Tirion Law’s 7th year at the National Ballet of Canada has been punctuated by two career-defining moments. The first happened on an afternoon in June, following Law’s debut as Kitri in Don Quixote. After the show, Hope Muir, NBC’s Artistic Director, took the stage for a surprise announcement. As the audience and her fellow dancers cheered, Muir announced Law’s promotion from Second Soloist to Principal Dancer, skipping a rank to propel her to the company’s most prestigious title.
“From her heartbreaking Juliet to her delightful Alice and now her fiery Kitri, Tirion captivates audiences with her charisma, precise technique and her ability to fully inhabit each character she portrays,” Muir said at the time. It was an unforgettable moment for Law, who tells us she was shocked by the surprise.
“It was amazing because the whole audience and the entire company got to witness that. So I felt very special,” Law tells us.
Now, as we meet on the steps at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, overlooking the city on a chilly mid-November evening, she is on the precipice of another incredibly special moment in her career. On November 20, Law will take the stage to perform in the titular role of Giselle, fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“Giselle has always been my dream role since I was a little girl,” Law says with a smile. “Finding out that I was going to do Giselle, it was like a dream come true.”
Often referred to as “the ballerina’s Hamlet”, Giselle is a haunting, emotional ballet that embodies the essence of 19th-century Romanticism. The story follows Giselle, a young country girl who finds herself enamoured with Albrecht, a nobleman disguised as a villager. When Albrecht’s true identity is revealed, Giselle is heartbroken, and takes her own life. After her death, she meets the Wilis, the spirits of betrayed women who seek revenge on men by dancing them to death. The Wilis have their sights set on Albrecht, but Giselle, still pure of heart, is determined to save her remorseful lover.
From the ethereal costumes to the emotive score, every aspect of Giselle comes together to build a breathtaking, dreamlike world. In fact, the melodic score, created by French composer Adolphe Adam in 1841, is part of what first drew Law to Giselle.
“The first time I saw Giselle was on YouTube. I was immediately already in love with it,” Law says. “I think I was too young to understand the story, but the music was so beautiful, the movement was so beautiful. I wanted to be her when I grew up.”
The NBC’s production of Giselle is choreographed by Sir Peter Wright, whose interpretations of legendary ballets are performed at top companies worldwide. From the thrill of first love to the melancholy of loss, Giselle embraces emotional highs and lows, packed with expression in every movement.
“I really wanted to invite the audience in to feel Giselle and her pain, going from this happy village girl into this devastated girl and then into this strong and mature spirit,” says Law.
For Law, her connection with audiences extends beyond the stage. For almost 5 years, she has posted day-in-the-life vlogs on her YouTube channel, sharing her life as a ballerina with more than 100,000 subscribers.
“I started during COVID, just for fun. I really wanted to share some behind-the-scenes of a ballerina’s life,” says Law. “They really enjoyed watching it, so it motivated me to capture more.”
Her most recent vlog documents her day split between rehearsals for Giselle and Rhapsody, part of NBC’s triple bill that opened their 24/25 season earlier this month. Law gives viewers a glimpse at her busy day—taking us through stretching and warmups, rehearsals and run-throughs, costume fittings and ice baths. Despite the exhaustion of rehearsing two challenging ballets back to back, she keeps her spirits up with lighter moments amid intense practices, taking us along as she makes breakfast and shares laughs with her fellow dancers.
Law tells us that sharing her love of ballet has served as an inspiration for her viewers. “I get a lot of comments from people who did ballet when they were little, and for some reason, they stopped dancing. After watching my vlogs, they start learning ballet again.”
Law herself first became enamoured with ballet at an early age. She remembers her mother taking her to her first ballet in Hong Kong, where she was captivated by the performers on stage.
“I was around three or four…I was very drawn to the pretty tiaras, pretty tutus, everything was sparkling on stage,” she recalls fondly. “I told my mom I wanted to wear those, so she started bringing me to ballet class.”
At age 16, Law left Hong Kong to train at the New Zealand School of Dance, before returning to join the Hong Kong Ballet in 2015. Since 2018, she’s been part of the National Ballet of Canada, beginning as a member of the Corps de Ballet, advancing all the way to her current position as Principal Dancer.
Throughout her career, she’s tackled some of ballet’s most iconic roles—from the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker to Celia in Swan Lake to the titular role in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Juliet was another dream role for Law. But as a Second Soloist at the time of NBC’s 2023 production of Romeo and Juliet, she had never danced in a full-length ballet before. She tells us that support from the rest of the company helped her take on this challenging but ultimately fulfilling role.
“I got a lot of help from experienced dancers like Svetlana [Lunkina]. She really helped me throughout the whole process, and my amazing coaches. That really shaped me into a better dancer.”
Following her promotion, Law’s focus is still on improving from one role to the next. After Giselle wraps, she’s headed straight into The Nutcracker, reprising her role of The Sugar Plum Fairy for 6 performances this December.
“Being promoted to Principal, I feel like it’s just the beginning of a new chapter,” Law says. “I feel like I still have a lot to learn. There’s no stopping point for us. We just keep learning and improving every day.”
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