the royal ballet school

Student Spotlight: Genevieve Eveleigh

February 19, 2015 by Rachel Hellwig

Genevieve Eveleigh is 16 years old and currently trains at English National Ballet School in London alongside 400 other candidates. Before ENBS, Genevieve attended a non-vocational school, but was allowed time away to pursue additional ballet training during Year 10. This resulted in spending time with Autrand Ballet in St. Raphael in the south of France alongside regular schooling in the UK.

Genevieve has studied the Royal Academy of Dance syllabi up to and including Advanced 1. She was a pupil at Milton Academy of Dance and also attended the Associate Programme at The Royal Ballet School in London and The Tring Classical Ballet Academy at The Tring School for Performing Arts.

In 2014, Genevieve was the winner of the Genée Dance Challenge Level 3 semi-final but, unfortunately, couldn’t attend the final due to injury. She was also a finalist for the Molly Lake Award. Having just watched the Prix de Lausanne, Genevieve has aspirations to compete in 2017, and her ultimate goal is to secure a contract with a classical ballet company.

How did you become involved in dance?

My Mum signed me up for ballet when I was probably three, thinking that it would be good for discipline – I think that I was quite strong willed. As I got older, I used to dread my once-a-week class and my Mum used to drag me along to my local dance school, telling me that “I would thank her one day.” I have to admit that she was right – as always!

Now I love the challenge; the ability to push myself through self-imposed boundaries, working with my body to master what it is I have been trying to achieve – it’s incredibly fulfilling when that moment arrives.

What do you like least about class?

My least favourite thing is choreography, which is where I am really out of my comfort zone. I find it really challenging.

What is the hardest part about dance for you?

Confidence and patience. Lots of people think that ballet is all about sparkles and glamour. The truth is that it is tough and brutal. I think that if art is your passion, it’s one of the many reasons that you fall in love with ballet. You do get knocks but you still have to hold your head up high and carry on with confidence.

Patience for me is a work in progress and I struggle with it. If I can’t achieve something I have a tendency to get frustrated and beat myself up. Things don’t get mastered with a click of your fingers… blood, sweat and tears is no lie. If you want it you have to work for it, but give yourself time and notice your improvements as well as recognising what you need to improve on.

What advice would you give to other dancers?

The dance world is competitive. Don’t be fazed by the girl next door on the barre or the one doing triple pirouettes – focus on you and compare yourself to the dancer you were yesterday.

How has dance changed your life?

Dance has made me stronger as a person – more focused, more disciplined, and more mature. Through ballet I have learned to express myself far more eloquently than with words and I have found a world of people to connect with. I love my life and, yes, I’m so grateful to my Mum for not allowing me to give up all those years ago.

Student Spotlight: Charlotte Jeffery

September 26, 2012 by Ashley David

Next in our “Student Spotlight” series, meet Charlotte Jeffery…

1. Can you tell readers how you became involved (and continued to be involved) with dance?

The start of my dance love affair began with ballet. Like hundreds of thousands of little girls across the world, when I was four, my Mum asked me if I wanted to do ballet, I said yes and it spiraled from there.

I began my ‘training’ (if we can call it that) in a drafty school hall with good toes, bad toes and winning little silver cups for my brilliant portrayal of a Siamese cat. I took all my ballet exams, and jumped around from syllabus to syllabus, I even spent one summer school at the Royal Ballet School, at White Lodge and was a Junior Associate of the Arts Educational School in Tring.

I was a ballet girl for a very long time (and still am in reality) but started contemporary when I was twelve or eleven – this incredibly cool teacher came to teach at our school (where we had dance as part of the curriculum) and introduced contemporary to all of us.

It was only natural therefore that when I continued dancing into GCSE and A level that I would take it higher into degree level. I have just graduated from Middlesex University with a 2:1 in Dance Studies.

While I was there I had the most incredible opportunity to study abroad. I traveled to the east cost of the USA, to Goucher College, in Baltimore where I stayed for four months and continued to train. I can honestly say now, that although it was one of the hardest four months of my life, emotionally and physically, it was also one of the best!!

Training in the states opened up yet more options for me and more choices for career paths. I trained in aerial dance (very scary but amazing) took contemporary, ballet, pointe work, a very intense choreography course and even got to work with some underprivileged children in the poorest area of Baltimore helping them to learn how to read and write by using movement as a tool for learning.

Now as a recent graduate I have decided to take the freelance route. I feel that there are far too many options for me, and I want to do so much, that I’m going to try and do it all; I call myself a freelance teacher, writer, community artist, dancer, arts administrator, choreographer… and the list is growing!

