As a former dancer myself, Neeleman’s success on social media is unsurprising to me, merely following the script we all learned in the ballet studio. Her life is like one big ballet performance: She is a small, pretty, white, and likable star, descriptors that could just as easily apply to a famous trad wife as to a prima ballerina. Though she gave up the stage years ago, she remains a consummate performer.
Of course, it would be unfair to blame ballet solely for Neeleman’s beliefs around womanhood; her Mormon faith has certainly had a large part in shaping those. Still, as Turning Pointe writer Chloe Angyal told Momfluenced author Sara Petersen in Petersen’s newsletter, “it’s not Ballet Farm. It’s Ballerina Farm. We’re talking about the feminine person version of this dance form. We’re talking about the pinnacle of a very specific kind of womanhood, a very specific kind of femininity.”
The complicated lessons ballet taught me about my own femininity have taken me decades to unlearn, and some of the most insidious ones I still can’t fully shake. A childhood and adolescence devoted to ballet taught me how to perform in the theater, but also long before that, how to do exactly what it took to impress teachers and choreographers. Dancers are rarely asked what would feel good to them. Instead, they are taught to dance through pain, to perform roles with troubling messages, and that the gaze of an audience (historically male, but even now, certainly patriarchal) gives them worth. These are, of course, all things that could also be said about trad-wife influencers.
The parts of ballet that last—the scores, choreography, teaching styles, and artistic direction—have always been dominated by men. As a dancer, I had a perpetual awareness that I was replaceable, so when I was in pain, or didn’t love a piece of choreography, I knew to keep my mouth shut. I never wondered what I wanted, because I had been trained that what the choreographer or teacher wanted was what mattered. From a young age, I learned to make myself just as subservient as Hannah Neeleman appears to be.
Juilliard, Neeleman’s longtime dream that she had to abandon during her first pregnancy, accepts 12 women a year into their undergraduate dance program. Juilliard dancers can earn a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree at the end of four years of training. Their alumni go on to dance, choreograph, and direct at some of the best companies in the world, and several of America’s most pioneering choreographers are on their list of notable alumni. In short, Hannah Neeleman was at the beginning of what could well have been a long and fulfilling career in ballet when she married Daniel. “I was going to be a ballerina,” she told Agnew. “I was a good ballerina.” But she knew ballet and motherhood, especially the motherhood of traditional Mormonism, were incompatible. “I knew that when I started to have kids my life would start to look different,” she admitted.
FROM STUDENT TO STARIS AN EXCLUSIVE BALLET NEWS INTERVIEW SERIES FEATURING GRADUATES FROM VOCATIONAL BALLET SCHOOLS AS THEY BEGIN THEIR PROFESSIONAL CAREERS.
You’ve been studying at The Royal Ballet School (RBS). When did you join the School and what made you decide to train there ?
I joined The Royal Ballet School in 2016 when I was 11 years old. At first I didn’t know much about the school and it was my JA teacher who advised me to audition [Ed note : JA = Junior Associate Programme]. Me and my parents thought I should try, and luckily I was offered a place and that is where it all began.
Prior to joining RBS, where did you train, and how early did you start ballet ?
Before joining RBS I was a Royal Ballet Junior Associate for three years, from the age of 8-11 years. Before that I trained at my local dance school in Bristol (344 Dance School) where I did ballet, tap and modern from the age of 5.
What do you think are the important things to focus on during training if you want to become a professional ballet dancer ?
Not only do I think you have to focus on technique, but also creating a strong and independent mindset. I have found having a certain mindset when training can really improve the way you apply yourself and carry on when things aren’t going as well. Being determined, observant, yet also calm, and not taking yourself too seriously is a balance which you have to find when tackling your busy training years. As well as this I think remembering why you are dancing and the joy it brings you is something to remind yourself of and tap into every so often, since I think sometimes you can get lost when you are trying to perfect your technique every day. The sense of dancing and enjoyment should be kept throughout the training years.
TALK US THROUGH GOING ON POINTE FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND HOW HAS YOUR TECHNIQUE STRENGTHENED SINCE THEN ?
I first went on pointe when I was 11. I remember when first beginning I was very tentative and nervous when moving on pointe. As my training progressed at the school, I learnt how to strengthen my ankles and fix my alignment when dancing in pointe shoes through Pilates work and strength and conditioning exercises. As well as this I learnt that having a certain mindset when dancing on pointe helped my dancing. Just going for every movement and pretending it was easy even if it wasn’t helped my confidence with pointe work, and as I developed this mindset, after time it started to become a habit.
I received my incredible news during our school Christmas break. Since I was performing in The Nutcracker with the Company, I was taking company class one morning and I saw one of my friends being taken out of class. When she came back she had the biggest smile on her face, and explained she had just received a contract. From that moment on others were getting pulled out of the class to go to Mr O’Hare’s office [Ed note : Kevin O’Hare is the Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet]. When I was asked to go and see him, it almost felt like I was dreaming and I couldn’t believe it was really happening. When he offered me the contract I was teary and full of emotions, since my dream really came true. I will be starting with the Company in August 2024.
What do you know about the Company & have you spent much time with them during school ?
