Young ballet dancer’s chance on the big stage

AMY GRAY
EDP24
23/09/2009

 

A young ballet dancer from Norfolk will perform alongside ballet’s biggest stars at the Royal Opera House this winter – after less than two years of dancing lessons.

While most young dancers can only dream of being a ballet dancer on the world’s stage, 10-year-old Tyler Carey was picked from dozens of young hopefuls to join the ballet elite in a production of The Sleeping Beauty.

Last year, Tyler was made a Junior Associate of the prestigious Royal Ballet School after just one year of lessons.

He was invited to London to audition for a part in The Sleeping Beauty last week and later this year will play a king’s page.

“I watched all these shows and wanted to be in them so I started to do some jazz and tap, and then ballet,” said Tyler, from West Winch, near King’s Lynn. You have to be quite strong to be a ballet dancer and you have to jump high.”

Tyler, a pupil at Middleton VC Primary School, said rehearsals with the Royal Ballet would be “really, really technical” and he was currently learning to do the splits.

He added that one of his favourite dances to perform was a Blues Brothers routine with his twin brother, Finn, who goes to jazz and tap lessons.

Penny Cooke, who teaches Tyler at Watlington School of Dancing, said it was the first time that one of her pupils had appeared at the Royal Opera House. “To be able to have this opportunity to be on the Royal Opera House stage at his age and mix with the stars of the company is brilliant. It is rare and he does have a talent. He’s responding very well to the extra teaching and making progress.”

As an associate, Tyler trains with the Royal Ballet School every fortnight at their studio in Covent Garden, as well as several lessons a week with Mrs Cooke.

Like the famous ballet dancer of film and literature, Billy Elliot, Tyler is the only boy in his ballet class.

Tyler gets lots of support from his parents and his mum Tracey Carey said she was proud of her son’s achievements. “He works very hard and sometimes, if there’s a weekend where there’s a party, Finn will go but Tyler knows he has to go down to London to train,” she said.

In January, Tyler will audition to keep his place as an associate of the Royal Ballet School and from there he could be accepted into White Lodge, a boarding school for young dancers.

Copyright © 2009 Archant Regional Ltd

 

Related article: Ballet dream comes true for Norfolk’s Billy Elliott

___

Next stage

Broadway star David Alvarez plans his life post-‘Billy Elliot’
 

 
By Sandra Guzman
New York Post
Photograph by Eilon Paz
September 16, 2009

 

Tony-winner David Alvarez can sing, play classical piano, speak three languages and he doesn’t just dance ballet, he is often referred to at the next Mikhail Baryshnikov. 

And despite the fact that several times a week, he makes audiences swoon with his outstanding portrayal of Billy Elliot in the award-winning Broadway show, the 15-year-old hasn’t a clue why he was cast in the musical. “No, I still don’t understand why,” says a modest Alvarez.

It’s not that the teen lacks confidence, far from it. He is a modern-day Renaissance manchild and he knows it.

For this interview, he has chosen to speak Spanish but he switches back and forth between that and English, fluidly and with eloquence. (He also speaks French.)

“A bunch of people [from American Ballet Theater] have said that I can be the next Baryshnikov and when they say that, I know that there’s much work ahead of me. To be that good, you have work very hard,” he says.

It’s this kind of focus, discipline and maturity that got Alvarez, who grew up in San Diego with his two sisters and a stay-a-home mom and biochemist-professor dad from central Cuba, noticed by casting directors.

Show insiders say that he is a perfectionist, wanting to get everything just right. And when, every once in a blue moon, he doesn’t, he turns his anger inward. “I just can’t help it— but I am trying to get better at not being so hard on myself,” says the soft-spoken young star.

Alvarez was a four-foot tall cherubic boy when he first started playing Billy, a little English boy from a working-class mining town who has dreams of dancing ballet. Today, he is in full-blown adolescence and those awkward growth spurts are happening on the set and behind the scenes. “I grew 5 inches from the first day I started playing him,” he says. “One morning I woke up and said ‘Whoa, what happened?’” he says, chuckling.

Every so often, he admits, his voice cracks on stage.”I have learned to work my way around that, it’s a little embarrassing,” he admits.

Young Alvarez says he’s already planning his future, post-”Billy.” “I will go to ABT full-time to study ballet,” he says. He now studies at the prestigious school on scholarship while not performing.

