Joining the new Paris Opera Junior Ballet
When the Paris Opera Ballet (POB) announced it was to establish a brand new junior company, you can imagine the interest. One of the most lauded institutions in the ballet world was about to open its doors to 18 young dancers, all at once.
Traditionally, it has been very difficult for anyone outside the Paris Opera Ballet School to join the company, which is very protective of its precious style and heritage. However, this year it announced it was holding auditions for a new ensemble, open to dancers aged 17 to 23 from "all backgrounds".
Auditions were held over two days in July, with hundreds in attendance. Among those receiving a coveted place is one Australian, Jackson Smith-Leishman and one New Zealander, India Shackel.
Both dancers have already been well and truly recognised for their talent. Jackson, after training with Amanda Bollinger Dance Academy in Brisbane, was accepted into the Royal Ballet School. He was a finalist in the Prix de Lausanne in 2020, and back in 2018, he was one of only two Australians who made it to the NYC finals of the Youth America Grand Prix at the Lincoln Centre. A few days before graduating from the Royal Ballet School with his BA in Classical Ballet and Dance Performance, he was overjoyed to learn that he had been the only Australian chosen for the Paris Junior Ballet.
The audition was “quite involved”, he explains. Candidates first had to submit a pre-filmed solo variation, upon which they received an invitation to audition in person.
“Once invited, the process included several rounds. We began with a ballet class in the centre after warming up at the barre in a separate studio. We performed in groups for a panel of 17 judges, who then narrowed the candidates from 115 down to about 35. We then presented a prepared solo selected by the company.
“The final round included a workshop where we learned some choreography by William Forsythe. It was a long and challenging day, but just being in those historic studios was an incredible experience.”
India has been training since she was three at the Fiona Haines Dance Academy (whose mum runs the biennial Alana Haines Ballet Awards). She moved to the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington as soon as she was allowed by her parents to take up dance full-time. Last year she joined the Australian Ballet School and was about to graduate from Level 8, but is leaving early to take up her Paris contract.
She is another YAGP winner, of the Senior Women’s section (the international virtual competition during the pandemic) and was awarded a scholarship to Palucca University in Dresden, which she couldn’t accept due to the circumstances. Later, however, she was able to take up offers at summer school intensives at the Princess Grace Academy in Monaco and the Royal Ballet School. “They were definitely a huge highlight,” she says, “and such a valuable learning experience, especially coming from as far away as New Zealand.”
The Paris audition, she says, was “so surreal”. “It is a little bit daunting when you see 180 other girls there and they all want the same thing as you. I was number 153, so I had extra warm-up time!”
The Junior Ballet is under the direction of José Martinez, Director of Dance at the Paris Opera. The program will alternate between training and performing on stage alongside the main company.
The dancers will be provided with “progressive training”, familiarising them with the POB’s classical repertoire and the works of George Balanchine, William Forsythe and Uwe Scholz and contemporary choreographers, according to the POB website. The company will go on tour and the dancers will also perform with the main company: in the 2024–25 season, they will perform in The Sleeping Beauty at the Opéra Bastille and tour throughout France.
From September 2025 onwards, a further six dancers will be recruited.
“Being a part of the creation of the Paris Opera’s Junior Ballet is truly thrilling, and such an honour and privilege.” Jackson says. “I can’t wait to see where this incredible journey will take me in my ballet career. It’s an honour to contribute to something so new and prestigious, and I’m eager to embrace every moment of this adventure.”
- KAREN VAN ULZEN