News
Amelia Jackson joins Central School of Ballet
Posted 17 January 2012
Amelia Jackson from Tickton, near Beverly in East Yorkshire has been accepted for professional dance training at one of Europe’s premier schools for dance training and education, Central School of Ballet (CSB) in London.
Amelia, aged 17, has been dancing since she was just four years old. She has now completed her first term at CSB, one of only 38 pupils accepted for a place on this three year degree course, a BA (Hons) in Professional Dance and Performance (validated by the University of Kent). CSB is the only dance school in the UK to offer this unique qualification. Amelia was selected for her place from 400 applicants.
Entrance to CSB is through auditions which are held every spring, a process that involves performing for the school’s teaching staff, all of whom are ex professional dancers themselves. The course’s main focus is on Classical Ballet supported by Contemporary Dance as an additional subject, and also includes tuition in Choreography, Spanish Dance, Pilates, Jazz Dance, Drama, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Singing and Contextual Studies.
Amelia gained her early enthusiasm for dance by attending the Royal Ballet School in Richmond and London where she gained five GCSEs alongside her dance training. Amelia’s mother was previously a dance teacher herself.
Sara Matthews, director of CSB explains the competition for places at a dance school at this level: “Students typically join us aged 16 after GCSE. By this stage many of them will have been dancing since primary school. Only the most talented and dedicated students are accepted but ballet is no longer an elitist profession. Around 25% of CSB students are given some kind of financial assistance through the school to allow them to complete their tuition here. We have a long history of accepting students from a diverse range of social and economic backgrounds.”
During her final year Amelia will join the school's touring company Ballet Central. Ballet Central’s annual nationwide tour will visit 22 venues this spring including the Lowry in Salford Quays and the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House. For more information about the 2012 tour that commences on 8 March in Hertford visit balletcentral.co.uk.
Touring with this unique student ballet company offers a professional performance experience that is not available through any other dance school on such a scale. Sara Matthews comments: “We are the only vocational ballet school able to offer our students an Honours Degree and this level of touring experience. Ballet Central continues to be a springboard for hundreds of dancers into the top international dance companies. Dancers live to perform so touring is a much anticipated part of our three year curriculum.”
Graduates from CSB go on to join the world’s premier dance companies. Recent CSB students are currently employed at The Royal Ballet, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Company, English National Ballet, Scottish Ballet, National Ballet of Estonia, Ballet Black, Northern Ballet, Birmingham Ballet, K Ballet, Rambert, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Slovakia Ballet, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and many more.
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For more information visit www.centralschoolofballet.co.uk
For press information and images please contact Hamilton Consulting, Anita Hamilton:
t: 020 8742 0566
m: 07768 778 772
e: anita@hamiltonconsulting.org.uk
