Vinings dancer performs in 'The Princess and the Goblin'

The world premiere of Atlanta Ballet’s “The Princess and the Goblin” is just days away, but there’s still time to Smyrna-Vinings Patch caught up with one of the performers and asked her about preparing for the role, a day in the life of a ballerina and what it was like working with world renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp.

Abi Tan-Gamino is a Vinings resident and has danced with Atlanta Ballet since 2010. She is originally from the Phillipines where she danced lead roles in ballets like “Don Quixote,” “Madame Butterfly” and “The Nutcracker” with the Philippine Ballet Theatre.

The Princess and the Goblin is an adventure story about Princess Irene and her friend Curdie as they travel to the world of the goblins to rescue the kingdom’s missing children. In the ballet, Tan-Gambino plays a goblin. To prepare the goblins for their roles, Tharp had the dancers research goblins by watching movies like “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Labyrinth.”

“On the first week we worked with her we were very nervous because we didn’t know what to expect from (Twyla),” Tan-Gambino said. “It ended up being really nice because she kept pushing us. She’s very pushy in a good way. For example our goblin character, because she kept pushing us it went from zero to the top—the most that we could be.”

Tan-Gambino explained that preparing for “The Princess and the Goblin” is a full-time job. She and the rest of the dancers rehearse 8 hours a day five days a week. Now that opening night is less than a week away she’s and the rest of the dancers are excited to get on stage.

“We’re all very excited,” she said. “’The Princess and the Goblin” is world class and it’s very new so no one has ever seen it before. I think everyone is going to be looking forward to seeing us. I think we’re really prepared for this so I don’t think we’ll be nervous. I am a little bit, but not too much.”

"The Princess and the Goblin" opens Friday, Feb. 10. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.