Becoming A Ballet Dancer
Can anyone be a ballet dancer?
Not really. I think you need the right build, the right mentality, the right discipline, the right artistry to be a ballet dancer. I mean, anyone can learn it. But to make a career of ballet and be good at it you need quite a few qualities.
Is there any specific training you can do to become a ballet dancer?
Yes, there is a syllabus. There are quite a few different syllabuses, different styles. Like the English one is RAD: Royal Academy of Dance which is very strict English kind of dancing, you know, and then you have other ones which are slightly different, it's around the same or based around the same but it might be a difference of one arm somewhere else or something like that.
At what age should you start as a ballet dancer?
Well some people, I kind of started ballet dancing when I was two and a half. But there are some people who started as late as fourteen. So it kind of depends really. I wouldn't say too much past fourteen though, unless you are exceptional and pick it up really quickly. You have to learn the basics pretty young because ballet dancing is such a sort of technical art form.
At what age do ballet dancers become professional?
That depends as well. You normally, if you're lucky, you'd get a job from school, so you'd be seventeen, eighteen, or you might get injured, you might have to stay another year at school, but pretty much, quite young, you start quite young because it's quite a short career really.
When did you do your first performance?
Probably when I was really young, before I went to ballet school, just for my local dancing school. And I remember particularly going wrong and being really embarrassed. I was stuck in the middle of the stage, on my own! Yeah, I think I must have been about six then.
When did you do your first paid performance?
I worked with a little ballet company when I was 10. I think I was paid a little bit for that. That was more the experience with working with a proper company. I did a few shows with the Royal Ballet when I was in school, but I didn't get paid for those. I think my first paid job was when I was 17, when I started in the London City Ballet.
How did you get inspiration to become a ballet dancer?
I think it's just something that's in you that you, just, are drawn to, and you have to do. It's like an expressive, creative, performance thing. You know, and when you see a performance, you see people dancing, and you kind of aspire to be like them when you are young. It's just something you kind of have to do.
What roles have you fulfilled in ballets?
Well this one is the main one that I have done. I have done Clara in Nutcracker. I get a lot of the young girl roles like Alice in Wonderland and things like that. So I have done quite a few but this is the hardest I've ever done because it's so long and there's a lot of dancing in it. But it makes you stronger. It's been a massive challenge.
Is there a ballet dancer's union?
We all belong to Equity, which is like the performance union actors and dancers, etc.
Do you need to have personal insurance?
Yeah, we are covered by W.P.A. through work, a work scheme.
What advice would you give to an aspiring ballet dancer?
Just be sure that it's something you really want to do, because you do sacrifice quite a lot, at the beginning, once you're training and getting experience. And it's tough, because there's highs and lows. You know, you might be in the main part for one ballet, and then not for the next. And that's quite strange sort of adjusting your mindset and it's hard work. But there are so many pluses. You know you get to travel -- you get to do good roles -- and work with really talented people. So, if you want to do it then ...
Is there a golden rule of being a ballet dancer?
Always do glass, and learn to stay on top of things, and not too much going out. You have to be in quite good health to be a ballet dancer.
Do you need an agent to be a ballet dancer?
You don't need one, no. You don't necessarily need one. You do if you're freelance. They can help get you work, but you make a lot of contacts yourself through meeting choreographers and stuff, so you don't, it's not really necessary.
