Professional Year
The Queensland Ballet Professional Year (PY) is an innovative program for gifted young dancers who are interested in pursuing a professional career in classical ballet.
The course is unique in Australia in being offered in the context of a professional dance company, providing the training and experience needed for dance students to make the transition to the profession.
With the accent on classical technique, the course has been devised by, and is supervised by Queensland Ballet’s Artistic Director, François Klaus, and is co-ordinated by the Company’s Artistic Associate, Robyn White.
The curriculum enables students to take daily class with the Company. In addition, they undertake further pointe work and pas de deux classes, and develop their solo repertoire.
Because dance is a form of theatre and today’s choreographers use many different approaches and techniques in creating work, the curriculum includes additional classes to prepare the dancer for the manifold facets of the ballet profession today. These include choreography and improvisation, contemporary and other dance forms, drama, and percussion. In addition, the students gain professional performance experience through rehearsing and performing in some Queensland Ballet productions.
The program is conducted daily, from Monday to Friday, in the studios of Queensland Ballet at the Thomas Dixon Centre, cnr Montague Rd and Drake St, West End.
What the students think about Professional Year:
"The opportunity we have to participate in company classes, specific gender classes with the Company (pointe work) and rehearsals is a plus. The ultimate is performing on stage with a professional company in QPAC or on tour. Our regional PY tour (The Amazing Magician) last year was an amazing experience – working with our peers, Artistic Director Francois Klaus, and other artists in the show – percussionist and narrator." Dara Cust
"The Professional Year has helped me to understand the complexity of a professional dance company’s inner-workings, and also prepared me for the road ahead, for whatever I do in the future." Rickey Watts
"For me, the best thing about the Professional Year is being able to do something I love (dance) in an environment that’s so supportive and fun." Efrem O'Brien Queensland Ballet 2010 Professional Year students
Photo Gallery of 2009 Professional Year students
Where are they now? Click here to see what our past PY students have gone on to do...
Professional Year – General / Audition Information
AUDITIONS FOR THE 2011 PY INTAKE WILL BE HELD ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2010.
Cick here to download the Audition Registration form.
Admission to the PY program is by audition only, with auditions usually held in September/October each year. Applicants are expected to have a high standard of classical technique and a commitment to a classical dance career.
Those wishing to audition are required to have completed at least Year 12. If the student has left school before attaining this level, he/she must have been out of the secondary education system for at least 12 months and have no intention of resuming secondary studies.
At the audition, dancers are required to provide a CV detailing their education, dance training and experience. In rare and exceptional cases, it is possible to request consideration for an audition at a different time. For this request to be considered, dancers must supply a short videotape/ DVD (maximum 10 minutes) showing class work and a variation, in addition to their CV. If the Artistic staff are interested in seeing more of a dancer’s work, he/she will then be invited to audition at a mutually convenient time.
The students selected for this course are trained intensively with the specific goal of a future career in a classical ballet company. The class size is small, which permits very personal teaching for each student. Participants are expected to show the commitment to their work that a professional dance career requires.
Current information about tuition fees and other course requirements is made available at the time of audition.
The program coincides with the Queensland school year. While students normally enrol for one year, a further period in the program may be recommended depending on their individual needs, age, and progress made in the first year. No undertaking is given of employment, either with Queensland Ballet or elsewhere, on completion of the course. However, assistance is provided through provision of references, and advice and support in the preparation of application and audition materials.
Please note that Queensland Ballet is not a registered training organisation, so Professional Year students are not eligible for government subsidies or concessions to support their study.