Modern Ballet Graduation Performances 2025

Born in California, Georgia began ballet at four years old. She has moved around her whole life and has attended dance schools in California, Paris, Hong Kong, New Jersey, and now Glasgow. She has enjoyed her three years in the BA Modern Ballet course and is excited for the future.

Mabel began her ballet training at the age of six with Clare Clough School of Dance in East Kilbride. She became a Scottish Ballet Junior Associate at the age of nine, and completed Mid and Senior Associates, while at the same time training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in the Junior Modern Ballet programme. She completed an HNC in Dance at West College Scotland before beginning her degree. Mabel has loved her time training, performing and choreographing at RCS.

Raised in West Lothian, Anna took dance lessons at Central Scotland Ballet School for over 10 years which fuelled her joy for dance. In 2018, at age 13, Anna joined the Scottish Ballet Associates Scheme and became a member of the RCS Junior Conservatoire. After an unforgettable 3 years, Anna is delighted to be graduating from RCS with a Bachelor of Arts this July.

Ruby Ophelia is originally from Sussex, England and was privately trained there, prior to joining the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2022, as the grateful recipient of the Cowrie Scholarship.

Li-Hsin was born and trained in Taiwan. She received a variety of dance trainings at National Chu-pei Senior High School before joining the BA Modern Ballet programme.

Elsa Cloutier is a dancer from Montreal, Canada who joined RCS in 2022 . Her time in Scotland has allowed her to develop her artistry in both ballet and contemporary while also allowing the creative space to develop choreographic ideas.

Antonia has lived in Crieff her entire life, prior to her training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, she was a Junior, Mid and Senior Associate at the Scottish Ballet Associates. In 2024, Antonia won the coveted Genée Gold Medal at the Fonteyn International Ballet Competition in London — the first ever Scottish winner. During her second year at RCS, she was offered a permanent Artist contract with Scottish Ballet and completed the third year of her BA degree remotely.

Devon is very excited to be graduating from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a BA in Modern Ballet this July. He moved from San Fransisco to Glasgow to enhance his training vocationally and has thoroughly enjoyed his 3 years at the Conservatoire.

Sienna is originally from Brisbane, Australia, before her family moved to New Zealand where she started her full time dance training. She then moved to Sydney where she was accepted into the Tanya Pearson Academy at 15 under the direction of Lucinda Dunn OAM. In September 2023, Sienna moved to Scotland after graduating from the pre-professional course in Sydney.

Aya Nishimura is originally from Kyoto, Japan. She began ballet at the age of 3 at the Yoshiko Inoue Ballet School, where she trained in various dance styles. In 2022, she relocated from Japan to Scotland to pursue a 3-year BA in Modern Ballet at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she is set to graduate in early July.

Charlotte was born in Devon, England and trained at her local school Totnes School of Dance alongside the Royal Ballet School’s associate programme prior to joining RCS. Charlotte is very excited to be graduating from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a BA in Modern Ballet this July, and has thoroughly enjoyed her time on the course.

Born in Frimley, England, Melissa’s passion for dance grew from her local tap and modern classes, until she started ballet at Farnham Dance aged 9, studying RAD syllabus, where her love for ballet bloomed. She joined Ballet Boost and the Academy of Balletic Arts in London in 2018 to start her vocational training. Since 2022 Melissa has been enjoying full time training at the RCS, and is looking forward to graduating in July.

Chloe was born in Melbourne, Australia. She started her dancing at the age of 4 at Brian Nolan Academy of Dance. She was there for 6 years before being accepted in the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School to further her dance training. During her time here, she had the opportunity to train with teachers such as Maggie Lorraine and Tim Storey. In September 2022, she started her journey with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland BA in Modern Ballet.

Nicolas Pereira da Silva was born in Canterbury, UK. He started his training at South London Dance Studios, London before moving to the Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, and then Tring School for the Performing Arts. He started the BA in Modern Ballet programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland aged sixteen. After graduation, Nicolas is looking forward to joining the Serbian National Theatre Ballet in Novi Sad, where he will start his career as a professional ballet dancer.

