Sydney Dance Company dancers Piran Scott and Naiara de Matos met as colleagues when both joined Leipzig Ballet in Germany in 2013. Mackay-born Scott was newly arrived in Europe from Queensland Ballet where he’d danced since 2010; while Brazilian-born de Matos was still learning English after leaving the Young Company of Bolshoi Ballet Brazil.
The spark was immediate, for Scott at least.
“We were always laughing together, she has a very infectious personality, she’d come into the room and light up the studio,” he tells Broadsheet.
But de Matos was sceptical of this “larrikin Aussie” who she felt was playing the field. “Piran was always the charismatic one, the clown making everyone laugh, so I never took him seriously and thought he was a bit of a player,” de Matos says.
Nevertheless the pair became close friends, thrown together in the multicultural melting pot of dancers. In the close-knit environment where the workday finished at 9.30pm, the whole group became like family.
After accepting a soloist role with Ballet Theater Basel in Switzerland in 2016, Scott gave it one last shot. “I went up to Naiara and told her I was leaving, and it would be silly if we didn’t explore this spark we’d always had.”
That spark finally caught fire in the small amount of time they had left together in Leipzig. Over the next four years, they continued their relationship from afar as they pursued their own dance careers in separate international dance companies.
It was Scott’s invitation for de Matos to travel to Australia in 2017 to meet his extended family that cemented the relationship. “He invited me to spend the whole summer, which I really wanted to do because you do crazy things when you’re in love, but it meant I couldn’t go to Brazil to see my family. I said, ‘Okay, I’ll come but I need to know this is officially serious’. I fell in love with Australia straight away.”
By 2020, they were once again working for the same dance company, St Gallen in Switzerland, just as the pandemic hit. For Scott and de Matos, Covid would prove a special time – not only could they live together for the first time, but they were also among the few dancers who choreographers could easily work with as a pair, given the strict Covid-era no-touching regulations.
Scott proposed in 2021, and the couple was married in Brisbane in December 2023.
Sydney Dance Company had been on both their bucket lists. When the company took ab [intra] to Paris in 2022 they both auditioned, and the next time they were both in Sydney, they auditioned for artistic director Rafael Bonachela. When he offered them contracts they leapt at the chance, landing in Sydney on a Saturday and beginning work on Monday.
Scott says de Matos has been an important ally for him re-entering the local dance scene after a decade away. “Even though it’s my country, the whole culture of Australian dance companies and fitting in again to the Australian culture – I’m so glad we had each other to navigate that new experience and settle in.”
In August they moved into a converted textiles factory in Surry Hills. Living and working together, they enjoy the chance to debrief about a particular choreographic routine but are equally conscious of the need to give each other space.
“Piran likes to take his bike out on a ride or play golf; I like to be by myself and cook something Brazilian or play Brazilian music, watch a Brazilian movie, connect with my culture and language and be invested in that as well. For me that’s very important.”
Their apartment is filled with beautiful reminders of their life together so far, including a series of watercolours of Palm Cove Scott’s father painted for de Matos after they holidayed there. There’s also a framed photograph of them in a duet choreographed by colleague and friend Alba Castillo in Switzerland. Plus, a quirky heart-shaped clay carafe Scott managed to convince a waiter to give him following a memorable date in Bogota.
The couple is now expanding into new territory, professionally at least; Scott is trying out his choreographic muscle for New Breed at Carriageworks. Titled Breath, the work is inspired by the Tim Winton novel of the same name. Choreographed to Ocean by John Butler, it features six Sydney Dance Company dancers, including de Matos.
“I don’t have the desire to choreograph on my own, but I thrive on helping make a work look better. And Piran gets the opportunity to come home and ask me about the work, from the perspective of the dancing. I think it’s very special to have that, to be able to speak to your partner about something they absolutely understand,” says de Matos. They will both perform in Melbourne choreographer Amber McCartney’s new work too, in New Breed.
“People ask how we can do it, touring and working together, but for me I still have such good fun with Piran. I can’t imagine being in the company without him or travelling for seven weeks without him. I could, I just don’t want to.”
New Breed is on at Carriageworks from December 4–14.
Read more in our Creative Couples series.
