The winner of the 2012 AICD Houston Ballet Scholarship, Jessica Brown, has her heart set on becoming a soloist in a professional ballet company. If her focus and dedication count for anything, she is on the right track. The 16-year-old completed the six-week Summer Intensive Training Program (her scholarship prize) with the Houston Ballet Academy in July, 2012, and while attending auditioned and was accepted into Level 8 – the graduate year of the Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy. She returned home to Brisbane for two weeks at the end of July and then flew back to Houston with her mother and grandmother to get ready for the start of the graduate year in August.
The short turn-around resulted in some challenges for the family (of six), such as the logistics of setting up a bank account, mobile phone and health insurance in a short space of time and the ongoing expenses of dormitory fees, food and pointe shoes (Jessica is on a tuition-only scholarship). Despite these initial difficulties, Jessica is enthusiastic and positive and is dedicating all her energies towards the achievement of her goal. She is relishing the opportunities being offered to her by the inspirational teachers at the academy and says, “Like a sponge, I try to soak up all that I possibly can to enrich my own dancing ability and achieve my dream”.
Her daily routine has her rising at 6am to get ready for the day. At 7.30am she starts warming up and running through all her dances before class starts at nine. Depending on the schedule, her dancing finishes between 4.30 and 6.00pm. On Monday and Tuesday nights Jessica attends tutoring for her school work (she is studying Year 11 at Cairns School of Distance Education). On Wednesdays and Fridays she helps out as a training assistant with the younger level school program. At the end of every evening there is revision work to do. “I sit down and run through the day’s dances and write my corrections ready to give 100 per cent the next day,” she says. On Saturdays, rehearsals can range from two hours to the whole day depending on upcoming performances.
Jessica was thrilled to have danced in the Houston Ballet Company’s performances of the Nutcracker over Christmas, being cast in the roles of Clara’s friend, Snowflake, Flying Cook, Dancing Cook and Dancing Rat. She is enjoying the challenges of pas de deux and repertoire class and would dearly love her family to be able to visit and watch her dance. No doubt they are keeping a close eye on her progress, as are her teachers and class-mates at her Queensland ballet school -- Prudence Bowen Atelier on the Gold Coast.
- MICHELLE DURSUN
See more profiles of talented, up-and-coming dancers in Dance Australia Feb/March issue.