Just A Quickie with... American dancer Natalie Leftwich, Northern Ballet Theatre's latest flame.

You will play the manipulative Marquise de Merteuil in artistic director David Nixon's UK premiere of Dangerous Liaisons. How did your role come about?

"David first did the show at BalletMet when I was a student on the professional training programme there from 1996 to 1998 at Columbus, Ohio. I didn't see the show - I think I was sick at the time! - but a while ago when I joined Northern Ballet, he told me I would be doing the role of the Marquise."

Glenn Close played the Marquise in the film: a tall actress. How tall are you and does that matter?

"At 5ft 6 or 7, I'm the tallest female dancer in the company and sometimes that works against me, but other times it works out nicely and I get to do a role like the Marquise.

"I knew Elizabeth Zengora and Sonia Welker, who both did the Marquise role for BalletMet and I'd admired them so much as a student growing up in West Virginia (and then going to train under the direction of Yoko Ichino, David Nixon's wife, at Columbus).

At 23, this is your first major role for Northern Ballet Theatre. How do you feel?

"Any role is always a challenge, as you try to relate something of your own life to the role, and the Marquise is the opposite of me. She's such a strong personality, and though I'm extroverted, I'm not wicked like she is.

"It hasn't been too difficult to grasp the concept of playing her. The challenge for me is that usually when I feel an emotion, I really show it in my dancing. If the character feels angry, I go crazy; and it's the same with sadness, but with the Marquise, she is sly and calculating and that's my hardest challenge. You get so engrossed in all that gorgeous Vivaldi music that's being played, but you have to hold the emotions in because that's what the Marquise does."

There is another facet to this production, not only the series of duets choreographed by David Nixon to convey the story's sexual power, depravity, cruelty and deceit in 18th century France, but also the narration of Patricia Doyle in the guise of the older Marquise de Merteuil, looking back at her younger self portrayed by you. How does the narration fit in?

"It flows very nicely, with Patricia Doyle on stage all the time. When the music stops, she speaks and there are lots of moments where I'm sitting at my desk writing scandalous letters, and she will be telling the story, re-telling it from her perspective as an older woman. That leads from one pas de deux to the next, and because the story is so detailed and intricate, I think it would be almost impossible to dance without narration."

Dangerous Liaisons, Northern Ballet Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, tonight until September 11. Box office: 0113 213 7700.

Updated: 15:47 Thursday, September 02, 2004