Evie was born in South Yorkshire and started her training at MB Academy of Dance. She then joined the Centre for Advanced Training Programme at Northern Ballet in Leeds as well as the Royal Ballet senior associates at Yorkshire Dance. Evie was lucky enough to perform in a production of The Nutcracker as a party child with Northern Ballet in 2018.

Francis is from North Yorkshire, and completed his pre-vocational training at the Centre for Advanced Training within the Academy of Northern Ballet in Leeds. He then moved to Glasgow to continue his full-time training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Hamish (Tish) Wood is a British Modern Ballet student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He grew up training in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary and street dance. He left home at fourteen to begin his vocational studies at the London Russian Ballet School. In 2021 he relocated to Scotland to pursue the BA programme where he is set to graduate in July. He is signed to Model Team Scotland and has choreographed and danced for music videos and commercials, as well as modelled in editorials and international campaigns. He is both a creative and a performer, in-tuned to the classical and contemporary.

Yui was born in Japan and she began ballet training when she was 8 years old. She trained at Ballet le Coeur before starting full-time training at the Royal conservatoire of Scotland. She is grateful for wonderful experiences that BA modern ballet course provided, and she is excited to begin a new chapter after graduation.

Born in Australia in the last century, Steven studied dance in Townsville and Canberra before moving to Melbourne to study at Victorian College of Arts and then the Australian Ballet School. After a brief sojourn to study Environmental Science, he was offered a job in Europe to dance with Nederlands Dans Theatre II with Jiri Kylian. After two years, dancing pieces by the likes of Jiri Kylian, Hans van Manen and Nacho Duato, Steven moved to England to join Rambert Dance Company.

One of Britain’s leading choreographers, with an international reputation, Christopher Bruce trained at the Ballet Rambert School. He joined Ballet Rambert in 1963 where he was acclaimed as one of the most gifted performers of his generation, and remembered particularly for his performances in Glen Tetley’s Pierrot Lunaire and his own Cruel Garden. He is recognized as the last major choreographer to have been nurtured by Marie Rambert.

Daniel was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He joined Scottish Ballet in 2005 where he performed works by renowned choreographers including Richard Alston, George Balanchine, Matthew Bourne, Trisha Brown, Christopher Bruce, Jorma Elo, William Forsythe, Christopher Hampson, Kenneth MacMillan, Hans van Manen, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Ashley Page, Krzysztof Pastor, Stephen Petronio & Twyla Tharp. 

From 2014-2022, Daniel danced with Rambert and performed in works by Mark Baldwin, Christopher Bruce, Kim Brandstrup, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Merce Cunningham, Ben Duke, Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar, Andonis Foniadakis, Hofesh Shechter, Wayne McGregor, Imre & Marne van Opstal, Jo Strømgren, Marion Motin, Shobana Jeyasingh, Didy Veldman, Wim Vandekeybus & Alexander Whitley amongst others. 

Daniel now works as a freelance artist and choreographer. His choreographic work includes pieces for Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, Elmhurst Ballet Company, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Ballet Central, The Juilliard School, National Youth Ballet of Great Britain, The Dance School of Scotland, The National Theatre’s River Stage, Covent Garden Dance Company, Young Ballet Company of Scotland, Rambert’s ‘Blueprints’ Evening & Ballet Nights London.  

In 2023 he joined Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show as Assistant Choreographer and in 2024, completed an MA in Choreography through Central School of Ballet and University of Kent.  

Born in Australia, Jessica trained and graduated DUX with The Australian Ballet School. Following graduation, she joined The Australian Ballet and after 2 years was promoted to Coryfée.

In 2015 she was awarded the Walter Burke Scholarship to guest perform and tour with English National Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet, then staying on permanently with a half soloist contract in 2016 and a promotion to soloist in 2018. She then joined Ballet National Du Capitole in 2022 as Guest Etoile for international tours of The Nutcracker and Giselle.

In 2023, Jessica was invited as a Guest Principal to create the roles of Female Cinders and Princess Louise for Christopher Hampson’s new Cinders! production. Jessica is now a permanent Principal with Scottish Ballet and recently choreographed the French divert in Scottish Ballet’s new production of The Nutcracker in 2024.

