The stars of Piece of my heart
From the academy to the red carpet
One moment you're still in the dance training program at the conservatory, the next you're in a dress by a top designer on the red carpet heading to the premiere of a film in which you play the lead role. May spoke with Elaine Meijerink and Roos Englebert, lead actresses of Piece of My Heart, already the most beautiful film of this and next year.
‘They’re just doing a little nervous pee and then they’ll be here.’ The PR lady of Piece of My Heart hands me a cup of ginger tea while she looks over her shoulder to see if she can spot ‘the girls’ coming. ‘The girls’ are Roos Englebert and Elaine Meijerink, lead actresses of Piece of My Heart, a film that has uplifted me for days.
They may be a bit nervous (it turns out I’m their very first interviewer ever), but I also find it exciting to speak with them. What if I find them in real life a lot less layered and refined, and as a result, my five-star feeling about this film might drop a bit?
Two young women stride through the curtain that separates the two rooms in the Amsterdam Hotel de L’Europe. Roos in front, just like her character Olga van Heemst (the film is inspired by Olga de Haas, but is not a biopic MM) in the film much more confident than Elaine, who plays the shy, caring, and self-effacing character in Piece of My Heart.
‘I think we are a bit like Irma and Olga in real life. It’s funny that we actually auditioned together for this role. Afterwards, we heard that we were only the third auditioners and that the director already knew: these are the ones.’ Roos crosses her legs while she brushes her sleek bob behind her ears with her hand. She looks at me expectantly, eager for the next question.
Stumbling over the superlatives, I move on to the characters that I find so beautifully rounded. Irma’s father initially seems like a self-centered artist whom she has to shake awake every day, his head next to a bottle of wine and a pile of candle wax. Olga’s father waves newspapers in which his daughter is described as ‘the woman who will forever change the dance world’ and is the first to spring up to give his daughter a standing ovation. Yet both men take an interesting turn in their development.
Roos: ‘Our fathers actually intersect. At the beginning of the film, you want my father and think her father is nothing, but later you see how sweet her father is. He always tried, but just couldn’t take care of Irma anymore.’
Elaine: ‘I also think that Irma couldn’t have been different because of that relationship with her father. As a result, her life task was to care and she also absorbed so much from Olga.’
Roos had just danced with the company Introdans, Elaine was still at the conservatory when they were lured via DMs on Instagram and emails to audition. Roos quickly realized she had the role, ‘but I couldn’t say anything,’ while Elaine thought after her second audition: I didn’t get it. A bit like in the film, where it seems to come easier to Olga than to the hardworking, serious Irma. Then came the relieving phone call for both actresses. Elaine said: ‘You got the role, just one lesson with Igone de Jongh to see if she thought we were technically good enough.’
Roos: ‘A lesson with THE Igone while Dana, the director, was watching, it was so exciting.’
Elaine: ‘I was wearing a skirt, I had trembling legs the whole lesson.’
Roos was lucky to have even more lessons with Igone. ‘I am classically trained, but was with a modern company so hadn’t danced on pointe for a long time. With Igone, I touched on all the classics: Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker. It was so educational, I really learned from her that I don’t have to be afraid. She is just very sweet. When she, the prima ballerina of the Netherlands, says you are good enough, you believe it.’
Two young ballerinas who suddenly also have to act, you weren’t trained for that, how did that go?
Elaine: ‘We were of course incredibly well guided by Dana Nechushtan and also received acting lessons from Saskia Temmink, which helped a lot. On set, everything actually went very smoothly. It was so nice. The idea that it will be over after this month is terrible for us.’
Roos: ‘What we have experienced together is indescribable. It’s so much. I have done a lot of cool things with ballet like performing in St. Petersburg with Introdans, but this is the first thing I am really proud of.’
The film shows the dance world of the 70s, its beauty and its harshness. Girls who are weighed, heels that are tapped to make you sink deeper into the plié, a cold ’merci‘ to let you know you are not chosen for a role. Did you recognize a lot?
Elaine: ‘Absolutely, I think we recognize a lot. In the dance world, people are strict, but that also means you are worth it.’
Roos: ‘If someone taps your foot because it needs to be higher, you think: at least I’m getting attention.’
Elaine: ‘We always hear from people that they think we need to be thin because we are ballerinas, we are used to that.’
Roos: ‘You actually don’t care about that, a trained body just comes with it and you do that. Every top athlete pays attention to their diet, doesn’t drink a drop and no one talks about that. But we suddenly have anorexia in the eyes of others. Luckily, I don’t really have to watch what I eat because we train eight hours a day.’
Has the film changed your life?
Roos: ‘Enormously. I stopped at Introdans. Dancing is my foundation, but as part of a company, everything is fixed. Fun jobs like modeling, which I also do, I always had to cancel. Because of this film, I know that I can and want more and I want to have the space for that.’
Elaine: ‘I just finished at the conservatory and am very open to the future. At the conservatory, you are so in a tunnel and the only thing you want is to end up in a company, and now I know that I can and want more. In that way, the film has really changed us.’
Monday, November 28 is the official premiere at theater DeLaMar, are you ready for it?
‘We are getting beautiful dresses from a top designer, so the outside is good. Furthermore, we can’t change or add anything to the film anymore. I hope we enjoy it and that everyone laughs and cries at the right moments.’
Piece of My Heart will be in theaters from December 1.