He’s also studying classical piano on full scholarship at the 92 Street Y. “The piano helps me tremendously with the musicality of ballet.”

But Alvarez’s plans don’t end there. “I also want to do films, something very Hollywood.” In fact, he says he auditioned for a couple of movies that he’s excited about, but not ready to reveal.

And if all this doesn’t work out, Alvarez — who is a voracious reader of war books and films — says he wouldn’t mind enlisting in the army. “There is something that I really love about the military — maybe it’s the discipline.”

Catch David Alvarez in “Billy Elliot” currently on Broadway.

 

 
Copyright 2009 NYP Holdings, Inc.

Young man discovered by Boston Ballet, joins company

Ally Donnelly
NECN.com
September 18, 2009

 

Boston, Mass. – This weekend at the Boston Opera House, “Night of the Stars”, a showcase of dance. The show will feature everything from modern dance to classical ballet. It will also premiere the talents of a young man discovered by the ballet in a Boston public school when he was just nine.

Now more than a decade later, he has joined the elite company.

NECN’s Ally Donnelly introduces us to Isaac Akiba.

Ribbons of sweat shimmy down Isaac Akiba’s body. He has been hard at work for hours. First class, then rehearsal, then more rehearsal. This day, six hours of dancing at the Boston Ballet School in the city’s South End.

Akiba: “Uh. It can be ridiculous sometimes. You go home and you’re wasted. Your muscles hurt and your calves are cramping.”

20-year-old Akiba stands 5 foot 7, not even 140 pounds. With his ruddy face and hesitant voice — he has more the demeanor of a shy teenager than a tenacious dancer.

Akiba is the ultimate city kid done good. He is the first dancer ever to start with the ballet’s public schools program and work his way up to become a company dancer. One of only 52 dancers — in the prestigious….Boston Ballet.

Miko Nissinen, Artistic Director: “If you compare some kids playing hoops in the park and compare it to the Boston Celtics, that’s the kind of uh — I mean, it’s when you get in to a professional company of this caliber — you’ve made it.”

The schools program, CityDance — introduces ballet to 3rd graders throughout Boston. Akiba was just nine when dancers came to his working class Jamaica Plain neighborhood.

Akiba: “I remember we went to the auditorium and they put us in a line, they made us stand on toes.”

And that was it. Akiba was hooked. He won a scholarship for a 10-week program — and has been working his way up the ballet ranks for the last decade.

Akiba: “I love being on stage and performing; it never stops being challenging — I love that about it.”

Miko , Artistic Director: He’s a strong dancer, a dynamic dancer, he’s a good turner, a good jumper. I’m in awe of how much artistic depth he has at this age.

Miko Nissinen is the ballet’s artistic director. He first noticed Akiba when he danced in the holiday staple the nutcracker when he was 12. Nissenin knew Akiba “had it” by the time he was 17.

Mikko Nissinen: You have flawless diamond and now we have to start cutting it. It’s not easy life. It’s fantastic life, it’s fascinating life.

The ballet goes into schools in some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods where becoming a ballet dancer isn’t exactly seen as the “tough guy” thing to do….but leaders say they’ve got a sure fire way to combat that “sissy” teasing.

Margaret Tracey, school director: “We show them how high they have to jump and how many times they have to turn and have to lift women over their head and then catch them and not drop them.”

Nissinen: “After I showed what kind of physical condition you are — they thought ballet dancers were superman — who did more push ups when everybody else collapsed.”

Tracey: “It really breaks down the barriers and shows that dance is for everyone.”

Akiba says because other boys from his school went into the program he wasn’t teased much, but having male role models has been critical.

Akiba: “You’re around such beautiful dancers and you can be insecure sometimes in class and on stage, but it’s something you have to get through and realize it’s all a process.”

Miko: “I’ve been really amazed how he opens up and lights up on stage — so that’s the beautiful sight. What I’ve seen — first there was a little crack and now, it’s like, it’s opened.”

Quietly, Akiba admits he loves performing in front of an audience…the dark stage…the bright lights. “All of your work, you know, has led up to something you’ve created and hopefully it’s beautiful to other people watching you dance.”

And when the applause comes…he knows at least part of it is for him.“It’s very self satisfying. Yes! Finally, I got it. And that can be a great feeling.”