Due to growing up as a Royal Ballet JA and then a student of the School, I have always looked up to The Royal Ballet Company. I’ve been fortunate enough to watch many company productions and have been even luckier to be in some. At White Lodge [Ed note : the Junior School in Richmond Park] I performed in The Nutcracker with the company and as a pre professional student I have performed in Don Quitoxe, The Nutcracker, Manon and Swan Lake. Whilst rehearsing these productions I have been able to meet all the dancers who were so welcoming, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know them all soon.
What are you looking forward to about joining the Company ?
A main factor I am looking forward to when joining the Company is the constant performing. Although at school we did have performances, these were spread out across the year, and I am really looking forward to be able perform more often.
How do you think company life will differ from your student days & what do you hope to bring to the company ?
I think the biggest difference from being a student to a company member is going to be the load shift of being less physically tired to possibly being more mentally tired. There will be more learning and covering different roles in each production, always being ready for any situation. I think this will be a good change to adjust to and learn from, making me gain new skills to set me up for the future.
How are you preparing yourself for your first professional contract?
This summer break it has been just as important for me to rest and recover as it is to stay fit and active. Since finishing the busy graduate year I allowed myself time to rest and let my body recover from the intense end of year rehearsing and performing. Although I have taken time to rest, I have also stayed active by taking ballet classes, doing Pilates and swimming, to help get the right balance of rest and being fitness ready to start in the Company.
What are you your best achievements as a student?
As a student I was very fortunate to have danced the roles of Cupid from Don Quixote, Little Red Riding Hood from Sleeping Beauty and featured roles in Paquita and La Valse in the end of year summer performances. I loved performing all of these roles and I am very grateful to have been able to experience them all on the Royal Opera House stage.
During my time as a student, I was awarded the April Olrich award for dynamic performance, the Ashton award for ‘style,personality and technique in Ashton ballets’, and joint first place for the Lynn Seymour awards in expressive dance.
At first I was never set on ballet. All I wanted to do was dance, it didn’t really matter what or how; I just needed to dance. It wasn’t until I went to watch my first ballet at the Royal Opera House (The Nutcracker) that I completely fell in love and decided that that would be the path for me.
Since then I have trained in ballet, and have seen many more productions, each inspiring me and leaving me wanting to be up on that stage too. One main factor that drew me to ballet was the music, which I find brings emotions out of me and makes me want to express them.
How do you pick yourself up on the days when things aren’t going so well?
When things aren’t going so well, the best thing I find is to stop and think about the situation, then look at the bigger picture and all the positive things that are happening around me instead. This mindest helps me to focus on the good and to see things from a broader perspective. I also find listening to music really helps calm me, as well as going to get a sweet treat!
Do you have a dream role and/or dance partner and if so what/who are they?
My dream role is the role of Juliet from Romeo and Juliet. I love MacMillan [Ed note : Kenneth MacMillan choreographed this and many other ballets for the Company], and this ballet really draws me in with the gorgeous music. Romeo and Juliet also has my favourite pas de deux (the balcony scene) which would be a dream to perform. I would love the opportunity to one day dance this role to try and interpret and express Juliet’s emotions.
What would you say to students entering their graduate year ?
I would say keep positive and determined, and remember everything happens for a reason. Try your best and that’s all you can do. Don’t worry about the things you can’t control. Most importantly I found my graduate year flew by so quickly, so just enjoy every second and appreciate the people around you while you can.
Where would you like to be this time next year and how will you measure your progress over the year?
This time next year I hope to have settled into the Company, having enjoyed every moment on stage and having embraced and learnt lessons from my journey. I’m very excited to begin this new chapter and will keep working hard every day to progress and develop my technique and artistic qualities, and most importantly I aim to transfer everything I have/will learn onto the stage.
“Popularly known as horse dancing, dressage involves riders directing their horses to perform a series of moves, including pirouettes, that are thought to have military origins. … (British equestrian Becky Moody) explained what it takes to nurture and train an equine ballerina.” – The New York Times
Northern Ballet’s heart-warming new ballet for children Hansel & Gretelwill be touring to theatres across the UK in spring 2025.
The production will première at Northern Ballet’s own Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds from 15-22 February before embarking on an extensive UK tour, travelling to Hull, Oxford, Berwick, Edinburgh, Middlesbrough, Goole, Barrow, Doncaster, Harrogate, Durham, Mansfield, Corby, Bridlington, Huddersfield, Buxton, London and Crewe.
In an environmental reimagining of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel take a trip into the forest, unaware of the damage they leave behind. When they get lost, the siblings meet a host of spirited friends who teach them how we can all better look after the planet – and have some fun along the way!
The 40-minute ballet is designed for children aged three and above and their families to experience live dance, music and theatre together. It is the latest in Northern Ballet’s extensive repertoire of award-winning ballets for children, which have been touring around the UK for over a decade, including Tortoise & the Harewhich concluded its tour in May. Their other ballets include the hugely successful Three Little Pigs, Elves & the Shoemaker, Ugly Duckling and Goldilocks & the Three Bears, some having been shown in cinemas across the UK and all of which were adapted for TV by CBeebies.
To coincide with the ballet’s environmental message, most of the sets and costumes will be sustainably created with recycled materials. Northern Ballet’s highly skilled technical team have been working hard to source appropriate materials, such as collecting cans and bottles as materials for a character’s costume. This means the Company can reduce their own carbon footprint whilst encouraging others to do the same.
