Jan McNulty Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 English National Ballet School appoints new Director of Dance Photo: Emma Kauldhar English National Ballet School are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Carlos Valcárcel as Director of Dance from October 2017. Born in Spain Mr. Valcárcel began his studies at Victor Ullate School and María de Ávila Ballet School under Lola de Avila and Ana Baselga. Following an illustrious performing career where he danced principal roles with Victor Ullate Ballet, Balletto di Toscana and Stuttgart Ballet, Mr Valcárcel became Director and principal teacher of his own ballet school in Madrid before joining the Showa School for Performing Arts in Tokyo. At the Showa School, he was the Principal Tutor and Lecturer of the Ballet Department. He later joined The Washington School of Ballet, teaching, mentoring and choreographing students and dancers from the company as Ballet Master of the Trainee Program at The Washington School of Ballet. Mr Valcárcel has also been credited with coaching principal ballerinas and has served as a judge of international ballet competitions. He has also choreographed pieces and coached participants for elite competitions. He joins English National Ballet School from Ballet Arizona where he has been Director of its School since 2011. Mr Valcárcel is enthusiastically committed to preparing the next generation of young professional dancers for their careers. Of his new appointment Mr Valcárcel said, “I am thrilled to be joining the staff and teachers of English National Ballet School as Director of Dance and cannot wait to start working with the students. These are particularly exciting times for the School with the impending move to purpose built facilities in East London which will provide an unprecedented opportunity to expand its position within the dance world, as well as further its collaboration with English National Ballet and its artistic leadership.” Sue Wyatt, Director of English National Ballet School said, "I am delighted to welcome Carlos to English National Ballet School and am looking forward to working with him on training dancers for the future.” Steve Sacks, Chairman of English National Ballet School said “Having worked with Tamara Rojo on appointing a new Director of Dance I am excited to welcome Carlos to English National Ballet School. We feel he brings the right ethos, energy and experience to lead the School as we start to enter this exciting new stage in our future.” Notes to Editors English National Ballet School, official school of English National Ballet We are the official School of English National Ballet with one third of the Company’s dancers having graduated from the School We offer a 3 year diploma in Professional dance accredited by Trinity College, London Our current body of 72 comprises of students from 12 countries including Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, US, Italy, Spain, France, Japan We are the peer of major ballet schools in France, the United States, Denmark and the UK and many of our graduated students are now working in major ballet companies worldwide We audition over 300 young dancers each year from all over the world and award places purely on talent We are the only Dance specialist DaDA (Dance and Drama Award) school to consistently achieve Outstanding from Ofsted since inspections began in 2002 and we maintain a strong employment record Open to all without audition ENBS Juniors offer high quality, weekly ballet classes to children aged 3 – 10 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 I assume he has replaced someone but the press release doesn't seem to mention that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 15 minutes ago, MAB said: I assume he has replaced someone but the press release doesn't seem to mention that. Samira Saidi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 IIRC, it was announced a couple of months ago that Samira Saudi was stepping down. I assume he is her replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 4 hours ago, Jan McNulty said: ...Mr Valcárcel is enthusiastically committed to preparing the next generation of young professional dancers for their careers. Of his new appointment Mr Valcárcel said, “I am thrilled to be joining the staff and teachers of English National Ballet School as Director of Dance and cannot wait to start working with the students. These are particularly exciting times for the School with the impending move to purpose built facilities in East London which will provide an unprecedented opportunity to expand its position within the dance world, as well as further its collaboration with English National Ballet and its artistic leadership.” Our current body of 72 comprises of students from 12 countries including Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, US, Italy, Spain, France, Japan Call me cynical if you will... I see the UK doesn't get a mention in the list. So just how many of those 72 students are British? And how many British students actually make it all the way through the 3 years to graduation? And how many of those get a job with ENB? As a tax-paying member of the general public, I'd much rather see the school expand its intake of British students rather than consolidate its already considerable international position, but there you go. (sticks head above parapet and then ducks quickly down again) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 With regard to Ms Saidi, isn't it customary to say a few gracious words of thanks to an outgoing director? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legseleven Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 Much as I would like the U.K. vocational schools to train a majority of U.K. students, I would rather they continue to accept the best candidates for training rather than require a certain proportion to be 'home' students. That is the only way they can maintain their worldwide reputation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 4 minutes ago, Legseleven said: Much as I would like the U.K. vocational schools to train a majority of U.K. students, I would rather they continue to accept the best candidates for training rather than require a certain proportion to be 'home' students. That is the only way they can maintain their worldwide reputation. POB manages it though, as do many other schools overseas. The UK has a population of over 60 million - we only need to produce a few dozen each year. I agree that they need to accept the best candidates, but there must be something pretty rotten about u16 training here, if most of the places in our top two upper schools are filled by 'away' students. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 At Northern Ballet, British and ENBS: Matthew Koon, Gavin McCaig and newbie Andrew Holdsworth. Luke Francis has just left NB. IIRC Chris Hinton Lewis was also ENBS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 29 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said: At Northern Ballet, British and ENBS: Matthew Koon, Gavin McCaig and newbie Andrew Holdsworth. Luke Francis has just left NB. IIRC Chris Hinton Lewis was also ENBS. The chaps seem to have better success than the ladies, true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 I was wondering whether these large numbers of students from abroad is something to do with money. Most Upper schools can offer a certain number of scholarships but once these are taken up most other potential students would have to find the money either through Grants, sponsorship or wealthy enough parents. I have a feeling more students from abroad are sponsored.....whether this is a result of winning competitions ( such as Prix de Lausanne) I'm not sure. There aren't that many Ballet Companies in the World so I suppose you cannot blame students for wanting to train with those who they consider the best. i just wish there were more scholarships available....without dragging standards down....it must be very hard for those really promising students who,just cannot get the financial backing they need for a variety of reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 What I would like to know is how many students from White Lodge make it to either RBS or ENBS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hfbrew Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 3 hours ago, Erica said: What I would like to know is how many students from White Lodge make it to either RBS or ENBS Varies from year to year. And don't forget that there are other options such as Elmhurst, Hammond, Tring and Central. All of my ds year at WL who wished to continue vocational training did so and a fair few who went to places other than RBS or ENBS ended up being employed in classical companies first. This was a year that relatively few went to RBS or ENBs. Years either side of DS year had greater numbers. And there are many who decide enough is enough at 16. There is no set number. This has been discussed before . I wish the new director of ENBS good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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