A great feeling, as a corps dancer in the Boston Ballet.

For more information visit www.BostonBallet.org

 

© 2009 NECN

Young Dancer to Study at Bolshoi

By Lauren Russel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Photograph by Sean Sperry
September 12, 2009

 

 

How many people know exactly what they want to with their lives at the age of 11?

And how many people are willing to move halfway around the world, away from their families, to spend most of every day practicing something that requires intense concentration and discipline at an age when most kids are riding bikes and playing in the mud?

The answer: not many.

That is one thing that makes Julian MacKay, an 11-year-old ballet dancer from Bozeman and the only boy from Montana ever chosen to attend Russia’s elite Bolshoi Academy of Ballet, so special.

Julian, a polite, well-spoken kid with neatly combed hair, expresses no hesitation in declaring his goal. “I want to be a professional ballet dancer in a European company,” he said. “That’s why I’m so excited to go to one of the top three academies in the world. It’s not like a maybe or a might—you will become a professional dancer if you go here.”

Theresa Khan MacKay, Julian’s mother, laughs and shakes her head. She and her husband Greg are the parents of four ballet dancers, including Julian and his 8-year-old brother Nicholas. Her two older daughters are professional dancers in Europe.

“When my first daughter mentioned ballet, I just thought it was cute,” Theresa, director of the nonprofit Youth Arts in Action, said. Neither she nor her husband dances, and she didn’t know where the request was coming from. “I didn’t pay that much attention, didn’t think she was serious.”

But she was. So when Julian at age 6 started asking to dance, Theresa knew what to expect. Ballet was a serious sport, requiring an incredible amount of dedication and time.

“I said no at first,” she said. “I knew what was coming.”

But after watching Julian “jump around in the yard and copy my sisters,” as he put it, and fielding more pleas, she relented. Julian began the six-day-a-week training regimen that would eventually land him auditions for the Paris Opera Ballet School, the Royal Ballet School in London, the “Billy Elliot” Broadway production and the Bolshoi Academy.

Montana not being the heart of the ballet world, the MacKays knew they would eventually need to send Julian elsewhere to study. He has spent the majority of the past four summers and some of the year training in California, New York City and London.

It was during a program this summer, an intensive six-week clinic by the Bolshoi Academy on the East Coast, that Julian was selected – after only three weeks – to attend the school in Moscow for a year.

“You have to be invited just to audition,” Theresa said. “You have to get through a couple hundred kids — that’s how much he wants to do it. For a boy to make it this far, the world’s open to him.”

Rina Kirshner, vice president of the Russian American Foundation that sponsors the Bolshoi summer program, said Julian was the only American boy from the younger group of students to be chosen for the yearlong program.

“Every dancer, whether male or female, is chosen based on their talent, discipline and their ability to sustain a very rigorous ballet training,” Kirshner said. “There’s only a small percentage that combines those factors into one. He definitely demonstrated his desire to become a professional dancer.”

The Bolshoi program will be tough—in addition to six days a week of classes, students are also required to take a Russian language class, a ballet history class and a music class, plus their regular tutoring.

Julian isn’t unfamiliar with hard work. His typical day begins at 8:30 a.m. with a one-and-a-half hour ballet lesson. A 30-minute break is followed by another lesson. His training also includes sit-ups, push-ups and swimming. His homeschooling is fit in around ballet whenever there’s time.

For fun, Julian likes to play with his brother, compete in chess tournaments and occasionally fence with the Montana State University Fencing Club. “That’s pretty amazing for any boy — you get to play with swords!” he said.

But, he casually admits, there isn’t time for much else besides ballet, and that’s OK with him. “My main focus is dance because I want to be a professional dancer,” Julian said.

Because of his age, Theresa and Nicholas will go to Russia with Julian in October, and Greg will remain in Bozeman. “I learned from my daughters, if a kid chooses this, that’s great, but they need a parent there,” Theresa said. “Kids adjust really easily. I give him three months to learn Russian.”

Before boarding the plane, the family will spend a few weeks in California for Julian to train and get in some much-needed kid time before beginning the rigorous yearlong program. “He’s a little kid, he needs to go surfing,” Theresa said, as Julian nodded vigorously.

