ABT Studio Company visit Upper School
On Monday 9 June, we were excited to welcome American Ballet Theatre Studio Company to Upper School in Covent Garden, with Artistic Director Sascha Radetsky guest teaching our Pre-professional Year student’s morning class in the Linden studio.
It was wonderful to see our students dancing alongside the 11 ABT Studio Company dancers and witness the energy that is created in a room when you bring these young people together.
Sascha challenged the students with complex petit allegro combinations and asked them to incorporate elements of repertoire they are currently working on into the ending of centre exercises. The Pre-professional students remarked that it was a very inspiring class.
The School’s Artistic Director, Iain Mackay, then invited Sascha to sit down for a Q&A, which our 1st and 2nd Year students also joined in on.
As a former member of the very first cohort, Sascha shared how ABT Studio Company has evolved over the last 30 years and its interaction with the main company today.
‘The company serves as a bridge between student and professional life, and our top priority is graduating the dancers into ABT or other top classical companies worldwide. We also serve as an incubator of new choreography and commission three to five new works each year. We tour around the country and abroad to all reaches of the community to present school performances, talk backs, masterclasses, as well as 35-40 conventional performances a year. The dancers get a lot of experience on stage so that when they graduate to the main company, they’re polished, they know how to take care of themselves on the road, they’ve built healthy habits and are experienced and fluent in a myriad of dance genres. We try to prepare them for what they’re going to do in the main company. Our programme is anchored by classical works that are in the ABT repertoire, but it all mirrors what the main company is performing. For a month, the dancers go on tour with ABT and perform in The Nutcracker. We’re all in one building – we share the space, we share teachers, we share values and it’s a very close-knit community.’
He also discussed what he looks for in dancers:
‘There’s the thing that we’re all looking for, which is the baseline of technique, capability and facility. But also the ability to learn choreography quickly, openness and curiosity, a willingness to apply corrections and resilience. It’s a rigorous schedule and it’s tough on your body, so mentally and physically you need a hearty constitution. You need imagination, something to say, kindness and generosity towards one another. I’m looking for dancers who are supportive of their colleagues, respectful to the people in the front of the room and have a point of view.’
Through this visit, it was lovely for our students and teachers to be reunited with recent alumni of the School who have joined ABT Studio Company. They shared how they have found the transition from student to company life and moving to another country in the process.
Current Pre-professional Year student, Ptolemy Gidney, was invited to join the company earlier this year:
‘I’ve found it’s important to put yourself out of your comfort zone because that’s where you will improve the most. I’d never been to America before and when I went to ABT, I’d only auditioned a few weeks prior so it was a big change. New York is fantastic but it’s a completely different ball game over there compared to London. Moving up into company life is definitely eye-opening. I’ve loved it. I didn’t expect to be joining a company this early on and everyone’s been really lovely. The repertoire is very fun and touring is the best part. When you get back in the studio after touring, you almost feel more comfortable and more ready to try new things.’
Alum Max Barker has had a little longer to adjust to company life:
‘On my first day when I joined The Royal Ballet School in 2nd Year, I remember the energy in class was so focused, so ready to go. It was so inspiring, and I think that’s something I’ve held onto now when you do have to learn repertoire quickly and you don’t have the luxury of someone telling you how you should do every single step. Of course we have great coaches at ABT, but you also have to do a lot of work on your own and you have to keep that feeling I felt in my first day at the School of the focus and the drive, and remembering that the technique you use on stage comes from classwork, it comes from focusing on how you do barre every day. No matter where you are in the world, you do it with the same intention so you know it’s going to set you up well and that’s going to make any transition seamless.’
Thank you so much to Sascha and ABT Studio Company for taking time out of their busy rehearsal schedule to share the space with us. It was a real privilege for both our students and staff to be a part of. Visits like this provide an incredible opportunity for our students to learn from those who have recently entered professional life as they themselves inch closer to this next stage of their careers.
