Young Canberra dancer Gabrielle Krinas flew to London on Thursday 19 October after being invited to compete in The Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition.
Known as The Fonteyn, the prestigious event is the annual flagship event of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD). The world’s finest young dancers who trained in the RAD syllabus and achieved a high distinction in their final Advanced 2 Ballet are offered a place in the competition.
The competition allows dedicated and passionate dancers the opportunity to work with some of the leading ballet choreographers and professionals ahead of performing on an international stage.
“I’m going to do a week of coaching and training with a bunch of teachers, like Darcey Bussell, who are famous ballerinas. They’ll coach me on my variations and solos, and then there’ll be the semi-finals, where I get to perform them and maybe be chosen for the finals,” says Gabrielle.
Not only is it a chance to compete for awards and prize money, but making the finals can provide a vital boost to any young performer’s career. All of the finalists’ solo works are sent to artistic directors if globally leading dance companies.
At just 17 years old, Gabrielle has already been dancing for over a decade, first joining Aria Dance Studio.
“I started when I was about four just because my older sister did it, it was just easy for my mum to put me in as well. Then I started to really enjoy it and at about eight I started RAD and it just kept going from there,” she says.
At 10 years old, Gabrielle moved to the Kim Harvey School of Dance where she continues to train up to 25 hours a week while juggling finishing her final year of high school.
Throughout the years, the avid dancer has trained in tap, lyrical, contemporary, jazz and character, though her heart has always remained with classical ballet.
“I just love it; I can go each day and it takes my mind off anything I’m stressed about at school or anything really. It also just makes me happy when I’m there with my friends and we’re all enjoying it together,” she smiles.
Regardless of whether she brings home a win or not, Gabrielle returns to Canberra to complete her year 12 studies before heading back to London. There she will spend three years studying at the Central School of Ballet where she has been accepted into an Honours Degree in Classical Performance.
With dreams of dancing professionally, Gabrielle is keen to join a company after her studies so she can dance every day. She hopes to find a role in Europe but says there would also be opportunities closer to home.
“There’s the Australian Ballet School which you can join and there’s also Western Australian School but ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to do it abroad, hopefully, that works out,” she says.
Gabrielle’s family has been supportive throughout the entire journey, her parents driving her everywhere she needed to go in her younger years. Supporting her on the trip and throughout the competition are her dance teacher and her mother. The young dancer says she is honoured to be part of the competition, hopeful but not expectant; a win would leave her feeling over the moon.
“I would be so grateful that I even got the opportunity to go all the way to London and be trained by all the amazing teachers and winning would just be an extra cherry on top to the experience of doing the competition,” she says.
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