Not everyone will be familiar with Julie Bowers’ GradPro which she created a few years ago with former Birmingham Royal Ballet and current Ballett Zürich principal, Brandon Lawrence. Set up in order to facilitate graduate students who are seeking professional engagements as a sort of gateway to working in a company, there are courses, summer intensives, mentoring and ultimately a competition that offers a superb range of awards and work placements for the successful candidates.
Securing a contract with an established dance company has always been a tough call but particularly since the pandemic (and all that went with it) finding a job has become ever more elusive. After a series of regional competitions, which included Zürich, London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Leeds, those dancers who topped those competitions met in Birmingham at Elmhurst for the Final. Over 75 graduates had the opportunity to work with some of the most experienced and well-respected dance coaches in the world.
Whittled down to just 17 dancers, the final day comprised presenting some centre work from class, followed by a classical variation of their choice and then a contemporary solo. The daunting issue of this scenario is that each of them knows they have just one chance at each stage to prove themselves as winning material.
This year’s panel of judges included Zenaida Yanowsky, Gail Monahan, Debbie Turner, Kit Holder, Andrew McNicol and Marion Tait. No doubt such an illustrious list of names gave rise to some extra nerves and more self-imposed pressure. And yet, warming up both the dancers and audience with some class work was undoubtedly a benefit to all.
With Darren Parish teaching and the always excellent David Plumpton playing the piano, it was interesting to see the dancers build their work and confidence, some of them ‘performing’ the exercises, others reserving the performance element for their upcoming solos. I mention this because Alfie Lee Hall, a graduate of Elmhurst, while competently pacing his way through the classroom steps, gave nothing away in terms of stage presence. By the time he came to perform his solo from Diana and Acteon, he’d lifted the lid off the box and gave a remarkably skilled and exciting performance. He was rewarded with the London Ballet Circle Award and a placement with Ballett Zürich.
I was delighted when the Louise Hudson Award went to Maya Kirk. This is given to a dancer with exceptional artistry, interpretive skills and the sheer love of dance. Kirk, from Tring Park, has these attributes in spades and she has been offered, rather aptly, a placement with Sarasota Ballet. Brianna Skehan from the Royal Conservatoire in the Hague was the recipient of the Wendy Ellis Award as well as gaining a placement with Norwegian National Ballet. She is a strong dancer and will have an invaluable experience in Oslo. The Dansez Award went to Ada Campagnola, a Rambert graduate, who has a quiet maturity about her and will benefit from her placement with New Adventures.
Other placements went to Matthys de Beer (The Royal Ballet) who also won the Wix Choreographic Award (more about him later), Max de Graaf (Northern Ballet), Sara Gordon (Estonian National Ballet) and Sian James (Birmingham Royal Ballet).
The outright winner and recipient of the Gail Monahan Award went Yoli Meurisse from English National Ballet School. A beautiful dancer with perfect proportions and plenty of potential, she won the jackpot with a three month contract with Cape Ballet Africa, a placement at BRB and 20 pairs of Freed pointe shoes (a welcome bonus these days). In many ways, Meurisse seemed an obvious choice from the beginning and is certainly ready to start her professional life, but she had some stiff competition.
De Beer came across, even in class, as a fully fledged professional, with polished finishes and very clean lines. He presented all aspects of his work with flair and while his Albrecht solo won’t have been his best ever performance, he made up for it in his contemporary solo. I believe he will go on to have a successful career.
I want to mention three dancers who got through to the Final but had to pull out at the eleventh hour due to injury. I have not seen Stepan Jan Spicka from Tanz Academie Zurich, but I have no doubt that he was a worthy candidate. The two other injured dancers are English National Ballet School graduates Aayush Sharma and Lydia Hough, both of whom have very promising futures and would surely have won placements. That they had to withdraw at the last minute should not deter them from pursuing their dreams.
Bowers and her team have done a tremendous job with this international showcase of talent. Long may it continue.
