National Ballet School holds auditions in Charlottetown

About a dozen young dancers in Charlottetown auditioned for Canada's National Ballet School on Wednesday. The audition day is part of a national audition tour where the Toronto-based school travels throughout the country looking for new talent.

About 1,000 students try out for one of the 175 spots chosen for the national training program.

"We always have hope that we can find some exquisite talent," said VeraTimashova, a teacher at the National Ballet School who is evaluating the dancers. "It's our future, right, and we want to have more talented kids who really love ballet."

Timashova said she tried to relax the dancers during the audition but knows it can be stressful for them.

Instructors said they look to see how flexible students are, and analyze their potential for ballet.

"Mostly we are looking how they enjoy dancing, sense of movement, musicality." said Alexander Gorbatsevish, auditionning tour manager.

Gorbatsevishsaid accepted students will do anywhere from three to five hours of dancing of day at the National Ballet School.He described it as a rigorous program.

'I love dancing'

Ten-year-old Claudia Lopez-Diaz said the audition was a lot like her regular dance classes. She said she was a bit nervous but felt OK once it got started.

"I've been dancing ever since I was five and I love dancing," Claudia said.

Claudia was all smiles when she learned she was one of five dancers in Charlottetown who made the cut.

"They told me that I was accepted and they gave me an invitation," she said.

Her dad, Carlos Lopez Mendez, said Claudia was really looking forward to the chance to get into the school.

"It's a whole summer of ballet, it's going to be good for her," he said. "She'll really like it."

The five students accepted to the program will join others at a summer school program in July. After that, a group is selected for the full-time professional ballet program.

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