Artistic Directors visiting schools/employment processes

[sarahw]

I am also staggered- surely preparing and supporting through auditions process is basic? As others say it would make their graduate figures look better. It must be that dc are so desperate to go parents are less critical of these things? I bet if you were paying for a. n. other private school we would all be more discerning. Would you pay a school that didn't advise your child on a UCAS form? Well, you wouldn't tolerate a state school not doing it.

My dc will be made to read this thread!!

[sarahw]

Sorry I sound like Angry of Tonbridge Wells there! !!

[swanprincess]

Just noticed this & thought graduating DC's might be interested http://www.ballet.org.uk/the-company/vacancies/

[aileen]

Presumably that's for Swan Lake and possibly Coppelia (and Nutcracker?). I didn't know that ENB recruited freelancers for their tours. What this shows is that auditions can come up at short notice and so you have to keep a close eye out for upcoming auditions.

[aileen]

This audition was advertised on Twitter and so it might be worthwhile for graduates seeking employment to sign up to Twitter and follow as many ballet companies as they can plus Dance Europe and similar. I'm not sure if Dance Europe do 'alerts'. I hope that I'm not insulting any graduates by suggesting this; perhaps they all do this already.

[afab]

But why does ENB not pick graduates from ENBS? I just don't understand...

[aileen]

Yes, I agree. You might think that graduates of ENBS would get 'first refusal', but I don't know how many female graduates without contracts there are and how many freelancers they want for the four and a half months. I'm slightly surprised that they are recruiting freelancers at all because ENB is quite a large company but I suppose that they need 24 swans for every performance of a long run of Swan Lake and have to be able to cover injuries, sickness and other absences. You can't have 23 swans because someone is ill! Perhaps ENB is mindful of what happened during the RB's long run of Sleeping Beauty earlier this year when in several performances the company couldn't field a full cast and had to have ballerinas dancing multiple parts in the same performance (the Lilac Fairy and Aurora's Friend being the most extreme) because the company was afflicted by so much injury and illness.

[Jan McNulty]

Their graduates who have just graduated are probably now occupied elsewhere and perhaps the group moving into the final year are not considered ready to meet the requirement.

 

I think most of the companies may offer short term contracts to cover for illness/injury/maternity leave but I would guess the growing social media is highlighting things we the audience may have been oblivious too.

 

Isabella Gasparini was on a short term contract at RB and is now a full company member. Sarah Kundi was on a short term contract at ENB and is now a full company member.

[Fiz]

Jane will be pleased about Sarah!

[invisiblecircus]

Graduate employment rates seems like a good addition to the checklist when filing out those application forms, and taking all those photos and looking at funding options.

 

A good addition? Surely it's the most important thing! After all, the only reason we apply to these schools is to fulfil our professional ambitions so it seems crucial to ensure that we are applying to schools which are capable of getting others to where we want to be.

[aileen]

In today's links there is an interview with the newly retired etoile of the POB, Nicolas Le Riche. It's interesting to read that he was the last of the POBS graduates to get a contract in his year and that, at first, he was not 'a triumph' as he puts it. However, five years later, at 21, he was appointed to the position of etoile.

[Sylvie]

Isabella Gasparini seemed to appear from nowhere and bag herself a temporary contract at the RB Co and now she's apparently been given a permanent position and good luck to her, but my question as always is how these people actually get an audition in the first instance.  RB as we've discussed earlier, don't hold open auditions. Same with Sarah Kundi at ENB although I understand she was in one of their recent in the round productions.  She's now about 29 yrs old and not exactly the usual age for entry as an artist.   I'm just trying to understand how this all works but just can't fathom it and it's driving me to despair.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Sylvie

[Jan McNulty]

Isabella Gasparini was much loved by fans of Northern Ballet for her five or six years with the company.  When she left NB she was in Swan Lake at RAH on a short term contract and was then with NEBT before she got the short term contract at the Royal.  Perhaps NEBT was able to help her get that contract and the RB, understandably, liked what they saw.

 

Not only was Sarah Kundi a stalwart at NB but later when with Ballet Black she was nominated for a Dance Critics award so she has not exactly appeared on the scene from nowhere either.

