How a Mexican-born dancer became a professional ballerina for The National Ballet of Canada.
For Selene Guerrero-Trujillo, dancing is more than a career, it’s a way of life. The Mexico City born ballerina has been dancing since she was a little girl and today, Guerrero-Trujillo is a second soloist with The National Ballet of Canada.
“It’s hard for me to even remember how I started at this point,” she reflects. “Dancing is something that I started as a kid. Growing up in Mexico City, dance was culturally a part of every day and naturally, I was a kid who was always dancing.”
Eventually, Guerrero-Trujillo’s parents decided to enroll her in ballet classes after she was spotted walking around the house on her toes. So she did ballet for a while, but quickly grew bored of it. Then she tried swimming, but wasn’t quite fond of that either and ended up returning to dance–this time enrolling in a pre-professional dance school.
“That was the first time I got a little taste of the discipline that is involved in ballet and camaraderie in performing and that’s when I got hooked,” Guerrero-Trujillo recalls.
While there, a teacher suggested she audition for The National Ballet School of Mexico. She went through a rigorous audition process and was accepted when she was 10 years old.
“That’s basically what I consider the start of my journey with ballet,” she says. “Now in hindsight for a 10-year-old to know what they want to do when they grow up is pretty wild, especially the fact that I ended up actually pursuing that as a career and I’ve been dancing professionally now for 16 years.”
Guerrero-Trujillo’s repertoire as a dancer includes Bee in The Nutcracker, Second Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Hungarian Princess in Swan Lake, Blossom in Cinderella and Peasant in Giselle. She’s also danced in ballets such as Romeo and Juliet, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Don Quixote, The Four Temperaments and West Side Story Suite to name a few…just don’t ask her to choose a favorite.
“Dance has become a part of my life,” she says. “I love the fact that I get to dance for a living. To me, that is pretty bonkers. Being able to use my body as an instrument is pretty cool.”
Photo credit: Karolina Kuras
Like any instrument, Guerrero-Trujillo works to keep her body in tune, especially when she’s preparing for her next production. She trains five days a week from 9:30 a.m. until 6 p.m.
“I always start with a ballet class,” she explains. “I take it as a way to warm up, check in with my body and maintain my ballet technique. After that, I usually have six hours of rehearsal with an hour break in between.”
Depending on her touring schedule, Guerrero-Trujillo will supplement her ballet training with workouts at the gym, which includes everything from swimming and Pilates to weight training, cardio, and yoga. She also spends adequate time in the sauna and cold plunges, which have been known to help with injury recovery; improve sleep and decrease inflammation.
“I’ve been adding more things that my body needs as I get older,” she says. “I’m almost 35, so I have a lot of experience as a dancer. But I’m also definitely feeling my age…so I’m adding a lot of extra care to my body to stay strong because this is such a tough career on your body.”
When she has time off, which is rare, Guerrero-Trujillo likes to treat herself to a massage. She’s also a self-described social butterfly who enjoys hosting and cooking, traveling and spending time outdoors.
“It’s tough because I have very little time left [after training] and I want to be able to have a balanced life and be a person outside of ballet,” she says. “Sometimes I just have to compartmentalize my life so that I can stay focused and be present for my daughter and what I’m doing. I’ve learned to make the most of it even when I have little time.”
As for life after dance, Guerrero-Trujillo isn’t quite sure what’s next, but she is excited to see where else she can use the skills and discipline she’s acquired from a life spent on the stage.
“I’m really focused on living in the present and enjoying every time I get on stage and savoring it because I know dance is not forever. I know my body isn’t going to last forever, so I’m really conscious of that,” she says. “I want to really make the most of this last phase of my career, be myself and have fun.”