The Royal Ballet is set to launch a year-long training scheme for graduate dancers, aimed at providing female ballerinas in particular with an “extra chance” to gain employment in the industry.
The number of female graduates entering the dance industry has been the topic of many conversations, so the steps to be taken by the Royal Ballet look to ease the problem and provide employment solutions for some.
The scheme is to be called the Aud Jebsen Young Dancer Programme; it will commence in September 2014 and will offer up to six paid work placements to dancers who have graduated from ballet school. There will be opportunities to work with the company’s corps de ballet, teachers, coaches and young choreographers, enabling young graduate dancers to begin to work their way up the dance career ladder and secure a healthy start.
Participants of the scheme will also be able to perform with the Royal Ballet, gaining invaluable performance experience as they continue on their dancing journeys.
Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare said that the organisation would initially look to the Royal Ballet School for recruits, but would also encourage graduates from other training providers to apply. The programme is to be open to both male and female dancers, however O’Hare hopes to see more female ballet dancers applying because it is hoped to then encourage them to continue their career either at the Royal Ballet or another dance company.
The competition between female dancers is extremely high, simply because there are so many of them. Men tend to appear more successful in their endeavours because there are less of them in the ballet world, with seemingly more jobs to go around a smaller number. The Royal Ballet graduate scheme aims to give female dancers an extra chance, setting them up to either join the Royal Ballet or any other company around the world.