Murilo Gabriel is one of those iconic characters who through his talent and charisma quickly becomes the protagonist of his story. A professional dancer, the young man recently raised his career internationally and in a few months is already considered one of the great names of Staatsballett Berlin.
The trajectory
He comes from Paraná and started his career at age 3 while still living in Maringá, his hometown, with his twin brother Moacir Emanuel. At the age of 5, his family decided to move to Curitiba, where they continued their training and perfected their techniques.
The perfection of the performances and the excellent conduct of Murilo attracted the attention of the Bolshoi Theater School in Brazil, which hosted him between 2003 and 2007. The theater, founded in 2000, is the only foreign extension of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater and has as its mission to train citizen-artists, promote and disseminate art education.
When he turned 15, Murilo moved to Rio de Janeiro to work at the Brazilian Company of Ballet. Cia is world renowned for the highest level of artistic production and undoubtedly contributed a great deal to the personal and professional growth of the Brazilian artist.
The last professional experience that Murilo had before coming to Germany was working at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro. For seven consecutive years he devoted himself to ballet in Brazil until the opportunity for an audition in Berlin.
One chance
In a crisis scenario, the State of Rio de Janeiro suspended the salary of countless Municipal Theater artists, including Murilo. As much as the dancer had a passion for his work and profession in Brazil, it was unfeasible to continue in this situation. The accounts began to accumulate and this whole scenario left him extremely worried, especially with the future of his career as a dancer.
His brother, who has a similar career trajectory, got a seat at Stuttgarter Ballett in June 2017. During this same period, Murilo received a proposal to audition in the German capital and with the courage and courage took a plane to Germany to perform the test.
The audition
At the beginning of the shy summer of 2017, Murilo arrived in Berlin to take the test. At 10 a.m. in the morning he began his audition. A group class was the chance he had to prove that he was qualified to be a part of the Berlin ballet team.
Allongé and in a few minutes the technique and perfection of each movement of Murilo was analyzed attentively by the director of the institution. Confident and prepared, the young man made a spectacle, which resulted at 11:30 in a conversation that would change his life.
Straight and determined, the director asked a few questions and then took Murilo by the arms to the human resources room to prepare a contract, take a copy of his passport, and do his best to bring him to the Berliner Staatsballett’s family as soon as possible.
The fast change
In order to work in Germany, it is not enough to have an employment contract, but also a permit to do so, which must be requested in your country of origin. As a result, Murilo quickly approached the German Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, which collected all documents and issued a work permit.
In August 2017, Murilo was already in Berlin working. A very fast process and executed with total excellence by the Consulate. And then came the long awaited time to start a new life.
Cultural shocks
Murilo was very timid on his first day at work. In a new routine with strange faces and in a world very different from what he was accustomed to. However, the strangeness went fast and the integration was successful.
According to the dancer, our Brazilian way opens many doors and it is not uncommon to hear around here that we have the sun inside our hearts. Certainly the sparkle in his eyes and his passion for dance were contagious to the other 70 dancers, who have already adopted him as family of the company.
Not afraid to risk, Murilo came here to try something new without knowing exactly what awaited him. At the moment there are no regrets and his biggest longing, besides the family, is the sun. It’s okay that even the Germans miss it!
Berliner career
In a few weeks, Murilo was already integrated into the team and inside shows such as Sleeping Beauty and Jewels. Until unexpectedly came the invitation to debut solo in the set of Nutcrackers. “It was a great gift to receive! Such an invitation in such a short space of time” – he said.
After a few weeks of training and a lot of dedication, the team was ready to perform on December 18, 2017, but due to an accident that occurred in the theater, the presentation had to be canceled.
As compensation, an open essay was made with the show costumes and criticism was excellent. All this, prompted our dancer to be invited to be one of the main soloists of the Swan Lake assembly, which was a unanimous success with full theater.
Murilo said that he is very happy with the speed at which things are happening in his life.
The applause of success
After spending a great time with Murilo, we asked our last question: What motivates you in dance?
His response was timely: “The applause moves me and is the result of my success.”
This has caught our attention because culturally the Germans applaud vigorously when they enjoy a spectacle and it is not uncommon for the palaver to last for many consecutive minutes.
Coming to Staatsballett is just another chapter of Murilo’s life and what we want is that the applause in this new phase will be strong and firm, because our talented artist deserves all recognition of his success.