THIS IS LIFE

Alina Somova in Ratmansky’s Cinderella

Beautiful Ballet Couples: Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg (Principals with the Royal Ballet)
Engaged in 2011.

Kobborg surprised Cojocaru when he proposed to her on her 30th birthday on the Met Opera House stage. She said yes.

“We danced our first Romeo & Juliet in February 2001, and that was it,” says Johan Kobborg. “I never looked back,” he adds.

Cojocaru stepped in on that fateful evening as a last-minute replacement for an injured colleague and over the past two weeks at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” says Kobborg.

“I’m very into design,” admits an enthusiastic Kobborg, “I call myself a home fanatic, DIY the lot, though I don’t paint the walls as often I used to. I want to create a dream environment for us.” They share a flat a couple of miles east of their workplace, the Royal Opera House. “I also do a lot of gardening in our roof garden,” he goes on. “As for me,” Cojocaru jumps in, “I sit in the dream house he’s created and do cross stitch. I love it. You have to concentrate on every detail, your thoughts can’t just wander off like they do when you read. When you are following a complicated design you cannot think about that awkward variation you have to do the next day.”

There are no doubts as far as Alina is concerned about having children. “We haven’t talked about it much but there’s no question that we will have children.” Nearing 40, Kobborg’s retirement is fast approaching. “When we have children I might have stopped dancing anyway but it has to be thought through before the child is born,” he explains.

Watch Alina and Johan Dance Together