In the June/July issue of Dance Australia, we've featured a selection of promising young Australian dancers, comprising Nelson Earl, Talya Minchinton, Jacob Moulton, Maeve Nolan, Joshua Jack Price, Catrina Ralph, Jessi Seymour and Josephine Weise. It's only a handful - there are so many talented dance students making their way through their dance schools and onto the national and international stage!
Read all about Jessi Seymour below, and check out the June/July issue of Dance Australia for the rest of these profiles!
Sydney dancer Jessi Seymour (16) was curious as to see how much of her you could see in the Dance Academy movie released in April this year. She participated as a featured dancer in the filming of the movie and, though she had not seen the final film at the time of writing, says the experience was wonderful.
For Jessi, a student of Hilary Kaplan and Archibald McKenzie at Alegria Dance Studios, participating in the film was just one of the highlights of the last few years. She completed her Advanced 2 Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and Advanced 1 Cecchetti exams with outstanding results and won the overall prize for the most outstanding dancer at the RAD Isobel Anderson Awards in 2016.
Jessi won the Silver Section at the Cecchetti Medal Awards as well as the Silver Section at the Lucie Saranova Memorial Awards in 2016. In July that year, she took up a scholarship to attend summer school at the Canadian National Ballet School, her prize for competing in the Alana Haines Competition in 2015. She also competed in the finals of the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland in February and was invited to compete in the finals of the Youth America Grand Prix this year.
In April, Jessi again competed in the Alana Haines Awards. She and will also compete in the Sydney Eisteddfod in September before preparing for her Solo Seal RAD examination. Jessi was initially offered a short-term scholarship with the Royal Ballet Upper School by the artistic director, Christopher Powney, and has since been accepted into the school full-time. She will commence in September this year.
Jessi says the two dancers she admires the most are Marienela Nunez and Lucia Lacarra. She says her ultimate goal is to dance lead roles with a renowned company. She admits that she loves classical ballet and contemporary dance equally and would love to be part of the creative process of a new neo-classical/contemporary ballet.
- MICHELLE DURSUN
This profile is part of a special feature entitled "Rising Stars", by Michelle Dursun, in the June/July issue of Dance Australia. Get your hands on the new issue at your favourite magazine retailer or subscribe here, or purchase an online copy via the Dance Australia app.
Correction: In the print magazine there are two errors in Jessi's profile, regarding her wins at the Cecchetti Medal Awards and the Lucie Saranova Memorial Awards, and the details of her place at the Royal Ballet School. This online version has been published to correct the print version.
Top: Jessi competing at the Prix de Lausanne in 2017. Photo: Gregory Batardon.