I was lucky enough to spend some time during my Christmas Holidays in Australia.    Never having been there before, I was unsure of what to expect.  I experienced a lovely country, with stunningly beautiful coast lines and the friendliest people I’ve ever met.  As my job is working at Canada’s National Ballet School, one of the highlights of my trip was a tour of the Australian Ballet School, given to me by Mark Annear, the Head of the Teacher Training & Community Access programs. 

The Australian Ballet School is lucky enough to share its studios and offices with those of The Australian Ballet Company.  As Mark toured me around the studios, he explained that the Company generally uses roughly half the studio space, while the School uses the remaining studios.  However, as I was there during Australian summer, the Company was away and so the School, in the middle of its Summer School, had expanded into almost all the studios in the building.  

The Australian Ballet School runs a summer school program, but it’s quite different from the one Canada’s National Ballet School provides.  NBS’ summer school is an audition-based program, and it’s the second phase of auditioning for the School’s full-time Professional Ballet Program.  In Australia the summer school program is open to any student who is interested, and is a week-long experience, offered for three different weeks.  It was a real treat for me to see so many inspired young dance students of all ages and experience levels enjoying themselves in studio.  It was also really great to chat with some of the staff of the Australian Ballet School.  Having seen the beautiful city they work in, and gotten a behind-the-scenes tour of their building, I’m now hoping Ballet School Staff Exchanges would be possible!