Maja Grubić

Maja is the youngest of JBA’s newest recruits: at age 17 this young Croatian/Canadian has already lived away from home for 6 years, to continue her ballet training in Toronto at the Canadian National Ballet School. As she herself says, it was a formative time in developing her character and nurturing her passion for ballet and music.
Born in England, she started dancing at a very early age – her sister took lessons and she found it fun and encouraging to join her. Then when her family moved to Canada she continued dancing at a local ballet school under the Vaganova (Russian) method. She also experimented with other forms of dance and enjoyed swimming, but had decided to concentrate on ballet.
Her motivation and self-study have driven her passion to learn and discover more about the world of ballet and after a summer intensive at the National Ballet School she was offered a place to join their professional program, where she started at age 11.

Maja: “During a summer dance course in Prague, I had heard about JBA from another JBA dancer and this made me aware of what Europe had to offer. I graduated at age 17 and did not feel ready to dive into a full-time career. I am also aware that companies today hesitate in signing up young dancers with so little experience. What
JBA offers – strong training in different choreographic styles, performing experience, personal coaching in a small supportive environment – the two years in Antwerp is an ideal transition period for me!”

Maja is a young woman with a very intelligent and realistic outlook of her future. As she explains, she has dream companies she’d love to join including Dutch National Ballet, Wiener Staatsballett and naturally the National Ballet of Canada, (all classically orientated companies) and to work with choreographers such as Crystal Pite and Christopher Wheeldon.
One of her passions is for the ballet Swan Lake, the music and the great ballerinas who interpret the role of Odette/Odile! Coming down to earth, she loves meeting friends, baking and music.

©Filip Van Roe