Hot on the heels of announcing that Matthew Lawrence (Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal) and Huang Jun Shuang (former Houston Ballet Principal) will join Queensland Ballet (QB) in 2013, Artistic Director Li Cunxin has revealed that nine new dancers will also join Queensland Ballet next year.
Eight of the new dancers are recent graduates from the Australian Ballet School (ABS), Ballet Theatre Australia, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and WA Conservatoire of Classical Ballet (WACCB). They are:
Robyn Begg (WACCB)
Vito Bernasconi (ABS)
Alexander Idaszak (ABS)
Vanessa Morelli (Ballet Theatre Australia)
Emilio Pavan (ABS)
Alec S Roberts (ABS)
Mia Thompson (WAAPA and a former QB Professional Year student)
Sophie Zoricic (ABS)
Former QB Professional Year student Joseph Stewart, who has been guest dancing with the company in 2012, has also been offered a full-time position.
Unsurprisingly, the competition for places in the company was fierce. “Over 180 dancers recently auditioned in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and I was extremely impressed with the level of talent in Australia,” says Li. "We also received a lot of applications from international dancers.”