Many venues include a relaxed performancewhich, whilst open to anyone, aims to reduce anxiety around theatre visits, particularly for people with sensory or communication difficulties, or a learning disability. Northern Ballet will also be offering audio-described performances at their own Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds, with other venues due to go on sale with audio description soon.
Hansel & Gretel will be choreographed by Northern Ballet Company Dancers George Liangand Harris Beattie. The two have starred in various named roles in many of Northern Ballet’s recent productions and have choreographed for the Company previously in Northern Ballet’s Sketches, a programme that showcases new choreographic talent. The ballet will be performed to live music which will be composed by Colin Scott, Northern Ballet’s Company Pianist. Designing sets and costumes is Ali Allen.
Some venues are on sale now, with more going on sale soon. For more information and details on how to book, please visit northernballet.com/hansel-and-gretel
It is only slightly hyperbolic to say that everyone’s doing the Apple dance. Set to a song from Charli xcx’s summer-defining album Brat, the choreography has taken over TikTok, late-night television and beyond. Charli herself has done it, as have the stars of Twisters, Brooke Shields, Joe Jonas and Stephen Colbert.
Its popularity lies in its simplicity: a breezy, but easily replicable little dance that includes some body rolls, hands on hips, and holding an imaginary apple above one’s head. #Amishtiktok is on board, as evidenced by three girls in traditional garb dancing in a field, who, when the choreo calls for mimicking driving a car, imitate operating a horse and buggy instead.
It’s surely only a matter of time until Kamala Harris, who has adopted Brat as a campaign meme, films herself trying Apple out, too.
The dance was dreamt up by Kelley Heyer, a New York-based actor and content creator who decided to film herself making it up “on a whim”.
“The rhythm in Apple made me want to dance in a certain way,” Heyer said. “I basically woke up, stood in front of a mirror and took everything from the lyrics.”
Charli xcx’s album has come to define a carefree summer fueled by an abundance of parties and drugs. But Apple is one of its more vulnerable tracks.
“I think the apple’s rotten right to the core / From all the things passed down from all the apples coming before,” Charli sings. “I split the apple down symmetrical lines / And what I find is kinda scary / Makes me just wanna drive.”
“It’s a song about generational trauma, and I turned it into a TikTok dance,” Heyer said. “When she sings, ‘I think the apple’s rotten right to the core,’ musically, the phrase has this oozing quality, which makes you want to touch your body.”
After the dance started gaining traction on TikTok, Heyer’s partner woke her up one morning to say that Charli had filmed it. “I was half waking up, and I opened my phone and saw a million notifications saying, ‘Kelly, you gotta see this.’” Heyer said that Charli had written her a “very nice” note and offered her free tickets to her Madison Square Garden show.
Heyer says her dance, like Brat, “follows a trend of less polished content on the internet”. Charli described the brat ethos as “that girl who is a little messy … maybe says some dumb things sometimes … that girl who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but parties through it.”
Charli’s fans have dubbed this moment “brat summer”, which they say is about leaning away from the artifice of social media perfection and into a more hedonistic era.
“To me, brat summer means not giving a fuck, but it also means being kind,” Heyer said. “Last summer was Barbie summer, and the color was pink, and this summer is brat green. During Barbie, everyone was uplifting each other and wearing pink to the movie theater, and I almost feel like brat summer has the same sentiment. We should take care of each other and be nice to each other, but this time we’re doing it in slutty little outfits.”
FROM STUDENT TO STARIS AN EXCLUSIVE BALLET NEWS INTERVIEW SERIES FEATURING GRADUATES FROM VOCATIONAL BALLET SCHOOLS – SUCH AS THE ROYAL BALLET SCHOOL – AS THEY BEGIN THEIR PROFESSIONAL CAREERS.
Andrea Riolo graduated from The Royal Ballet School & joins Birmingham Royal Ballet 2.
You’ve been studying at The Royal Ballet School (RBS). When did you join the School and what made you decide to train there ?
I joined The Royal Ballet School in first year Upper School at 16 years old. Growing up I watched Yasmine Naghdi in many cinema relays of The Royal Ballet Company and immediately wanted to follow in her footsteps. After learning that she studied at The Royal Ballet School I knew that is where I wanted to train.
Prior to joining RBS, where did you train, and how early did you start ballet ?
My mother put me in baby ballet when I was only three years old at a local ballet school, Brigitte Gauci Borda School of Dance, in Malta, my home country. I pursued it as a hobby after school until I was 11 years old, when I realized that I wanted to turn this hobby into a career. I took part in YAGP and received multiple scholarships for summer intensives. I chose to attend a three week long Bolshoi summer intensive in New York, and from there got invited to join the Bolshoi’s apprentice program in Moscow, Russia. Eager to improve my technique and artistry, I moved to Moscow where my time was unfortunately cut short due to the outspread of the Coronavirus. Throughout the pandemic I continued my training online through zoom classes with the Bolshoi, after which I was offered a place to join the Bolshoi Ballet Academy as a first year student.