[Sylvie]

When I said, appeared from nowhere, I didn't mean I've never heard of them but that they have secured contracts with companies that didn't hold auditions so what I'm trying to understand is how they do manage to get these contracts.   when you say that maybe NEBT maybe helped Isabella to get that short contract with RB is exactly what I'm thinking must be happening, which doesn't give any new graduates who have no 'networking contacts' to give them that vital first break.  A friend of mine who danced for many years with a company and is now a teacher told me that it's really a case of not what you know,  but who you know...

[aileen]

Sylvie, I can quite understand your bewilderment and that you are just trying to understand how dancers get auditions, never mind contracts. Obviously it's going to be hard for new graduates to compete with dancers who have several years experience, although I suppose that an experienced dancer might sometimes be preferred if s/he cost less and was only needed for junior roles initially. Has your daughter applied for NEBT or even National Youth Ballet who I understand have some professional dancers as well as the talented amateurs? Can your DD go back to her school for advice or is she on her own now that she has left the school? As you say, it's getting that first job that is so hard and the process seems less than transparent.

[Anjuli_Bai]

As for the who you know......

 

It is not unusual for a teacher in a local school to contact someone in a company with whom he/she has a working relationship.  If someone one knows and who's opinion one trusts touts a  particular dance student - that does get special attention, 

 

But, I think that happens in many fields.  

[Sylvie]

My daughter applied to NEBT and was told they were not currently auditioning.  She has danced with NYB a few times when younger but I wasn't aware they had any professional dancers amongst them unless it's changed since her day.

She'll plod on dancing every day and auditioning although the travel abroad and the cost is very hard to manage. 

[balletqs]

NYB do not have professional dancers in the company and they are not paid. Just to clear that up. I think any director has his or her right to contact a dancer they are interested in and invite them to take company class. This happened to Tyrone Singleton Carrie Johnson and Greg Dean after an NYB gala who were invited to do company class with BRB. Ty and Carrie received contracts Greg was then invited to Scottish Ballet and received one there. They just need to get seen and 'recommended' sometimes a company member may ask a director for a friend to join class. Ballet black used to do open class at the ROH possibly still do and Mr O Hare may have seen the above two there as he walked past. Right place right time

[Harwel]

There are no easy answers to these questions and it is the same the world over and in many professions. There are as many talented dancers out there trying to find work, as there are in jobs, and one is not necessarily better than the other. There are a hundred different permutations of how one got their first break; right height, fit a particular costume, can cartwheel to the left, right height for a favoured dancer in company who needs a partner, the list goes on. It is hard not to get frustrated or bitter, we all know of a dancer who is fantastic, works hard and really wants it, but just can't get a job. I can only rationalise it one way - it is either your destiny or it isn't. You can keep on, working hard, putting yourself out there and you may get the break you crave - you may not. I know a dancer who tried for 20 years, still turning up to auditions and only getting the odd bit part, but it was enough for her. Others decide there must be something else better suited to them.

[Sylvie]

. Ballet black used to do open class at the ROH possibly still do and Mr O Hare may have seen the above two there as he walked past. Right place right time

I hope so, my dd does class there from time to time, hope he stays late on Wednesdays!!!

[aileen]

Balletqs, I should have said English Youth Ballet rather than National Youth Ballet.

[Legseleven]

It is indeed the same story in every profession unfortunately - who you know and being fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time very often means the difference between getting a job or not. As Harwel says, there are also other considerations in ballet such as existing costumes being the right size for the applicant (and this starts young! - all those children selected for Nutcracker parts who may not realise that they were selected, instead of a dancer who was just as good as or better than they were, simply because they could wear the existing costumes), a certain height or look being preferred to 'fit' the existing company members/repertoire, etc.

 

I have everything crossed for your DD, Sylvie, that her lucky break is just around the corner!

[Jan McNulty]

David Nixon, AD of Northern Ballet, has said on numerous occasions that the students he watches are often not "Company ready" and that is why the Northern Ballet Academy now offers a Graduate Professional Programme.  Four of the graduates from this year's programme have been taken into NB (I don't know where the others have gone).

 

There was a lot of controversy on this forum when the Programme was initially announced because a lot of people felt it was charging dancers to gain performing experience but you pays your money and you takes your choice.

