International panel assesses final-year students NBA

Published on April 19, 2016

On 22 April, all the students in their final year at the National Ballet Academy’s pre-professional programme were assessed by an international panel of ballet experts. Rather than being an exam or test, the assessment is intended to give the students insight into their capacities and their opportunities in the professional field.

The panel watched the students do a 45-minute class, following which they each performed a classical solo.
The panel comprised of:

Ted Brandsen (artistic director of Dutch National Ballet)
Rachel Beaujean (head of the artistic staff of Dutch National Ballet)
Mavis Staines (artistic director of Canada’s National Ballet School)
Kathryn Wade (former artistic director of the English National Ballet School and principal of the Royal Ballet School’s Outreach Programme since 2011)
Kader Belarbi (former étoile of Ballet de l’Opéra National de Paris and artistic director of Ballet du Capitole in Toulouse since 2012)
Laure Muret-Belarbi (former dancer of Ballet de l’Opéra National de Paris and currently ballet mistress at Ballet du Capitole in Toulouse)
Bonnie Doets (dancer / ballet mistress at Scapino Ballet Rotterdam)
Marlena Wolfe (ballet mistress at Introdans)
Hanneke Berlage (international teacher / former teacher at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague)
Hlif Svavarsdottir (former director ArtEZ Dance Academy / former teacher at the National Ballet Academy)