That summer I took part in an online summer intensive of The Vaganova Ballet Academy, following which I was offered a place to join The Vaganova Ballet Academy at St. Petersburg, Russia as a first year. It was a particularly hard decision to make at 14 years old, not only due to language barriers but also due to the fact that the Russian borders were closed due to the spread of the pandemic. This meant that none of my relatives could visit and also that I would not be allowed to re-enter Russia if I returned home for holidays. Notwithstanding, I chose to continue my training at The Vaganova Ballet Academy, where I studied for 8 months and took part in various performances at the Marinsky Theatre and at The Hermitage Theatre.
Although I very much enjoyed training at Vaganova, my dream was still to join The Royal Ballet School and so I took part in an online audition while I was in Russia. I was absolutely over the moon when I was offered a place to join The Royal Ballet School, especially as I was the first Maltese dancer to have been offered this opportunity. My hope is that other Maltese dancers will also be able to fulfil this dream.
What do you think are the important things to focus on during training if you want to become a professional ballet dancer?
A marriage of impeccable technique and versatile artistry are vital to becoming a professional dancer and therefore should be at the forefront of ones training. Undoubtedly, technique can only get one so far. It’s ones drive, determination and passion that will allow a dancer to stand out, continue to progress and achieve the goal of dancing as part of prestigious ballet company.
You’ve accepted a contract with Birmingham Royal Ballet. Congratulations ! Take us through the process of getting the contract and when do you start work?
Birmingham Royal Ballet was always my dream company to join and so I feel extremely honoured to have received this contract! On the 29th of February myself and a few others made our way to Birmingham for our audition. It was an hour long class with the director, Carlos Acosta, where we managed to complete a full class from barre to grand allegro! It was a very challenging and exhausting class but was extremely enjoyable and rewarding. I especially enjoyed the addition of steps from La Fille mal gardée, an Ashton ballet opening the repertoire next season! On the 18th of March, just a few days before my 19th birthday, Mr. Powney and Ms. Clarke broke the news that Birmingham Royal Ballet were offering me a contract with BRB2 and I simultaneously received the offer by email! I still feel the thrill when I think back about those moments, truly a dream come true.
What are you looking forward to about joining the Company ?
One of my favourite things about Birmingham Royal Ballet is Mr. Acosta’s choice of repertoire, from pure classical ballets such as La Fille mal gardée and Cinderella to new innovative pieces like Black Sabbath. I look forward to experiencing and performing a variety of different styles and roles on various stages across the UK and abroad. I also look forward to becoming a part of the community amongst the dancers and staff which I felt was so strong when visiting and watching The Birmingham Royal Ballet.
How do you think company life will differ from your student days?
At school, our focus was on ballet class and perfecting our technique. In a company, the morning ballet class just serves as a warm up for rehearsals and that focus instead shifts to performing. Although I will miss my friends from The Royal Ballet School, I look forward to having more personal freedom than in student life, and becoming an integral member of BRB2.
How are you preparing yourself for your first professional contract?
Besides resting and recovering from the pre-professional year and run of end-of-year summer performances, I aim to start my professional career in good shape, both physically and mentally, and fully ready to start learning and rehearsing the first ballet of the season.
What are you your best achievements as a student?
A few highlights from my three years at The Royal Ballet School include being chosen to participate in solos evening which is always an honour. Perhaps my most special achievement was dancing the Lead role in the Hungarian Court dance in Raymonda at Opera Holland Park and the Royal Opera House in first year; that felt truly magical. I also had the honour of performing Sir Fredrick Ashton’s Pas de Douze from Swan Lake at Sadlers Wells as part of the ‘nite for Ukraine Gala as well as in the Linbury Theatre as part of The Next Generation Festival, at Opera Holland Park and The Royal Opera House. I also thoroughly enjoyed performing Mistake Waltz and La Valse, as a principal, on the dreamy Royal Opera House stage at my graduation performance, which was a great ending to my three years at The Royal Ballet School.
I fell in love with many aspects of ballet; the way you can connect to an audience without the need for words, and especially the way one can use ones body’s physicality to portray emotions. I also love the feeling of accomplishment when hours of training and coaching pays off and translates into a beautiful performance which an audience feels connected to. The fact that perfection in dance can be never be obtained motivates me to push myself to become 1% better every day, and helps me continue to fall in love with this unique and special art form.
How do you pick yourself up on the days when things aren’t going so well?
It’s easy to fall into a negative mindset of self-doubt, especially when comparing yourself to other dancers on social media or your classmates. It’s important to not allow a bad day or a few bad ballet classes to define you or your abilities as a dancer, as this can very easily become a negative and defeating cycle. Instead, I prefer to focus my attention on what I have accomplished in my career so far, or on steps which I once found challenging and have improved through working on them. I firmly believe that this can aid in re-establishing your self-confidence and get through tough periods, which unfortunately are inevitable.
Do you have a dream role and/or dance partner and if so what/who are they?
My dream role would be Giselle. In my opinion, being able to successfully portray a fragile, happy, innocent, naïve young girl as well as a heartbroken, hurt, betrayed woman requires a dancer to not only have a big variety of technical ability, but more importantly requires an immense level of artistic versatility. I know I would feel truly fulfilled as a ballet dancer and artist if I could connect deeply enough with the audience so as to enable them to feel as though they have experienced Giselle’s painful story through me.
What would you say to students entering their graduate year ?
Do not let rejection define you. Rejection is redirection, it will lead you to where you are ultimately meant to be. Keep working hard, pushing yourself technically and artistically and most importantly do not lose confidence in yourself and your abilities. If you are confident in yourself, other people will be too!