 

Copyright 2009 Bozeman Daily Chronicle

   

    

 

    

Ben secures place at prestigious ballet school

By Stephanie Cureton
Wirral Globe
12th September 2009

 

 

WIRRAL’S very own ‘Billy Elliot’ is set to make it big in the world of dance down in the nation’s capital. Ben Mooney, 16, from Bromborough, fought off stiff competition to be offered a place at the prestigious Central School of Ballet in London to study for a BA in Professional Dance and Performance. He was one of just fifteen boys who successfully secured a spot on the course, which is a testament to his dedication and commitment to dance.

Ben will be embarking on his three-year degree programme two years earlier than the normal university student and hopes to go on to be part of a major classical ballet company after his studies.

He started dancing when he was just seven-years-old, following in the footsteps of his dance teacher mum Janine Johnson, who runs Elite Dance in Bebington. She said: “Dancing just came so natural to him, but ballet has always been his strongest passion. It definitely must run in the family as I have danced from a young age, as has my daughter.”

Ben’s talent has led him to take on principal roles in musicals such as ‘Oliver!’ and ‘The King and I’, with his hard work culminating in him earning a place at The Hammond School in Chester where he was offered full-time vocational dance training alongside studying for nine GCSEs, all of which he passed.

Janine added: “We are very proud of his achievements and although we are going to miss him as he moves to London, we couldn’t be more proud and excited at the wonderful career in classical ballet that he now has ahead of him.”

After opening its doors in 1982, The Central School of Ballet is now home to one of the country’s most comprehensive dance programmes and counts HRH The Countess of Wessex and world-renowned ballet dancer Sir Anthony Dowell among its patrons.

 

© Copyright 2009 Newsquest Media Group

Boy ballet dancer heads for prestigious Toronto school

By Peg McCarthy
The Independent
Photographs by Peg McCarthy
Sep 02, 2009 – 03:07 PM
[Edited]

 

COBOURG — Home away from home is how one young dancer feels about his acceptance into Toronto’s National Ballet School.

Joel Taylor, 11, of Cobourg, has just finished his second summer school with the National after being asked back, and this time, it was the successful completion of what felt like a month-long audition.

He and his mother, Jane Taylor, found out two weeks ago Joel had been accepted for the full-time program, starting Sept. 7. It means he will live in Toronto and attend the school for 11 months, and come home on Saturdays, after dance class.

“The kids are really encouraged to spend as much time as possible with their families, once school is done,” said Ms. Taylor. “School is school, and not their home.”

“(The camp) was fun,” added Joel.

Students danced nearly four hours a day, and then did regular kid stuff in the city. Living in Toronto for a month was different, he said. It was noisier and busier, but in general, pretty OK, he said.

He was homesick a couple of times, but not nearly as much as the year before. Ms. Taylor said that’s because he’s in a class of boy dancers, kids with similar interests. In Cobourg, his dance peers are girls, and the connection is different. Joel said he made a lot more friends at the dance school than at home.

During the regular school year at the National, students have a fairly long day of dance (ballet, modern and character studies, with an emphasis on technique) and academic studies, with a homework hour and some free time in the evening. They are assessed every two years, to make sure they’re keeping up with the academic side of their education. Most kids stay in residence, and boys often get their own rooms because there are fewer of them.

Joel is keeping his fingers crossed for his own space, and also that he gets a chance to dance in the Nutcracker, the National’s Christmas staple. Each year, a handful of different students are chosen, as it means their Christmas family time is limited.

Although he’s been dancing for six years, it isn’t his only passion. Joel is also interested in the technical side of stage production, and his favourite gift last Christmas was a stage light that he uses for home plays. He said he would like to be a movie or theatre director, once his dancing career is over, and his sister Abbey, 14, agrees he is bossy enough to fill that role.

“I can’t help it that I’m good at it,” Joel laughed.

“There’s no doubt he’s headed for the artistic side,” agreed Ms. Taylor. “And the National understands artistic kids.”

“My parents have seen a drastic personality change in Joel. He’s so much happier and outgoing, so much more confident.

“I’m definitely having a hard time knowing that he’s leaving soon, but to see him there in class – I’ve never seen him like that, joking with friends and so happy.”

