Young dancers in Halifax audition for prestigious ballet school

Young dancers in Halifax got the chance to audition for one of the most prestigious dance schools in the country over the weekend.

Plenty of dancers from Grade 6 to post-secondary took part in the auditions at DANSpace.

“Really what we’re looking for the most are kids that love to dance, that are passionate about it, that love to dance to music and respond,” said Deborah Hess with Canada’s National Ballet School.

The Toronto school focuses on ballet, but other forms of dance are prevalent during auditions, which allows instructors to see students’ strengths and weaknesses.

“Our first class is a hip-hop-fusion class before our ballet class so we can see different ways of movement, and see who responds to music in different ways,” she said.

The auditions in Halifax were only one step in the process of being invited to the prestigious schools.

“From this group we will select students that we think should come to our summer school in July and that acts as the second part of the audition, and from there they’ll have an opportunity to be in Toronto, see our philosophy of training, live in residence, be with other kids that are also passionate about dancing, and then we’ll see who we’ll invite to the full-time ballet academic program.”

Canada’s National Ballet School is the only school in North America that includes dance, academics, residence, and their own theatre all on-site. Hess said they also try to support their students after graduation.

“We help them prepare themselves for auditions, for ballet companies or dance companies around the world. We don’t just sort of wave to them ‘goodbye and good luck, find a job,’ we help them because we have an extensive student-exchange program, an extensive relationship with dance companies around the world.”

Students auditioning over the weekend said it was a great way to learn more.

“I’m hoping to be accepted into the summer program but I also think it’s a great experience to do the masterclass, there’s lots of great teachers,” said dancer Molly Maclellan.

“I’m mostly expecting just to like, learn something. It really doesn’t matter if I get in, all that stuff doesn’t matter, I just want to be able to have something that I could get out of it that makes me feel better about myself as a dancer,” said another dancer, Savannah Corkum.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jim Kvammen.

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