Where would you like to be this time next year and how will you measure your progress over the year?
I would like to end my first season with more experience and knowledge; about dance, about new repertoire, new styles and about myself, my body and who I am as a dancer. I wish to become a better version of myself through observing my colleagues and learning from a variety of new coaches and teachers along the way.
Head spins and monkey flips are noticeable by their absence. But in their place there is a lot of laughter and a thumping beat, along with the occasional grimace and yelp of frustration.
The 10 people – wearing bright orange and green T-shirts that mark them out as members of Ara Style Senior – do not belong to the demographic you would normally associate with breakdancing. Their average age hovers just below 70, and the oldest is 74.
But on a hot afternoon in an eastern Tokyo suburb, amid nervous smiles and initial timing issues, the group ends with a perfectly executed pose the dance’s originators in 1970s New York neighbourhoods would probably agree is not too shabby at all.
Senior breaking is one of a growing category of sports tailored to Japan’s large population of older people who, thanks to the country’s extraordinary longevity statistics, are determined to keep popping and locking for as long as their bodies will allow.
Ara Style Senior practice in Tokyo. Photograph: Justin McCurry/The Guardian
“At first I thought, there was no way I could breakdance at my age,” says 69-year-old Hitomi Oda. “And of course, we can’t do anything extreme, but it’s fun just to do the easy moves and get your body working.”
These superannuated b-girls and b-boys, who meet twice a month at a community centre in the capital’s Edogawa ward, have the organisers of this summer’s Paris Olympics, and former breaking national champion Yusuke Arai to thank for this novel approach to fitness in their later years.
“Some of my mother’s friends told her they were interested in learning how to breakdance, and when it was chosen as an Olympic sport, I thought, ‘Why not give it a go?’” Arai tells the Guardian ahead of a recent class. “There was a time when no one took much notice of breaking, and people said it wasn’t a proper sport, so the Olympics are a great opportunity.”
Members of Ara Style Senior breakdancing club. Photograph: Justin McCurry/The Guardian
The 39-year-old tailors his class to bodies that may not be as supple as the children he has been teaching for almost a decade. “You have to lower the hurdles to make it possible for older people to do the moves, so I begin with a focus on easy moves using the top half of the body,” says Arai.
“If people feel comfortable about trying something slightly more difficult, we start to move around the floor.”
The keen amateurs being put through their paces are part of a strong Japanese tradition in breaking, which will make its Olympic debut in Paris, three years after Japan’s athletes excelled at another new street-inspired Olympic sport – skateboarding – when it appeared at the pandemic-delayed Games in Tokyo.
The country’s four-member breakdancing team – including Ayumi Fukushima, a 41-year-old former kindergarten teacher, 25-year-old Ami Yuasa and Shigeyuki “Shigekix” Nakarai, 22 – will be among its medal hopefuls in Paris.
The class is just a few minutes old when the dancers, faces flushed from stretches and warm-up exercises, take the first of several breathers. The genteel approach works: since the classes started last year, not a single dancer has so much as sprained an ankle.
A few have backgrounds in other forms of dance, but most had never tried breaking until a combination of Olympic excitement and gentle peer pressure brought them through Arai’s door. Now they are converts, practising together between sessions with the help of YouTube tutorials.
The class ends with a meticulously rehearsed routine that combines toprocks and floor moves and, as its signoff, a baby freeze the dancers are asked to re-create multiple times by a visiting Japanese TV crew.
Takako Mizutani, a member of Ara Style Senior breakdancing club in Tokyo. Photograph: Justin McCurry/The Guardian
“The rhythm and the perseverance mean it stimulates your brain as well as your body,” says Kazuharu Sakuma, the only male dancer, who is here taking a trial class.
The 71-year-old says he will be back. “It’s not like you have to memorise the moves … you just do them two or three times and you realise, ‘yes, I can actually do this’. That’s when it becomes really enjoyable. It’s also great for general fitness … I’m hoping it will make it easier to walk up stairs.”
Class regular Takako Mizutani removes her trucker cap and pronounces herself “not in the least bit tired”.
The 71-year-old says she was introduced to the sport via a friend and has never looked back.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re not very good at it, it’s a lot of fun and a proper workout,” adds Mizutani, who has a background in jazz dance. “I plan to keep breaking for as long as I can.”
From Student to Staris an exclusive Ballet News interview series featuring graduates from vocational ballet schools – such as The Royal Ballet School – as they begin their professional careers.
Ravi Cannonier-Watson has graduated from The Royal Ballet School and joins The Royal Ballet Company.
You’ve been studying at The Royal Ballet School (RBS). When did you join the School and what made you decide to train there ?
Ijoined The Royal Ballet School in 2016, when I was 11 years old. I wasn’t the one who initially decided to put myself out to audition for the school, it was my mom. She was a dancer with The Dance Theatre of Harlem in New York. I had no idea what The Royal Ballet School was at the time, but my mother was adamant that I should give it a go to see what happens, and to my family’s surprise, I was accepted.
Prior to joining RBS, where did you train, and how early did you start ballet ?
I was born and raised in Bermuda, which is where I started dancing at the age of 9. I was never drawn to ballet to begin with; I actually had my heart set on becoming a footballer. I loved football and still do very much.