 

Very best wishes to your daughter Sylvie and to all our members' DC.

[aileen]

It seems surprising that students are not company ready when they now spend three years at upper school rather than two, as they used to. What has changed? Plus, in the past, some dancers joined companies at 16 and 17. Northern Ballet Academy has introduced a graduate professional programme and the RB is starting something similar this year. About a year ago I read an article about graduates' readiness for company life. Various ADs mentioned pointe work not being good enough and lack of ability in partnering. The huge difference in stamina required was also mentioned (actually this may have been in a different article). I have also seen ADs say that graduates do not appreciate how much harder they will have to work once they are in a company. 

[taxi4ballet]

Aileen, I don't suppose you remember where you read these articles do you?

Edited July 21, 2014 by taxi4ballet

[aileen]

One was in one of those dance magazines that you can buy at the ROH and Sadler's Wells. It was possibly Dance Europe and I recollect that Reid Anderson and three other ADs were featured, one of which may have been the AD of DNB. One specifically mentioned something about articulation through the foot, whatever that means.

 

I think that junior companies and graduate and apprenticeship programmes are an interesting development but I do wonder why they are needed now when they were not needed before. Many famous female dancers started dancing professionally in their mid teens in the past. I'd be interested to know why young dancers today are not 'company ready' when the evidence suggests that they are more technically proficient than young dancers used to be.

[Anjuli_Bai]

One was in one of those dance magazines that you can buy at the ROH and Sadler's Wells. It was possibly Dance Europe and I recollect that Reid Anderson and three other ADs were featured, one of which may have been the AD of DNB. One specifically mentioned something about articulation through the foot, whatever that means.

 

I think that junior companies and graduate and apprenticeship programmes are an interesting development but I do wonder why they are needed now when they were not needed before. Many famous female dancers started dancing professionally in their mid teens in the past. I'd be interested to know why young dancers today are not 'company ready' when the evidence suggests that they are more technically proficient than young dancers used to be.

 

The Barre has been raised.  

 

And - it's not all about technical proficiency.

[Moomin]

I think recruitment processes in most companies have tightened up considerably due to the legal ramifications if you cannot show that your recruitment process was 'fair'. Without some sort of advertising of the post and selection process I'm not sure how you could show equality and I would have thought it would leave the companies open to discrimination cases?

[Picturesinthefirelight]

But performing arts is the one profession where you are allowed to discriminate in terms of gender, looks, race etc.

[Moomin]

If you have more than one person on a short term contract and you give a permanent post to one without any official selection process how could you show that it wasn't due to discrimination though? If you can't show that you have had some process of selection and justifiable reason for selecting on the basis of race/ gender etc I would have thought that was very shakey ground!

[Picturesinthefirelight]

There is no legal requirement for any position in any industry (apart from the public sector) to advertise any posts.

 

For a ballet company role then race wouldn't really come into it. The exception is for roles that have to be played by a specific ethnicity (so if a main character was black then the dancer/actor playing her mother can't be white or Othello can't be white)

 

But gender I'd have thought can easily be justified (if a female dancer leaves they recruit another female)

[aileen]

Ballet companies seem to do what they like and it seems to be the same all the way up to principal level. As far as I'm aware, companies do not generally hold open auditions for soloist and principal positions. They approach dancers and dancers approach them and recommendations from other dancers already in the company and other senior figures in the ballet world eg stagers can have an influence.

[Moomin]

This is from the acas website

 

When you're recruiting new people, you also need to ensure that you're complying with the law. Employers are responsible for ensuring that all recruitment is carried out fairly and without discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, and religion or belief, and failure to comply with the law can leave you open to costly tribunal claims further down the line. Recent changes to employment law make it all the more important for employers to be aware of how discrimination legislation affects their recruitment processes.

 

If people are not challenging practices by taking the companies to court then there is no impetus to change. I would have thought that if the practices described previously are what happens it would be easy for someone to claim that the recruitment process was not 'fair' or was 'discriminatory' and it would be difficult for the companies to provide evidence that it wasn't and I believe that it is up to the employer to disprove your claim. Perhaps the process is not as biased as it appears to those outside it and there is a rigorous selection process though.