 

© Copyright 2009 The Independent

Dancing with soul

By Deanna Truman
Iowa City Press-Citizen
July 5th, 2008

 

 

 

A lot of kids don’t get the opportunity to see New York. Alex Ko , 12, is dancing there.  The Iowa City youth is dancing with Steps on Broadway Sunday through Aug. 17.  The Northwest junior high seventh-grader won a scholarship to Steps, a prestigious New York Dance school. He’ll be taking four ballet classes a day as well as a couple of jazz lessons.

“It is exciting,” said Alex , of the trip days before leaving.

In addition to dancing, he was hoping to take in a Broadway show or two.

Alex has been dancing since a young child. “He was dancing around the house since he was 4,” said Tammie Cumming- Ko , Alex ’s mom.

Because her sister was a professional ballet dancer, Cumming- Ko thought her kids might get the dancing bug as well. She enrolled Alex at age 4. At first, he wasn’t too impressed: He chose to sit on his hands instead of dance. But by age 5, dancing had become a passion. It is not uncommon for him to practice 20 hours or more a week.

His determination is rare, said Eloy Barragan, assistant dance professor at the University of Iowa. “Iowa City has a lot of talent, a young talent, but Alex has something very unique, he has maturity and dedication and is committed to what he wants,” Barragan said.

That dedication led to Ko taking classes June 5-16 at Steps on Broadway. Liking his style and technique, the school offered him a scholarship to come back in July and August. They weren’t the only ones. He was also offered other scholarships.

His dancing also attracted a talent manager.

Alex is hopeful that classes could lead to something more. He would jump at the chance to be in a Broadway production.

As to what attracts Alex to dance, he says it is the creative freedom. “You can do whatever you want, there’s not just one certain thing,” Alex said. “It’s free.” Barragan wholeheartedly agreed. “Ballet is fun,” he said. “It has a stereotype that it is long and structured. It is beautiful.”

Currently, Alex dances and takes lessons at City Ballet of Iowa, whose current headquarters are at Old Brick.

He met Sarah Barragan at the University of Iowa Youth Ballet, where he previously took classes, and where she served as artistic director.  Seeing his talent, Sarah Barragan encouraged her husband, Eloy Barragan, to take Alex under his wing.

The two immediately began working on a solo. Alex credits the piece for helping him work through his father Sam Ko ’s death June 10, 2007. Through the solo the two became extremely close. In fact, they refer to each other as family.

When the Barragans chose to open City Ballet of Iowa a few months ago, it was an easy decision to follow, Cumming- Ko said.

In addition to this determination, what sets Alex apart from others is his stage presence, Eloy Barragan said. “Alex has something really special,” Barragan said. “There’s a soul to his dance and that is what people notice.”

 

© Copyright 2008 Iowa City Press-Citizen

On His Toes

by Kathryn Howe
Iowa Alumni Magazine
December 2008

  

 

Sure, lots of preschoolers dance around the living room. But not like Alex Ko.  His mother, Tammie, noticed something special about the quality of Alex’s movement when he was only three. Her intuition proved right.

Alex enrolled in his first formal dance class as a kindergartener. Now 12 years old, he’s the youngest student ever in the University of Iowa’s renowned dance department—and he’s on the cusp of a dream to star in the Broadway musical Billy Elliott.

“To me, he’s like a son,” says, Eloy Barragán Alex’s mentor and UI assistant professor of dance. “He has a maturity and a dedication to the art that’s beyond his years.”

In Halsey Hall, Alex twirls and plies in black tights and white ballet flats alongside a group of college-aged women who admire his skills. He moves his body through space with a grace and assuredness uncharacteristic of a typical adolescent boy.

He’s here through a state Post Secondary Education Options law that allows young, gifted students to take university courses in their area of talent. Alex takes classes every day at the UI and at City Ballet of Iowa with Barragán and his wife, Sarah, in addition to voice training and a rigorous home-schooling schedule. He devotes at least 20 hours each week to dance.

Alex met Barragán in 2007 when he began pursuing private ballet lessons. The two developed an instant rapport and Barragán soon realized that his new student possessed star potential.

This past summer, instructor and protégé traveled to New York City so Alex could participate in the prestigious Steps on Broadway dance program. A teacher with the program noticed Alex and invited him to audition for Billy Elliott, the story of a young boy who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. He will soon find out if the part is his. If so, his family will relocate to the Big Apple.

Alex can’t think of a better, more fitting role to play. After all, the story might as well have been written about him.

 

©2008 Iowa Alumni Magazine