However, my mother’s natural influence around dance got me hooked pretty early on. Both of my younger sisters began dancing before I did, which also helped usher me in that direction. I would go to pick them up after they finished their classes and would sometimes get to see the end of their lessons, where they would be dancing and jumping across the room, which I loved watching.
I began dancing at this little part time ballet school that had a shared space with a church, called The Russian School of Ballet. I was shocked to find that there were no other boys in my class. I was the only one, which I found confusing at first, and a little daunting, but I just loved how freeing dancing felt so I really didn’t pay all that much attention to it. Ever since then, I’ve never looked back.
What do you think are the important things to focus on during training if you want to become a professional ballet dancer?
Resilience, grit, and determination.
I believe that in everything we love, there is an element of suffering. You have to be willing to suffer for what you love, in order to truly love something. The ability to pick yourself up and keeping going no matter how bad your situation gets, and remember why you began in the first place, is so important to your success in ballet or life in general. You will have bad days, bad ballet classes, bad performances; that doesn’t matter. It’s how you push through those difficult moments. So, I would absolutely say that resilience and mental toughness are a vital focus for dancers in training.
You’ve accepted a contract with The Royal Ballet under the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme. Congratulations ! Take us through the process of getting the contract and when do you start work?
I am extremely honoured to have received this offer from The Royal Ballet; it is surreal.
Back in November 2023, we had a series of mock auditions with company directors and assistant directors, such as Tamás Solymosi, Dominic Antonucci, and Ernst Meisner. These mock auditions eventually led to the official audition for The Royal Ballet, which Mr O’Hare observed [Ed note : Kevin O’Hare is Artistic Director of the Company]. The audition class was taken by Brian Maloney, class teacher with The Royal Ballet.
After the audition I went back home to Bermuda for the holidays, not expecting to hear anything back from either Birmingham Royal Ballet or The Royal Ballet until late January/February time. But on the 12th December 2023, I received a FaceTime call from Mr O’Hare and Mr Powney directly [Ed note – Christopher Powney was Artistic Director of the School], and from there, Mr O’Hare offered me a contract with the company.
I am still in disbelief to this day about what happened.
What do you know about the Company & have you spent much time with them during school ?
I attended school for 8 years, and through those years, I spent a decent amount time with the company, whether that be Nutcracker in my early years of school or Manon and Swan Lake in my final year.
What I know about the company is the standard they continuously set, and how much hard work that standard requires. Their importance of maintaining tradition and consistency is inspiring, as they protect their incredible history and continue to build on the legacies of the greats that worked with the company throughout its history.
What are you looking forward to about joining the Company ?
I look forward to growing. Becoming an artist and not just a dancer.
I feel the environment that is present in the company will give me that space to explore and find myself.And of course, being surrounded by the world’s best is what will push me to better myself. I want to learn and watch what they do every day and continue to be inspired by the phenomenal dancers and coaches that are present in today’s company.
How do you think Company life will differ from your student days & what do you hope to bring to the Company ?
I think the difference will lie in the amount of performing I will be doing. Class work, yes, is still very important. However, it becomes secondary to performance. But I wouldn’t want that any other way as I love performing.
I really enjoy watching dancers like Matthew Ball, Reece Clarke & Lukas Brændsrød, because they have this incredible masculine presence onstage. They grab their audiences. That’s what I hope to potentially bring to the Company : presence. I don’t want to be someone I’m not, I want to be the real me in whatever role or character I play, and I want to be exciting and engaging to watch.
How are you preparing yourself for your first professional contract?
Apart from resting and recovering, I guess I’m just trying to take everything in my stride. Put little expectation on myself, be mindful and take it slow in order to properly acclimate to this new life that I will be stepping into.
I think for me, it has to be dancing on the Palais Garnier stage for a gala back in April of this year. I performed Rhapsody with two other colleagues and we represented The Royal Ballet School on an international level, which was mind blowing and so exciting. We also got to explore Paris in between all the classes and rehearsals, which was phenomenal and a lifelong dream.
I would also say receiving my contract with The Royal Ballet Company. I think to put it into perspective and look back on my journey so far from when I first started, it baffles me at how far I’ve come. I truly am so grateful for this amazing offer, and this achievement will only keep me on my journey, constantly looking to grow and improve myself as I progress in my career.
WHY BALLET?
As a kid, I wasn’t much of a talker & was shy. Ballet gave me a passage to not only express myself, but to do so without words. So, when I dance, it’s a physical monologue of my emotions.
I am a very passionate person, I love giving out love and support to others. I enjoy dancing just as much as those who watch. When I’m onstage I love feeling that connection with the audience; it gives me a sense of fulfilment.
How do you pick yourself up on the days when things aren’t going so well?
It’s something I’ve been working on, but I would say move on as fast as possible when things don’t go your way. When you are performing you don’t have time to think about what went wrong, otherwise you lose the focus on what else you have to do. Therefore, moving on from a mistake, mishap or fall as soon as possible and getting back on track is so incredibly important in this profession. However, learning from the mistake or mishap later on in reflection, to move forward, is vital too.
Do you have a dream role and/or dance partner and if so what/who are they?
