National Youth Ballet Summer School
An article by Grace Brook
Over the summer I had the amazing opportunity to take part in National Youth Ballet’s summer school and I am excited to tell you about the experience I had there.
The Audition
The 1st audition took place at the Birmingham Royal Ballet Studios and was 1 hour and 30 minutes long. Only one person was on the panel and that person was the artistic director Mikah Smillie. The 2nd audition was held at the National Youth Ballet School in London and that one lasted for 6 hours from 12:00 to 6:00 and it was a casting audition. Since it was in London we travelled 2 hours and 30 minutes on the train then 30 minutes on the Tube. They only called some people from my group to stay for the whole 6 hours and I was one of them along with another friend who does Elmhurst associates with me. On these auditions, they focused on our artistry, technique and musicality. Then they went on to our performance by teaching an enchainment to us. In the first audition they had a more soft and lighter piece and then they did a flapper style dance for the second and we performed them in different groups.
The Summer School
For this summer school, we stayed at Elmhurst for 10 days rehearsing a variety of dances which were 10 – 20 minutes long! The first piece I was in was ‘Watusi’, which is a new contemporary piece that explores the obvious and surprising parallels of herd mentality in humans and animals and this piece was 15 minutes long (choreographed by Sophie Laplane and Ciara Clayton).
I was also in another piece called ‘Ada’ which is another new neo classical piece which is inspired by the life and work of Ada Lovelace. A pioneering and curious spirit, unlocking the connection between mathematics and arts and this piece was 10 minutes long. The first day was definitely the scariest because I barely knew anyone and we had to dance until 8:30pm but on the rest of the days we finished much earlier. There were also different activities to do in the evening, one of the things being a choreographic competition which I took part in. I performed a solo in front of David Bintley and Ruth Brill which made me terrified! The dorms were so nice and I dormed with another girl. My friends and I would stay up late chatting and eating late night snacks and it was so fun! One of my friends was in the musical Matilda and I met a boy that played Billy Elliot as well!
The Show
On the Wednesday I did a full rehearsal all day at the Crescent Theatre: costumes, lighting, backdrops etc. On the Thursday a full run through for a day and then an evening performance. The day after a matinee and evening performance at the same theatre. On the Saturday I had a day off (which was perfect as it was my big brothers’ birthday that day) and then finally I did a Full rehearsal at 11AM all day and then an evening gala performance at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. At London I met Matthew Bourne and Ruth Brill and also Dame Darcey Bussell and Joanna Lumley were in the audience along with many other famous names! It was an honour to perform in front of them!
