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What it’s really like to audition for the Company.
One of the toughest aspects of a dancer’s career has to be the audition process. In the space of a few minutes, the dream of performing for a top dance company can be granted or dashed.
Hundreds of professional dancers and graduating students apply for a position at English National Ballet every year.
Whilst most dancers will send a CV with accompanying photography, Artistic Director Wayne Eagling says he can more easily make a decision on an application if a dancer also sends in a film. “It’s very difficult with just a description to say yes or no to an audition. But I know it’s not easy for everyone to send a DVD, in the last 20 applications I had only two with DVDs.”
Dancers may apply to the Company at any time of year and if there are no places available, the details of suitable individuals are kept on file. The Company can have no more than 64 dancers on permanent contract.
However, Wayne prefers inviting selected candidates into a daily class to see them dancing alongside other members of the Company, rather than asking them to perform a prepared piece in a mass audition, as evidenced by his tactics during his time at Dutch National Ballet. “When I got there we had two or three places available and 150 people turned up on the same day! So the first thing I did in Amsterdam was stop those sorts of auditions. I’d rather people came to do class with the Company. I can tell if I want them for the Company just from watching them in class.”
Almost 350 dancers applied to join English National Ballet between November 2005 and June 2006, of which about two thirds were female. A total of 126 candidates were invited to audition, nine were then asked to join the Company.
Laura Bruña Rubio was one of the lucky few to be offered a place with English National Ballet. Laura trained at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid, in Spain, and previously worked with Stuttgart Ballet, in Germany. Laura’s involvement with the Company actually began just before the new season kicked off in July 2006, when she secured a temporary position on tour.
Laura discovered that the Company was looking for an extra dancer for its performances of Swan Lake at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, during April and May 2006. She auditioned in March and, when she was picked for Swan Lake, was told there was the possibility of a contract in the future. Her hard work on tour paid off when she was offered a permanent position for the 2006/07 season.
So how did Laura find the audition itself? “Yes, I was nervous but I still enjoyed it!” She was asked to attend two classes along with a number of other hopefuls and this was enough for Wayne to spot her talent and she is now an Artist of the Company. When asked what audition advice she would give to other dancers she laughs and says that apart from showing themselves off to the best of their ability, they should remember one thing: “Try to enjoy it!”.
However, even good advice may not help if the timing is wrong. At any given time a dance company may be specifically in need of more men or more women, shorter or taller dancers to balance the current corps de ballet or more experienced dancers to hit the ground running in senior roles. As Wayne says: “Sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time.” However, he also adds: “If someone is incredibly talented it doesn’t matter what you are looking for, you just take them!”
Artistic Directors also have their own preferences as to what they look for in a dancer. For instance, Wayne says that the shape of the dancer when he or she is standing still is extremely important. His parting advice to new dancers is to use their brains as much as their bodies. “They have to show themselves to be intelligent – they have to pick up combinations. And they shouldn’t hide themselves under a 1,000 layers of leg warmers to disguise what they think are physical weaknesses – they should choose dance clothes that make them look good when they move.”
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