I think for me, my dream roles would have to be either Romeo [Ed note – from Romeo & Juliet] or Siegfried [Ed note : from Swan Lake]. Both are challenging roles, but they have so much depth and a lot of room for authenticity from whoever takes them on.
In terms of partners, I don’t particularly have a preference. I would be honoured to have the opportunity to partner any of the fantastic ballerinas in the Company.
What would you say to students entering their graduate year ?
Don’t sweat the small things and enjoy every moment you have in your final year as a student. It goes by so quickly and before you know it you are moving into the professional world. Just enjoy your time while you have it.
Where would you like to be this time next year and how will you measure your progress over the year?
I would like to finish my first season as a professional with more knowledge, more experience, and a better understanding of who I am as a dancer. I hope to learn from the best, so that I can grow and become a better version of myself. I cannot wait to get started with the Company and jump into professional life head on.
“The two-year program in Moncton, N.B. will accept eight Indigenous dancers in Grade 11. … The (instruction) will be in contemporary style, but also include traditional and ballet, making it a holistic format that will give students access to a wide range of opportunities in their professional careers.” – The Canadian Press (MSN)
Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, in partnership with Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet, today announced that Harrison James will perform as a Principal Dancer with both companies in the 2024/25 season.
“I am thrilled to be on the roster of two visionary companies for the 2024/25 season: The National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet. I feel strongly that my identity and value as a dancer has been shaped by working in multiple ballet companies throughout my career and now that this opportunity has risen again, I’m excited to seize it,” said James.
“This is a wonderful moment for Harrison to have exciting and varying performance opportunities with two extraordinary companies at this point in his celebrated career. Both the National Ballet and San Francisco Ballet share a commitment to advancing our artform with innovative repertoire and unique collaborations and I am pleased to partner with Tamara to offer Harrison this dual role for 2024/25,” said Muir.
“Harrison is a tremendously talented dancer and I’m delighted to welcome him back to San Francisco and to San Franciso Ballet where he started his career in our Trainee program. I am pleased that we can partner with The National Ballet of Canada to provide audiences across North America with the opportunity to watch him dance,”said Rojo.
James was born on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand and trained at San Francisco Ballet School’s Trainee Program in California and the New Zealand School of Dance. Prior to joining the National Ballet in 2013, he danced with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Béjart Ballet Lausanne. In 2016, James was promoted to Principal Dancer and his repertoire includes lead roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Nutcracker and more. Recently, he made his debut as Basilio in the North American premiere of Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote, the world premiere of the acclaimed MADDADDAM by Wayne McGregor, as Lensky in John Cranko’s Onegin and performed in the Canadian premiere of David Dawson’s smash hit Anima Animus.
James will next perform with the National Ballet in Jewels, the final production of the 2023/24 season, onstage June 15 – 22.
“’It’s an amazing experience,’ Annia Hidalgo, one of the Queer the Ballet dancers, [said]. ‘We all speak the same language. It’s movement, it’s art, it’s ballet, it’s queerness.’” – WPIX New York (MSN)
At the end of May, the Perelman Arts Center posted a clip on social media of “Jellicle Cats,” the catchy, effervescent opening number from the musical “Cats.” It showed a group of queer performers catwalking in a rehearsal room before breaking apart to freely dance and vogue. One singer wore a cap winkingly topped with feline ears; another stared down the camera and twirled her ponytail with declarative swagger.
This was the first real glimpse of a new, ballroom-inspired revival of “Cats,” running through July 28 at PAC NYC, as the Perelman Center in Manhattan is known. Since it was announced nearly a year earlier, the show had been a subject of skepticism and mocking humor: “Cats” was ridiculous enough, but ballroom? Hardly a mention of the production went by without a snicker.
Then the “Jellicle Cats” clip went viral, and jaws dropped. Celebrities chimed in, with the comedian Ziwe saying, “Ok go off” and the filmmaker Justin Simien simply writing, “AYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.” On TikTok, one person commented, “do I……do I suddenly want to see Cats?”
For over four decades, “Cats” has been something of a cultural punching bag. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation of poetry by T.S. Eliot, unfolding as a dance-heavy, revue-like show about cats gathering in a junkyard for their annual Jellicle Ball, has been seen as strange at best, and kitsch at worst. Its earworms have driven theater critics mad; its costumes of unitards and leg warmers are just as impossible to dislodge from your memory. Tom Hooper’s film adaptation, from late 2019, flopped disastrously, and was jokingly referred to as a dark turning point that ushered in the pandemic.
But, in a moment of stage directors reconsidering, and often reimagining, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals, such as a stark “Sunset Boulevard” transferring to Broadway from London this fall, perhaps it is also the time for “Cats” to shake off its pop culture clichés and say something new.
That, at least, is the goal of the PAC NYC production, called “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” an immersive revival that is free of felines and unfolds as a ballroom competition. As a concept, it maps onto the musical with surprising ease and heart.
“Think about ‘Cats’ being street characters in a junkyard and ballroom being these historically marginalized people,” said Zhailon Levingston, the show’s co-director. “In ballroom, you have a centering of legacy and chosen family, the way cats have a tribe. Both take what’s given to them, and turn it into something beautiful.”
Levingston first saw “Cats” as a child; he basically forced his mother to rent the 1998 video release at Blockbuster. According to family lore, he watched the entire show inches from the television screen, without getting up once. That’s when it was clear, he said, that “my mom knew that something was going on, that this young person is not the same as the other kids.”
