I had been dancing in Europe for a few years when my travels took me to London to audition for the English National Ballet.
As I stood amid the chaos of London commuters on the Piccadilly Line tube, I noticed sitting across from me another dancer, easily recognisable as he sat massaging his calf muscles!
I quickly discovered that he was with the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Antwerp, Belgium. The company just happened to be performing at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London.
It seemed meant to be, so the next day I found myself outside Sadler’s Wells waiting to join company class. As I had not contacted the company to pre-arrange my audition, the only way to get past security was to be smuggled into class between two racks of costumes.
No easy task, but with a bit of distraction from the dancer I had met on the tube and the good fortune of incredibly large costumes, I successfully slipped right past all security checks and into what was already becoming my most memorable audition.
What struck me as unusual about this company was the friendliness of the dancers and their immediate willingness to help me, a rare thing in the competitive world of ballet in Europe. The dancers even cleared a place for me to stand at the barre! Almost unheard of!
The class went well and I had the added luck that the director was teaching. After the class the director asked if I was looking for a job, offering me immediately a contract. Everything seemed to just fall into place!
I began at Royal Ballet of Flanders four months later and spent a very happy five years of my life in such a great company and a city that now 10 years later still feels like my second home.
Oh… and that dancer I met on the London tube? He became my wonderful husband a few years later!
This article was first published in the June-July issue of Dance Australia magazine.