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À propos de la Tournée nationale d’auditions de l’École nationale de ballet du Canada About Canada’s National Ballet School’s National Audition Tour About NBS’ National Audition Tour Tour Artistic Staff: Ashleigh Powell Deborah Hess Raymond Smith Alexander Gorbatsevich About NBS’ National Audition Tour Talent is the sole criterion for acceptance into NBS' full-time program. Admission to the Professional Ballet Program is based on a two-stage audition process. Every Fall/Winter, a team of Canada's National Ballet School artistic staff travel across the country on a National Audition Tour (NAT), stopping in 20 or more Canadian cities and towns and offering open classes and auditions. The NAT is the first stage of the audition process, while the Summer School Program is the second stage. Through NAT auditions, over 1,000 students apply for admission to the School's full-time program every year. Roughly 150 of these applicants are invited to join current NBS students for the intensive Summer School program in July, and of these, approximately 50 are offered a place in the full-time Professional Ballet and Post-Secondary Programs. Fees for the Professional Ballet Program are subsidized through government and private sector funding. In addition, an extensive bursary program is in place in the Ballet Academic Program (Grade 6 to 12 and the Post-Secondary Program) to ensure that no talented student is prevented from attending NBS because of financial circumstances. As a national training institution NBS offers bursaries to Canadian students and approximately half of all resident students receive bursary assistance. Audition Process Stage One – National Audition Tour Stage One of the audition process is an abbreviated class taught by a member of NBS' artistic faculty. The audition class is specially structured to assess a range of qualities including coordination, musicality, quality of movement and physical suitability for the demands of classical ballet. No special preparation is required, and prior dance training is not essential for children under 12 years of age. Who can audition? Students entering academic grades 6-12 in September 2014. Students entering Grade 5 in September 2014 may audition for the Introductory Summer School. Students who have completed high school in a rigorous full-time dance program who wish to prepare for professional careers. Students unable to audition in person may apply by DVD. Students who simply love to dance and do not wish to audition, can still participate in the National Audition Tour by registering for an Open Class. Stage Two – Summer School Stage Two of NBS' audition process is for students who have successfully auditioned for the Professional Ballet Program or the Introductory Grade 5 Summer School. It consists of a four- week intensive Summer School at NBS' state-of-the-art facilities in Toronto each July. Approximately 150 auditioning students attend dance classes for the four-week period along with returning NBS students. This period is more relaxed than NBS' formal school year, due partly to the fact that there are no academic classes and there are many fun activities and outings planned for the hours not spent dancing. As talent is the sole criterion for acceptance into NBS' Professional Ballet Program, financial support is available according to each family's needs. To accurately determine the degree of support required, parent(s) must apply for financial assistance annually and every case is individually assessed. Some financial assistance opportunities also exist for Summer School. Ongoing Assessment During Summer School, students are assessed on their suitability for NBS' classical ballet program. Academic test results and interpersonal skills are also taken into account. Approximately 50 auditioning students will be invited to join the full-time Professional Ballet Program in September each year, while full-time students are assessed on an ongoing basis to ensure that they continue to respond positively to the program's broader challenges. With only a small number of places available each year, it's not possible to invite every aspiring dancer into the full-time program. The audition process is designed to be a positive experience. Students are encouraged to maintain their love of dancing and to recognize the many training options available to them besides NBS. Those not invited to join the full-time program are welcome to audition again the following year. Students entering academic Grade 5 in September 2014 who thrive at the 2014 Introductory Summer School will be encouraged to audition for Summer School 2015. This initial Summer School experience is designed to help students settle comfortably and confidently into the two- stage audition process the following year. Tour Artistic Staff Ashleigh Powell Tour Location: Sudbury, ON; Saskatoon, SK; Brandon, MB Bio: Ashleigh Powell began her ballet training in Ottawa at the Kanata Ballet School. In 2009, she graduated from Canada's National Ballet School's Teacher Training