Australian dancer Joel Woellner is well on the way to achieving his dream of being a professional dancer. He recently won not just one but two prizes at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne ballet competition in February and has just taken up an apprentice scholarship with Houston Ballet in Texas, US. He was one of just eight candidates selected for a “Laureat” (scholarship) and he also won the contemporary dance prize. Dance Australia caught up with him shortly after his big win.
DA: Where were you born and when did you take up dancing?
JW: I was born in Illawong, which is in the southern suburbs of Sydney. I was in Year 2 when I started dancing, when I was around eight years old.
DA: What made you take it up?
JW: When I was in grade two, Illawong Public School was showing a production of The Wizard of Oz. A teacher who was choreographing the play, Mrs Chapman, noticed during rehearsals/shows that I had a great sense of musicality and performance quality. She approached my mum and suggested to her that I take up dancing lessons. Mrs Chapman’s daughters attended a local dance school in Menai owned by Belinda Peoples called Dance Pointe. My mum had told me about her conversation with Mrs Chapman and I agreed to go to lessons.
DA: What styles did you learn?
JW: I first started out with the usual styles. Jazz, modern/contemporary. I also did singing and drama. On a particular lesson parents were invited to watch classes. My dad had decided to come and watch me. Being from a field hockey and cricket background he was not sure what to expect, but he came along to support me and to learn more about dance. It was at the end of that class that my teacher, Belinda Peoples, approached my dad saying that Joel could be a professional dancer one day and that to make that happen I needed to go to ballet classes. So dad spoke to me after my jazz class and I agreed to go along and try it.
DA: What academic school did you attend and to what level?
JW: I went to Illawong Public School from years K to 6, then Newtown High School of the Performing Arts from Year 7 to 8, then Inaburra High School from Years 9 to 10. After year 10 I left school and began to study ballet full time.
DA: Where else did you train in ballet?
JW: At Ettinghausen’s Dynamic Arts for three years and then at Academy Ballet for a few months before I went overseas.
DA: When did you know you wanted to be a professional dancer?
JW: It was when I was at Newtown High School. We danced a piece by Alison McKellar at the regional dance festival. It was one of the first times I had been on stage in a professional environment. The excitement and nerves but absolute joy I felt on stage was something I had not experienced before. I wanted to keep experiencing that thrill. That was when I wanted to become a professional dancer.
DA: Tell us how you came to be training at the Houston Ballet and why you chose that school?
JW: In 2010 I participated in Sydney Eisteddfod’s MacDonald’s Ballet Scholarship. That particular year Marilyn Jones was an adjudicator. She is a renowned ballet dancer and her son Stanton Welch is the artistic director of Houston Ballet. At this competition she had mentioned to me that Houston Ballet would be a great place to train.
The same year I went to Youth America Grand Prix in New York. While at that competition the ballet master of Houston Ballet second company, Claudio Munoz, approached me and said that he would like to work with me. He then contacted Stanton Welch and they both agreed to offer me a full scholarship to HB2. Later that year I attended the Alana Haines Awards in New Zealand. Li Cunxin and Mary Li were the adjudicators. After a successful competition they both approached me and suggested that I should train at Houston Ballet. Having both danced at Houston ballet they knew a lot about the training and company.
I don’t think there could be a brighter arrow pointing me to Houston. So after getting a visa and arranging some plane tickets I started in August, 2011. The company and school had a brand new $53 million dollar building. To say the facilities are amazing is an understatement. I lived in the dormitories of the ballet, which are situated on the sixth floor. When I woke up I simply made breakfast and got an elevator to the third floor for classes. My parents took comfort in the fact that I would be very well looked after by the chaperone in the dorms and also in classes by the fantastic teachers.
DA: Tell us about your life at Houston – how different is it from Sydney?
JW; Life in Houston is physically more demanding. At school I had to wake up earlier and go to bed later every day. I also had to make my own meals. It was particularly hard when I would come home each day exhausted and have to make dinner. But life in the dorms was friendly and we helped each other making meals. I also got to watch and be involved in so many company performances and saw some of the most amazing dancers in the world perform on stage. There have been a few times when I’ve been dancing on the same stage as them, which has been a huge highlight of my career. These opportunities have been so influential. I was able to watch these incredible dancers and take as much as I could out of their performances and put it into my own dancing.
DA: What other awards have you won or been placed in?
JW: I was a finalist in the McDonald’s Ballet Scholarship in Sydney [in 2010] and 1st runner-up in Alana Haines [2011].
DA: What solos did you perform at the Prix de Lausanne?
JW: For my classical, I performed the Siegfried solo from Act 3 of Swan Lake, and for the contemporary Desde Otello by Goyo Montero.
DA: What are your goals?
JW: My goal is to dance with the Houston Ballet Company.
DA: Anything you would like to add?
JW: I would like to thank all my teachers past and present for all of their time and effort training me and making me a better dancer and artist. Without them I would not be in the position I am in today. I would also like to thank the Prix de Lausanne for the most amazing experience I have had. The friends I have made and the lessons I have learnt will be carried throughout my career and for the rest of my life.
Woellner performing his contemporary solo at the Prix. Photo: Gregory Bartardon