Support Yannik going to Central School of Ballet

Hello Everyone,

After months of auditions, Yannik’s hard work and dedication have paid off. He has been offered a place at Central School of Ballet - a world leading center for professional dance training in London - to study on their Degree Course for Professional Dance and Performance.

Have a peek at the school HERE

Yannik has been dancing since the age of 3 at the Nicola Gauld School of Dance and Marian Lane School of Dance. He became a bbo scholar in 2019 and whilst dancing was always a big part of his life, it took the national lockdown during Covid to make him aware of how much ballet really meant to him. Living in a small terraced house, it took family effort to create space for his daily ballet classes. Having to shift dining table and chairs around, it is a slight miracle that only one gratin dish got knocked off the shelf during a rather spirited lesson on pirouettes!

Once he had set his sights on becoming a professional dancer, Yannik’s unstoppable enthusiasm and dedication, both in his lessons and in his practice, blew everyone away. He went from strength to strength with the support of his incredible teachers, reinforced with lessons from the inspirational Mark Richardson funded through an anonymous bursary and gaining further motivation through pop-ups and residential courses run by Yorkshire Ballet Seminars. He also became a member of the Phoenix Youth Academy North East who have been so encouraging and supportive.

The offer to study at Central School of Ballet at the age of 16 is an incredible opportunity to develop his skills and set him on his path to becoming a professional ballet dancer.

Moving to London by himself at such a young age is an equally exciting and daunting thing to do. Even though Yannik is financing the course through a student loan and family support, there is no denying that London is a very expensive place. Accommodation and the extensive list of additional costs are going to present quite a challenge: Private Health Insurance required by the school, school uniform, costumes for regular school performances, a near endless supply of professional ballet shoes and of course the enormous amount of food a young man his age is able to devour (cooking lessons are being undertaken as we speak) - it is all quite a daunting prospect!

In addition to the Degree Course running full time Mondays - Saturdays, Yannik is also hoping to study for A-Levels in evening classes. The long days required by the school (including Saturdays) and this extra study means this will leave little to no time to work a student job. Therefore, Yannik would be hugely appreciative if you were able to support him financially on this journey.

Thank you so much :)