her homeland from financial ruin, she must be coaxed into marrying a fellow Pontevedrian.

The "merry widow" in the ballet represents not only physical beauty but also the heights of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the last century. Pontevedro represents the decadence and corruption of the empire, grasping for position in its crumbling world. The ballet's political intrigue is fused with the characters' licentious and comical adventures, under the themes of romance, courtship and adultery.

The part of Hanna will be danced by Greta Hodgkinson tomorrow, Martine Lamy on Thursday, and Ottawa native Jennifer Fournier on Friday. Her prospective suitor, Danilo, will be portrayed by Anthony Randazzo tomorrow, William Marrie on Thursday, and Rex Harrington on Friday.

The set and costumes for this story of love and intrigue, created by the late Australian dancer/choreographer/director Robert Helpmann, have been prepared for this production by Desmond Heeley, known around the world for his theatre, opera and dance designs.