Download as a PDF - Conservatoire for Dance and Drama

F O R E W O R D B Y D AV I D B I N T L E YDIRECTOR OF BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLETI had a very broad dance training as a youngster.I started dancing at the age of eleven, at a localschool in Yorkshire, and went to classes in ballet,jazz, tap and modern musical twice a week. I’mthankful that this broad base gave me so muchmore to draw on when I finally determined on acareer as a classical dancer. At the age of fourteenhowever, my dream of going to the Royal BalletSchool was clearly out of reach, as my trainingand technique had not focussed on ballet up tothat point. I knew I had to find a good school anda good teacher in order to bring me up to thestandard required, and so I spent my early teenageyears doing a great deal of travelling on busesand trains to attend classes at quality schools.Three years of hard training (and the loss of ameniscus!) finally paid off, and I successfullyauditioned for the Royal Ballet Upper School.I spent two years at the School under the tutelageof Walter Trevor, Terry Westmoreland and PiersBeaumont, three entirely different teachers whononetheless gave me a sound basic technique, agenuine fascination with the classical enchaînementand a profound love and respect for classicism.Their teaching still influences me today and I oftenfind myself passing on their words of wisdom toyoung dancers.As Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, I receiveapplications for auditions daily and the first thingthat I look for is where the applicant was trained,under what teachers, what examination systemhas been followed and what marks obtained.Of course, I would never hire a dancer for theCompany without personally seeing them first,assessing their personality and getting some senseof their performability, but there is no substitute forsound training and, in a classical Company of realsubstance, there is no hiding from the technicalrigours that every dancer is exposed to. This, ofcourse, is true for all branches of the dance arts.My broad training in various styles, and invaluableexperience at the hands of excellent teachers, havenot only stood me in great stead for the entiretyof my dance career, but have also proved a majorinfluence on my work as a choreographer, and inmy role as a Director. I was lucky. Before theadvent of the Council for Dance Education andTraining and its accreditation system, good training,schools and teachers could only be discovered byexperience and word of mouth, often a hit and missaffair. Thanks to the CDET, young aspiring studentdancers now have a reliable and approved methodof selecting the best courses and vocationaltraining to equip them for their professional lives.In choosing dance as a career, you are on the vergeof committing to one of the most painful, exactingand precarious branches of the theatre. Choosewisely, for the right training will give you the skills,discipline and inspiration, not only to endure thehardships, but to treasure and value the momentsof magic. They are worth it!6Photo: Steve Hanson