By Deborah Searle.

When English National Ballet toured to The Concourse, Chatswood in Sydney last month, audiences were in rapture. The dancers of English National Ballet are some of the best in the world.

One such dancer is young Teo Dubreuil, Artist of the Company, who after starting dancing at age six and training at the Henwood School of Dance and Royal Ballet School, joined English National Ballet just last year.

Dance Informa spoke to Teo in break between performances.

How did you enjoy performing in Australia?

I have loved being able to perform in Australia, it has been an incredible experience. It’s also been really nice performing at The Concourse.

Was this your first visit to Australia?
This is my first time visiting Australia so I have been trying to see as much of Sydney as possible! I would love to come back and dance in many more cities.

What was your favourite ballet to perform and why?

I have only been with the company for five months so I haven’t been able to experience performing any three act ballets yet. I have enjoyed performing Suite en Blanc and Rite of Spring with the company.

What has been the highlight of the Australian tour for you?

The highlight of the tour for me has been performing the Pas de Cinq in Suite en Blanc and feeling the warmth from the Australian public towards the company.

What inspired you to start dancing?

Both of my parents were ballet dancers so I have been around ballet from an early age.

What inspires you to continue today?

For me, it’s the feeling I get when I go on stage. Nothing will ever beat the buzz you get before a performance! I also love how I am able to express myself through dance.

What advice would you give to a young male dancer who’d one day like to join a professional company?

By all means follow your dream, but you have to work very, very hard! Natural talent nowadays isn’t enough.

Since joining English National Ballet in 2011, what has been your highlight so far?

My highlight has been being chosen to be part of the group to come on tour to Australia, as this is my first international tour.

Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years?

In five years I would like to be a leading dancer with English National Ballet or another international company. My goals are to perform all the classic ballets and work with exciting choreographers. I would also love to have a ballet created for me.

The world-renowned English National Ballet will tour to Australia for an exclusive season in Sydney at the new, The Concourse, Chatswood, from Friday June 8 to Sunday June 17, 2012.

Tickets are already selling fast as dancers and lovers of dance gather to see the company which hasn’t toured to Australia since 2001.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director, Wayne Eagling, this highly respected European company will bring its top soloists and principal artists, presenting a programme suited to young and old in the intimate 500 seat theatre at The Concourse.

The English National Ballet was established in the 1950s and has since emerged as one of the foremost touring companies in Europe. This internationally acclaimed classical ballet company tours both nationally and worldwide. Founded by two British ballet greats Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, the English National Ballet grew out of a series of gala performances. Today, with 67 dancers from 20 different countries, they provide a group of dancers who enrich each repertoire they perform. The original 1950s aspiration for the Company, to take popular ballet to the widest geographical audience at a price they can afford, remains as valid today as when first expressed by the Company’s founders.

English National Ballet's Anais Chalendard and Vadim Muntagirov in Suite en Blanc

Recently the subject of the popular BBC reality series The Agony and the Ecstasy the English National Ballet is enjoying an international recognition unheard of in classical dance circles. And it is not only the public who are supporters of the English National Ballet. The prestigious company has enjoyed the patronage of Diana, Princess of Wales and currently HRH Prince Andrew, The Duke of York.

The Australian programme, accompanied by a live orchestra, will open with George Balanchine’s neo-classical masterpiece Apollo and close with Serge Lifar’s spectacular bravura piece, Suite en blanc. These two great classics will frame a selection of favourite pas de deux from Manon, Don Quixote or Black Swan, and Trois Gnossiennes, featuring the company’s stars. Set to an Erik Satie solo piano piece, contemporary choreographer Hans Van Manen’s Trois Gnossiennes, will showcase the great finesse, control and superb classical technique of the English National Ballet dancers.

Suite en blanc was described by its choreographer, Serge Lifar, as “a real parade of stars”. A plotless display of classical technique, with strict emphasis on the perfection of line, the ballet was created in 1943 to showcase the virtuosity and elegance of the Paris Opera Ballet. With its white costumes against an inky black setting, the ballet remains a stunning showcase of dance, as glittering and exhilarating as its first performance nearly seven decades ago.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to see the English National Ballet. Tickets are now on sale at www.theconcourse.com.au/enb

Top photo: Dancer Anais Chalendard of English National Ballet in Apollo. Photo by Laurent Liotardo.

Published by Dance Informa dance magazine – everything dance in Australia – dance auditions, dance news, dance events and resources for dance teachers.