Program with Distinction. During her training at NBS she obtained her teaching qualifications with the Cecchetti Society of Canada, the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, and the Royal Academy of Dance – as well as her Advance II dancing qualifications from all three organizations. Powell is the recipient of both the Carole Chadwick Award and the Betty Oliphant Award for teaching and holds an Honours Degree in History and Sociology from the University of Toronto. Beyond her role as a teacher in the Professional and Associates Programs, Powell greatly appreciates her position as Co-Manager, with Laurel Toto, of NBS’ Community Engagement. Through this initiative she has the opportunity to teach movement workshops and dance classes to public school students and community groups in cities across the country. In this capacity, Powell enjoys creating choreography for youth and curriculum based dance content to meet Ontario Education Ministry guidelines. Deborah Hess Tour Location: Moncton, NB; Charlottetown, PE; Quebec City, QC Bio: Deborah Hess trained in New York at the American Ballet Theater School with Valentina Pereyaslavec and subsequently with Kathleen Crofton before dancing with American Classical Ballet, Ballet de Wallonie in Belgium, Ballet Gulbenkian in Portugal and the New London Ballet in England. In her performance career she danced a wide range of roles from the classical, such as Odette in Swan Lake to soloist roles in contemporary works by such renowned choreographers as Lar Lubovitch. She worked directly with Bronislava Nijinska, Rudolf Nureyev, Hans Brenna, Asaf Messerer and Anna Marie Holmes, to name just a few. Upon her return to North America, Hess turned her focus to teaching and became the Assistant to the Director at the San Francisco Ballet School. On the recommendation of Erik Bruhn she was invited by Betty Oliphant to join the artistic faculty at Canada's National Ballet School in 1981. Hess’s role has expanded during her tenure at NBS and she is now the coordinator of student exchanges between NBS and its international partner schools, including the National Ballet School of Cuba, the Australian Ballet School and the Hamburg Ballet School amongst others. In addition to her work at NBS, she continues to serve on the jury for the Youth America Grand Prix, and as a juror alongside Fernando Alonso for the International Ballet Student Competition in Havana, Cuba. Her work in Japan includes serving on the jury of the Japan Grand Prix while also fulfilling a similar role in the First International Student Competition in Beijing, China. Hess has been a guest teacher for the Boston Ballet Company, Royal Danish Ballet School, the Cincinnati Ballet Company, Jacob's Pillow, the USA International Ballet Competition, as well as returning yearly to Japan. Raymond Smith Tour Location: Montreal, QC; Ottawa, ON; Halifax, NS Bio: Born in Scotland, Raymond Smith began his dance training at the age of 11 in London, Ontario. He was admitted to Canada's National Ballet School two years later, where he completed the rest of his training. In 1975, Raymond joined the National Ballet of Canada and was promoted to principal dancer in 1980. Across his 20-year career with the National Ballet of Canada, Raymond danced the lead roles in such ballets as Giselle, La Sylphide and Napoli, and was a guest artist with the English National Ballet, the Scottish Ballet, the London Festival Ballet, and other companies throughout Canada and the United States. In 2004, Raymond joined the artistic staff at NBS, where he currently teaches ballet and is a senior student advisor. Alexander Gorbatsevich Tour Location: Edmonton, AB; Nanaimo, BC; Vancouver, BC; Calgary, AB Bio: Alexander Gorbatsevich received his ballet training at the Novosibirsk State School of Ballet. In 1973, having completed his study with distinction, Gorbatsevich joined the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre as a soloist and subsequently joined the Moscow Classical Ballet Company as a Principle Dancer in 1977. In his performance career, his repertoire included most of the major classical roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, The Nutcracker, and Cinderella. A key part of Gorbatsevich’s repertoire were the principle roles he played in Nathalie, ou La Laitiere Suisse in a production by Pierre Lacotte after Filippo Taglioni, El Guije by Alberto Alonso (both created for the Moscow Classical Ballet) L’Arlsienne by Roland Petit and Opus#5 by Maurice Bejart. A dancer with 27 years of experience, Gorbatsevich has had an astounding performance career. He has received numerous prestigious dance awards including first prize and a gold medal at the 11th International Ballet Competition at Varna in 1983, the Rene Blum Prize from the Paris Academy of Dance in 1984 and the title of Distinguished Artist of Russia, which he received in 1983. He has also performed internationally as a guest artist and has partnered with some of the greatest ballerinas of our time including E.

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