Fast-forward to the pandemic, when Levingston was at home with his roommate, playfully wondering what “Cats” would be like if the characters were “cats” in the older, slangy sense. Around that time, Bill Rauch, the artistic director of PAC NYC, happened to be trying to work out a queer take on the musical.
Rauch had already directed a queer twist on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” and had imagined a version of “Cats” in which an older gay man would play Grizabella and sing the show’s defining ballad, “Memory,” alone in a gay bar. “As I spent time with the material, though,” Rauch recalled, “I realized that of course it’s not a bar. It’s a ball.”
He began to assemble collaborators well-versed in the world of ballroom. But he also, one day, heard from Levingston, who wanted to meet over Zoom and, in a bold stroke, asked to join the production as a co-director. Rauch, quickly impressed, said yes. (Among the thousands of comments on the “Jellicle Cats” video was the performer Larry Owens tagging Levingston and saying, “Baby @zhailon isn’t playing.”)
As the production developed, long gone was the initial image of Grizabella the gay man. Instead, the Jellicle Ball was conceived as a succession of categories (said like “CAT-egories”), with performers vying for ballroom glory rather than deciding which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer. Along the way, Levingston and Rauch found connections between their concept and the lyrics; the cats are described as “queens of the night,” for example, who “come out tonight” for the ball. So, they were able to maintain the architecture of the original musical, adding a few ballroom references but not cutting and replacing material.
“We want this production to be authentic to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Cats,’ to T.S. Eliot’s words and to ballroom,” Rauch said. “All those things are of equal weight and importance to us. If there’s a ballroom choice that doesn’t honor the musical, or a musical choice that doesn’t honor ballroom, then we don’t do it.”
In the spirit of the original production, this “Cats” is immersive, combining PAC NYC’s modular theater spaces to build out, in Rachel Hauck’s set designs, a 57-foot runway. (“Of course you can’t do it without a runway,” she said.) There are traditional, raked seats, but also ones near the stage, at cafe tables that are incorporated into big dance numbers.
“We wanted to play with the setting of ballroom to create something magical for everyone,” said Arturo Lyons, who choreographed the show with Omari Wiles. They preserved the dancing spirit of “Cats,” and thought of movement as way for characters to “come together and show their ballroom skills,” Wiles said.
“Cats” has always been difficult to cast. Despite having little plot, it has demanded classic triple threats, performers who could spin out Lloyd Webber’s tuneful songs, survive a dance sequence like the 10-minute “Jellicle Ball” and, well, act like a cat. The PAC NYC revival has the added element of ballroom, an idiom that can be easily, embarrassingly fumbled by musical theater artists.
During the casting process, a staggering range of performers auditioned, Rauch said. He and Levingston were touched by how many queer Black people spoke about how “Cats” was, as Rauch described it, “a huge safety valve of queer expression for countless youth.” Some people, though, showed up thinking that “ballroom” meant “ballroom dance” and prepared material more fitting for “Dancing With the Stars.”
In the end, the casting drew from theater and ballroom. The two elder roles in the show, Old Deuteronomy and Gus the Theater Cat, were represented by titans from both worlds: André de Shields from theater and, from ballroom, Junior Labeija, a star of the classic documentary “Paris Is Burning.”
There has been a learning curve for everyone involved. “It’s definitely been a teaching moment,” Wiles said. “People have had to learn a new language — a new vogue-cabulary — but also learn to read sheet music or process choreography in a new way.”
Chasity Moore, the ballroom veteran, is playing Grizabella, which she initially found “a little nerve-racking” because, she said, “I would go in and think, Oh my God, these people have all these musical backgrounds.” But the same was true for those actors, who had to learn from Wiles and Lyons not to just have a ballroom affect, but to persuasively embody it: throwing shade as a spectator, say, or interacting with others as a house mother.
At first, Moore said, she wasn’t sure about a ballroom-themed “Cats,” and was worried that it risked appropriation. But she was touched by the production’s treatment of Grizabella as an icon of old who comes back to the scene, only to be spurned by her community because she has lost her youth and fallen on hard times.
“You are only as good as your last ballroom,” Moore said. “And a lot of times, the younger kids don’t do their research, and when these older ballroom girls come back, they are not given the best welcome. With Grizabella singing ‘Memory,’ that’s her saying: ‘You’re looking down on me, but you have no idea what I went through for us. Touch me, I bleed just like you.”
That sentiment is the soul of “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” It is still an interactive, dance-heavy show, but alongside its athletic entertainment is fresh gravitas, never more evident than in the finale, “The Ad-Dressing of Cats.” In the past, the song has attracted giggles, with lines like “So first, your memory I’ll jog and say: A cat is not a dog.” Judi Dench sang it, in the movie, from a plinth on Trafalgar Square, perched atop the mane of a lion sculpture. But in the PAC NYC revival, the cast members gather closely and proudly deliver the rules for behavior in their ballroom.
“What does it mean, by the end of the show, for Black and brown bodies who are also queer, at the center of their own narrative, to not be asking for permission of how to be treated?” Levingston said. “What if they are demanding that if you are in our space, this is what our names are, and this is how you should address us? It gives the piece not a different message, but a message that’s deeper, and more urgent.”
