JUNE / JULY 20 17 | W W W.DANCEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU
54 / AUDITION SPECIAL
rakedstage,whichwasanewexperiencefor
me!LuckilyIhadpriorwarningandI’dhada
chance to take an open class in Paris with a
raked studio floor a few days before, so I had
an idea of how it would affect me.
I had one awful experience, which is funny
in hindsight. I had a private audition organised
in Cottbus and I was catching the train from
Mannheim with two connections overnight.
Unfortunately my first train was delayed and I
missed that connection. This meant I spent
abouttwohoursstrandedinatinytrainstation
in the early hours of the morning waiting for
the next train. Instead of arriving one and a
halfhoursearly,Iranintothebuildingwith
about two minutes to spare, threw on my
leotardandrushedintothestudiojustasthey
wereabouttostart.Needlesstosay,itwasnot
my strongest audition!
About Jessica
FOOTNOTES
Jessica trained at
Terri Charlesworth
Ballet Centre (now
Charlesworth
Ballet Institute)
and then WA
Academy of
Performing Arts (WAAPA), dancing
professionally in two seasons with
WA Ballet whilst at WAAPA.
After graduating, Jessica went on
her first audition tour of Europe and
the UK in 2015, attending auditions for
companies and schools such as
Dresden Semperoper Ballett,
Staatsoper Hannover, Dutch National
Ballet Academy and Rambert School
of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.
She was accepted into Akademie des
Tanzes in Mannheim, Germany, and
spent a year living in Germany dancing
with Badisches Staatsballett Karlsruhe
while completing a masters in dance.
After completing her year in
Germany, Jessica auditioned for
major companies in Europe, America
and Australia, including Hamburg
Ballett, Staatsballet Berlin, Leipzig
Ballett, Ballet Ireland, LINES Ballet
(US), Bucharest National Opera
Ballet, Ballet de L’Opéra-Théâtre De
Metz Métropole and Bayerisches
Staatsballet Munich, to name just a
handful from her list!
Jessica started an apprenticeship
with Singapore Dance Theatre
in March.Jessica as
Swanilda in
Charlesworth
Ballet’s 2016
production of
Coppelia.NL:Howareyouenjoyingworkingfor
Singapore Dance Theatre so far? And
living in Singapore?
JG:Living and working in Singapore has
been a great experience for me so far. It’s a
really vibrant, multicultural city, the public
transport system is fantastic and I’m enjoying
finding my way around. The company has
been very welcoming and I had my first
performances in my second week of work, so I
alreadyfeellikeapartoftheteam.Ithelps
that there are a couple of other Australians in
the company already.Want to audition internationally but can't
make the trip? Some companies will let you
audition by video. See our website: http://www.
danceaustralia.com.au for tips about making an
audition video.PHOTO: JANE BAKER