New chapters in Prague and Zürich: Q&A with graduates Javier, Jana and Maia Rose on their next steps

In 2024, 24 graduates of The Royal Ballet School will join leading ballet companies worldwide, fulfilling their long-awaited dreams of becoming professional dancers.

Following their final bows as students on the Royal Opera House stage, our graduates will take a short summer break before embarking on the next stage of their careers.

We asked graduates Javier, Jana and Maia Rose about their next chapters in Prague and Zürich.

Javier Wong

Javier Wong will join The Czech National Ballet in Prague in August.

What are you most looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to the repertoire. The Czech National Ballet released its season, and there are a lot of classics. I love classical ballet, so I’m really excited about what I’m going to be dancing. We are doing Swan Lake, a classic, and Romeo and Juliet by John Cranko. We’re also premiering Manon by Kenneth Macmillan, which I performed this year with The Royal Ballet and am now performing with the Czech National Ballet!

Who have been some of the biggest mentors during your training?

Mr Cassidy (Pre-professional Year Ballet Teacher). He’s helped me a lot with knowing how I can show my personal qualities in an audition rather than just focusing on technique. In our graduate year, we have our technique down; of course, we’re always still working on it, but we have everything mostly down, so you want to show directors how you dance as an individual. Mr Cassidy brings that out in our daily classes, and that really helped me with auditioning.

What impact did attending the School have on your career or your life?

The amazing training I’ve received here will definitely impact my career in the future. Having this really solid training at The Royal Ballet School will just help me grow into, hopefully, an amazing dancer in the future. I will remember my time here because these last three years are especially the most important ones before starting a career.

New chapters in prague and zürich: q&a with graduates javier, jana and maia rose on their next steps

Javier Wong. Photographed by Photography by ASH

Jana Faye Teruel and Maia Rose Roberts

Jana Faye Teruel and Maia Rose Roberts will join Ballett Zürich Junior Company in August.

What are you most looking forward to?

Jana: I’m most looking forward to seeing how different company life is from the School environment, besides not wearing any uniform: with the workspace and our relationships with our peers, as well as with all the rehearsal directors and teachers, and seeing how that will change.

Maia Rose: I’m looking forward to more stage experience because in the Company we’ll be doing a lot more performances. It’s about performing, and I love performing, but being in a school, we’re very much focused on the training and technique aspects, and then we have our end-of-year shows. For us, the highlight is the performance and showing all our hard work to the audience. So, I think I’m mostly looking forward to being able to perform all the time because that’s what we’re doing this for.

I went to Zurich for seven weeks earlier this year, and I experienced what life is like in a company, and it’s very freeing. I love and will miss school, especially being with friends I’ve grown up with, but I’m looking forward to exploring our personalities through dance.

What do you like most about Ballett Zürich Junior Company?

Maia Rose: I’m inspired by Cathy Marston, the new Artistic Director. I’ve seen a lot of her works, and I love that she often bases her ballets on novels and creates ballets from scratch. Her choreographic process is also very inspiring. As dancers, we’re very involved in the creation process with her. I love it; it’s very collaborative, and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before.

What repertoire will you be performing?

Jana: There’s a full ballet by Cathy Marston called Clara, Giselle, another new ballet, Of Light, Wind and Waters, new choreography by Cathy Marston, The Butterfly Effect and Autographs by Crystal Pite, Wayne McGregor, and William Forsyth.

Jana Faye Teruel. Photographed by Photography by ASH

Who have been some of the biggest mentors during your training?

Maia Rose: I’ve been to a lot of different schools while growing up. I started in Barcelona, then moved to Portugal and then to London. I’ve had a lot of different teachers who have encouraged me and inspired me to keep working. But I’d say the majority is my family. They’re my biggest supporters and they’ve always been there through everything. Genuinely, without them, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

Jana: My family, especially on my dad’s side, has always been huge supporters of the arts. They’ve given me all the encouragement, passion, and drive to keep going in this career. My aunt was the only other dancer in the family and was my biggest supporter since day one.

What impact did attending the School have on your career or your life?

Jana: I think it advanced our training. They [the School] hold all their students to such a high standard. And getting to be with so many of the top dancers from all over the world is just having this ball of energy coming together. Everybody supports each other, and there’s also some healthy competition.

The structure of these three years at Upper School has been nice because when we first joined in 1st Year, everybody came from different techniques and backgrounds, so they set the foundation. Then, in 2nd Year, we explored more challenging steps and developed a better understanding of ourselves as dancers, and this year was more focused on individuality within our technique.

Maia Rose: Out of all the schools I’ve been to, The Royal Ballet School has felt the most like a family; we’re all very much there for each other. I think, technique-wise, it’s given us a foundation that we can now go and explore. We can now turn that foundation into what we are as dancers.