New members of Joburg Ballet
JOBURG - Joburg Ballet has officially announced the arrival of three new members to the Junior Corps de Ballet and two new soloists, as well as the promotion of two current members, among other changes.
This year, the company is set to stage three major productions at Joburg Theatre comprising Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and finally, Cinderella – and they need a whole lot of dancers to do it.
Cristina Nakos is one of the newest Junior Corps de Ballet (a member of the ballet who does not perform solo pieces, but rather in a group, at all times) members and she studied the art of dance in Bedfordview.
Kelly Roberts, who lives in Linden, studied ballet in Dunkheld and she’s the second new member of the junior group. The third and final member to join the junior group is Alice Le Roux who studied dance in Garsfontein.
The newly-appointed soloists, Monike Cristina and Ivan Domiciano hail from Brazil.
Current Joburg Ballet members, Jonathan Rodrigues and Juan Carlos Osma, have been promoted from senior soloists to the principal dancer rank, while Nicole Ferreira-Dill and Claudia Monja have been promoted from soloists to senior soloists. Shana Dewey has been promoted from the Junior Corps de Ballet to the Senior Corps de Ballet.
In addition, new members to the Aspirant Programme where young aspiring dancers are trained to find whether they have what it takes to make it in the cutthroat dance industry, are Jessica Lombard and Krystn Janicek, who join the company from the USA.
This brings the total number of dancers in the company to 28.
Commenting on the new company members, artistic director of Joburg Ballet, Iain MacDonald said, “It’s wonderful to see Joburg Ballet continue to attract top-flight international talent. I’m also particularly pleased that the three new members of our Junior Corps de Ballet are all graduates from our academy, which I think reflects well on both the strength of young dancers emerging in South Africa and also on the company’s investment in training and developing the next generation.”
Don’t forget to catch the three shows at Joburg Theatre at the new, lower, 2016 prices.
Details: www.joburgtheatre.com; www.webtickets.co.za
