FLASH #18 – MOVING ON!

It’s that time of year again; everyone is looking forward to the summer – holidays mean time to rest, to catch up with family and friends. As for dancers – it’s time to recharge batteries which in their case, means giving bodies a much-needed recuperation period. This goes naturally for teachers and coaches as well – for these busy people it’s not only physical but mental respite that will be the order of the day!

As JBA is preparing its seasonal break, four of our graduates are moving on to the next step of their journey as they fly off to new destinations.

Rinka Matsuura has been a valued member of JBA during the past 3 years. Her innate musicality, fine technique and interpretive sense was obvious from the start and was underlined when she danced the title role in CINDERELLA last season.

She recounts how she auditioned this year for the Milwaukee Ballet’s second company in the USA: because it was financially difficult to get to the audition in person, the director allowed her to do it online and this resulted in an immediate offer of a contract as an apprentice. Joining the Milwaukee Ballet will be an excellent start as well as a stepping stone in her career being absolutely delighted to tackle the company’s neo-classical & classical repertoire as of August! Rinka will be greatly missed.

Soazig Drion after spending her formative years of dance in private schools in France, concluded her training with JBA and will be joining the Estonian National Ballet based in Tallinn, at the beginning of August.

Soazig tells of how, when she joined JBA, it took her a while to get used to being part of a group; the give-and-take, the camaraderie and the ease of ‘just being herself‘ without pressure from any side. It all lead to one of her first created roles: one of the two stepsisters in CINDERELLA. She compares her trajectory with JBA to that of dancing David Dawson’s METAMORPHOSIS. This lovely but demanding work was in the repertoire during her first season with JBA and Soazig had to dig deep then in order to be able to find the lines, intensity and spacial quality unique to the Dawson technique.
She is looking forward to all that lies in store next year but especially to the close links the Estonian Ballet has (repertoire-wise) to the French style; she was trained by French teachers among others by former Paris Opera étoile Clairemarie Osta.

Tilly Wightman, from Britain, was one of the JBA ‘newbies’ only two years ago, and is now moving to Germany as a member of the Dortmund Junior Ballet Company directed by Xin Peng Wang.

In her very first months with JBA, Tilly was plunged headfirst into the creation of the 3 Act ballet CINDERELLA in which she was entrusted with the title role in one of the three casts. As she recalls, she was as yet uncertain of her own style, let alone that of JBA, however the close bonding within the group and in particular the help of colleagues Rinka Matsuura and Natsuki Nishiyama (both dancing the title role) gave her confidence. The training here at JBA has helped her evolve, to develop as an artist because of the personal coaching as well as the exposure to many different styles and techniques, such as Ihsan Rustem’s BOLERO, staged for JBA by Laura Fernandez, and subsequently polished by the choreographer himself.
On the agenda of the proposed Dortmund season 24/25 are two classical ballets, SWAN LAKE and LA BAYADERE which she is very much looking forward to dancing: an added pleasure is the fact that acquaintances from London’s Royal Ballet School (where Tilly trained before JBA) will be joining her, also as newcomers.

With American/ Hawaiian roots, Lauren Alving has stood out in many of the roles she danced with JBA during the past two years. A striking, dark-haired young woman, distinguished on stage by her intensity and quality of movement, she completed her ballet training at the Dutch National Ballet Academy before coming to Antwerp. She soon moves on to Dresden where she is offered an apprentice contract with the SemperOper Ballett, under the new directorship of Kinsun Chan.

Lauren is emphatic that her period here at JBA has been deeply influential in forming her as a dancer. From the character parts in CINDERELLA, to Ilja Louwen’s highly original work JOURNEY and recently in JAMES, all have clearly shown her promise as an emerging artist and these parts have honed her technical precision and artistry.
Lauren realizes that by joining the SemperOper Ballett with its varied repertoire, she will be building further on the eclectic training she has received at JBA – a definite ‘moving on’ in her professional career.

We’re naturally thrilled that our young dancers are stepping out into the professional arena, following their dream.
Because of the close bonding during training and performing, there is always an amount of sadness when we have to bid them good-bye but we’ll follow their paths closely and wish them every success in the future.
Congratulations to all of you!

Stay tuned for what JBA’S 24/25 season has in store – after our well-deserved summer break!