Students at last year’s summer school.
THE National Ballet of Ireland return to An Grianán, Letterkenny, with their enduringly popular ballet summer school next week.
Ballet Ireland’s week-long course offers budding dancers the chance to find out about a career in dance by working with the company’s professional dancers to create a ballet.
Each year, aspiring performers create a ballet with professional dancers from Ballet Ireland. This year’s inspiration is the Brothers’ Grimm tale, The Frog Prince.
Summer school participants become part of the creative process, helping to devise the choreography, create sets and costumes.
The programme is open to everyone aged 6 and over without dance training and also to older children with some dance training. Together with Ballet Ireland’s professional dancers James Loffler, Kesi Olley-Dorey and Jane Magan, and Ballet Ireland Education Officer Stephen Brennan the young dancers will create their own full-length ballet, which will be performed on stage at the end of the week for family and friends to come and enjoy.
James Loffler, who has been dancing with the company since 2008 and has participated in five years of summer schools, said: “I’m really excited about getting to meet the dancers in this year’s programme. “I started out at age 11 and I know that programmes like this are fundamental to getting aspiring dancers on the road to a career in the ballet. They will learn what it’s like to be part of the creative process and work as part of a team to make a ballet, invaluable experience at this young age.”
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