Jessica says “It has been a delight to choreograph the talented level 2 students for this year’s Modern Ballet Graduation Performances. Using inspiration from their strengths, qualities and teamwork, ‘Peace Apart Together’ has been created. Enjoy.”

Diana trained at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia where she toured and performed before moving to London. Diana’s performance career spans 20 years performing internationally with Alston, James, Bonachela, Bruce, and Douglas, joining Scottish Ballet as a soloist in 2003 under Ashley Page. Diana danced many of his works alongside Alston, Petronio, Davies, Forsythe, Spink, Ashton, Brown, Pastor, Meckler/Lopez Ochoa, Lawrance and Bourne. Diana received a Herald Angel award for excellence during the Edinburgh Festival in 2005.

Rowan trained at the Royal Ballet School and the Dance School of Scotland before graduating in Musical Theatre and Commercial Jazz from the London Studio Centre. She then went on to enjoy a successful and varied performing career spanning international and UK tours, film, and television.

Rowan’s choreographic credits include the BBC’s Silk Screens (Glasgow River Festival), Mother Goose (Kings Theatre Glasgow), The Edinburgh Festival closing ceremony, FOP (Glasgow Commonwealth Games), Aashaa UK Tour, and numerous corporate and fashion shows.

Over the past ten years, Rowan has taught at many leading UK schools and colleges including East London College, Scottish Ballet’s Education Programme, and the Dance School of Scotland. She is currently teaching on the BA Modern Ballet and Musical Theatre courses at RCS as well as working with the Scottish Ballet Associates and lecturing in dance at West College Scotland.

Rowan says “It has been a pleasure working with students from the BA Modern Ballet programme to create a piece for this year’s showcase.”

Fabrice joined the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2013 as a lecturer in Modern Ballet and has been a frequent guest teacher to Australia, Canada, France, Japan and at the UK’s Royal Ballet School.

Krzysztof Pastor (1956) trained at the State Ballet School in his hometown of Gdansk. In Poland, he danced with the Dance Theatre in Poznań and the Grand Theatre of Łódź. In 1983, Pastor became a soloist with the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon (France). From 1985 to 1995, he was a dancer with Dutch National Ballet, where he danced many roles in ballets by Rudi van Dantzig, as well as works by George Balanchine, Bronislava Nijinska, Hans van Manen, Toer van Schayk and Ted Brandsen.

Lorna trained with the Dance School of Scotland and Royal Ballet Upper School. She was a soloist with Scottish Ballet and performed professionally with them for 14 years.

After retiring from the company Lorna re-trained with the Royal Academy of Dance gaining the Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma and latterly the BA Hons in Dance Education.

Lorna currently works at Danscentre in Aberdeen and is also a freelance teacher and choreographer. She is a CPD tutor for both the Royal Academy of Dance and the Royal Ballet School.

Kia S. Smith is a Chicago native and she is the Founder, Resident Choreographer and Director of Vision and Strategy for South Chicago Dance Theatre. As a freelance choreographer, Kia’s recent and upcoming commissions include Resilience Dance (2024), New Dance Partners (2024), James Madison University (2024), Columbia College Chicago (2024), Opera Laguna (2024), Houston Contemporary Dance Company (2023), Chicago Opera Theater (2023), Giordano Dance Chicago (2023) and others.

Kia’s first evening length work Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley for South Chicago Dance Theatre premiered at the Auditorium Theatre of Chicago in 2023 and See Chicago Dance affirmed “Smith’s first evening length piece ‘Memoirs’ is a tour de force and a sensory immersion into this artists creative well springs”.

Kia is a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance where she received the Joan Myers Brown Artist Development Fund scholarship in 2018. In 2021, she was a 3Arts Make A Wave awardee and an Ann & Weston Hicks Choreographic Fellow at the renowned Jacobs Pillow. In 2022, Kia received the prestigious Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist award.

Kia was named a Rising Star in 2023 by Chicago Magazine, Player of the Moment in the category of Dance for New City Magazine’s annual 50 Players List in 2023 and one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch for 2024. WBEZ recently recognized Kia as a “breakout artist” for 2024. Kia is thrilled to have a world premiere on Scottish Ballet School at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland this season.