The Australian Ballet School trains some of the finest young dancers and has an excellent reputation worldwide. The school works closely with The Australian Ballet, sharing the studios and offices of The Australian Ballet Centre in Melbourne.
Entry to The Australian Ballet School is by audition only, and because it is the national school, examiners travel all over Australia to see talented dancers for their possible entry into the training programme. The complete course is made up of five years of junior school and three years of senior school. Students can audition into any year up to level 6, where they join the three-year diploma course. To enter the junior school at level 1 you need to be nine or ten years of age, and for the senior school it’s 15 to 18.
The School has a very busy year of activities. As well as normal dance classes, the students rehearse for end-of-year performances. Some also train for dance or choreographic competitions, which take up plenty of extra hours. There is no way that ‘normal’ school is forgotten either. All full-time students at the School must take academic classes up to year 12.
Professional performances are held every year, the most important of these for the level 8 senior students being The Dancers Company tour to some of Australia’s largest regional centres. An important part of the final year at the School is gaining public performance experience. At the end of each year all members of the School dance in the graduation season in Melbourne.
Most contracts for new dancers with The Australian Ballet are offered to graduating students of the School. However, even if they aren’t offered a place they are still in a very good position to find work in Australia or overseas. During the last few months of their time at the School, many artistic directors make the trip to Melbourne to see them in class and rehearsal. Within six months of graduating, over 90% of students have found full-time work in the dance profession. Graduates from The Australian Ballet School are found all over the world!
For more information about The Australian Ballet School click here