This has meant that even since I’ve graduated I’ve written reviews for up and coming companies, am currently in rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the Paralympics (29^th August 2012), I have taught workshops at primary schools, and as of this week (until about Christmas time) I am working at the Royal Ballet School as an Interim Development and Publicity Coordinator. (See I told you I was a real ballet bod at heart!) As of September I will add a new title to my belt, Artist in Residence, at a school in Buckinghamshire teaching lots of the extra curricular dance and some admin there too.

2. What do you find you like best about dance class? [Read more…]

Keeping Dancers Dancing: Outside Conditioning – The Franklin Method Part II

June 15, 2012 by 4dancers

by Jan Dunn, MS

Today we continue our focus on the Franklin Method, with part II of thist series by Jan Dunn…

In the dance world, there is a long list of institutions / companies where the FM has been used and acclaimed– below are only a few of them:

-The Julliard School (NYC)

-Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (London)

-The Royal Ballet School (London)

-The Royal Danish Ballet

-“A Chorus Line” national touring company

-Cirque de Soleil

-Paris Opera Ballet

-Frankfort Ballet

-Hong Kong Modern Dance Academy

-The American Dance Festival

Articles about the FM have been in several dance publications over the years, such as Dance Teacher, Pointe, and Dance Magazine. These can all be found on the Franklin website www.franklinmethod.com, along with articles in other areas such as fitness and Pilates.

The FM is based on practical applications of neuroplasticity, and uses imagery as the primary tool to achieve positive changes in our bodies. There is much research to validate the use of imagery in teaching movement, especially in the sports world (there is research in dance as well, but only recently – whereas in sports, studies involving imagery go back many years). Experiential anatomy is also a major part of learning the FM. That means not only learning anatomy from a book perspective, but taking the knowledge into your body with movement – “embodying” it is a term often used for this, in Franklin as well as other movement education systems. Embodiment gives you direct physical awareness of the body’s function and design.

If you have never experienced working with the Franklin Method, the best way to start is by taking a workshop with a certified instructor. The FM is relatively new to the US – while the teacher training has been in Europe for over 20 years, here in the States it only started 8 years ago. There are still less than 200 instructors in the US, and as yet only a small percentage are also professionals in the dance world. You can find the list of certified teachers / their locations on the Franklin website, and also on the website www.franklin-method.us. I encourage you to take a workshop with whomever you find in your area, regardless of whether or not they are a dance person. Dancers usually relate instantly to FM, as it incorporates many concepts they have already had exposure to in their dance lives (Eric Franklin was, after all, first and foremost a dancer and choreographer J). Franklin himself gives several workshops a year in the US, so if you can locate one that works geographically for you, do it! You will most likely love it, and it will open your eyes to a whole new way of thinking about your body and movement.

If you do not have access to any workshops or certified teachers, there are still ways to experience the FM. All of Franklin’s books and videos are available through OPTP, a physical therapy supply house – www.optp.com. Two of his many books are especially useful for a dancer new to the FM, and are ones I recommended immediately:

-“Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery”

-“Dance Conditioning”

The second book has many actual conditioning exercises that dancers usually find very useful, and that will help give you that overall balance and strength that you need to avoid injury –something we’ve talked about before in this column!

If you are interested in becoming a Franklin-certified teacher, that information can also be found on the www.franklinmethod.com website. There are 3 levels of training, but you do not have to do all 3 in order to teach. You are allowed to teach whatever material is contained in each level that you complete, even if you do not go on to the next one. There are usually at least one or two Level One courses taught in the US each year.

Our next posting will continue with our topic of “conditioning”, only this time it will all about the importance of aerobic conditioning for dancers. Our guest author will be Emma Redding, PhD, who is head of Dance Science at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and current President of IADMS (International Association of Dance Medicine and Science).

Editor Jan Dunn is a dance medicine specialist currently based on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, where she is affiliated with Pilates Kauai. She is also a Pilates rehabilitation specialist and Franklin Educator.

Originally a dancer / choreographer, she became university dance faculty, most recently as Adjunct Faculty, University of Colorado Dept. of Theatre and Dance. Her 28 year background in dance medicine includes 23 years with the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) – as Board member / President / Executive Director – founding Denver Dance Medicine Associates, and establishing two university Dance Wellness Programs.

Jan served as organizer and Co-Chair, International Dance Medicine Conference, Taiwan 2004, and was founding chair of the National Dance Association’s (USA) Committee on Dance Science and Medicine, 1989-1993. She originated The Dance Medicine/Science Resource Guide; and was co-founder of the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science. She has taught dance medicine, Pilates, and Franklin workshops for medical / dance and academic institutions in the USA / Europe / Middle East / and Asia, authored numerous articles in the field, and presented at many national and international conferences.

Ms. Dunn will be writing a new column, “Dance Wellness” for 4dancers in 2012 and will also be bringing in voices from the dance wellness/dance medicine field to share their expertise with readers.

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