The Sandra Powell School of Dancing is pleased to announce they have appointed Jessica Clarke, Dip RBS (PDTC) AISTD, as their patron.
Jessica is currently the Artistic Manager of the Royal Ballet School, and has taught a variety of year groups at the Royal Ballet School since she joined the staff in 2008.
Jessica began dancing at a young age and was trained by her mother, Sandra Powell, until she was accepted into the Royal Ballet School aged 11. She progressed through the school and graduated into the Sadlers Wells company in 1988. She moved with the company when they became the Birmingham Royal Ballet and danced many varied soloist and principal roles. She created roles in works by Kenneth MacMillan and David Bintley amongst others. She retired from the Company in 1998 and gained her teaching qualifications. Jessica taught at the Rambert School for Ballet and Contemporary Dance for one year before joining the Royal Ballet School staff.
Jessica recently contributed to an article in theatrical magazine The Stage, which discussed what ballet and dance schools look for in prospective students. Jessica comments,
“The most important thing is that light behind the eyes, to see someone that’s engaged and really wants to be here. We’re looking for an artist, for a trainable physique and coordination and natural flow of movement.”
Jessica also commented on how advancements in sport science have positively influenced ballet training. Even the traditional structure of the class is sometimes deviated from,
“On some days, we’ve integrated our allegro into our centre work. It gives bodies – especially when they’re developing – time to recover. So they’re not doing half an hour of centre work followed by 20 minutes of jumping back-to-back.”
Jessica concludes by saying that for all the tricks ballet dancers in training can learn it’s also about “classicism of style and interpretation, musicality and interpretation.”
The full article can be found here https://www.thestage.co.uk/advice/2019/become-ballet-dancer-training/