Modern Ballet Graduation Performances 2024

Rose was born in Ireland and began her training at The Goode School of Dance. She was also a member of the Irish National Youth Ballet Company before moving to Glasgow to continue her training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She has thoroughly enjoyed her time at the RCS and is extremely excited to be graduating with a Bachelor’s in Modern Ballet in July.

Zara was born in Glasgow and started her ballet journey at the Studio under the guidance of Maureen Christie. She went on to train with the Scottish Ballet Associates and joined the full-time programme at the Dance School of Scotland. 

Layla Bruce was born in Somerset, England and trained at Elmhurst Ballet School and London Vocational Dance School prior to joining the BA Modern Ballet program with The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. After Graduation, Layla will be moving to London in September to join the Acosta Advanced Training Hub where she will continue her studies in both Classical and Contemporary dance.

Tahlia moved from Australia to London in 2018 to further her ballet training with the Young Dancers Academy alongside training at the Royal Ballet Associates.

Sophie was born in Ireland and trained at Coastal Ballet School whilst also being a member of the Irish National Youth Ballet Company prior to continuing her training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Sophie has thoroughly enjoyed her 3 years of training at RCS and is excited to be graduating this July.

Olivia is extremely grateful for all the opportunities she has had throughout the three years at RCS on the BA Modern Ballet course, full of amazing experiences, taught by incredible teachers and meeting dancers who have become dearest friends. Olivia is looking forward to her new chapter and will cherish her memories of RCS fondly.

Olivia was born in Scotland and started dancing at her local ballet school. She then progressed her training at Scottish Ballet Associates and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Juniors Programme and their Young Ballet Company before joining the BA Modern Ballet Degree.

Siân is very excited to be graduating from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a BA in Modern Ballet this July. She moved from Zurich to Glasgow to train vocationally and has thoroughly enjoyed her 3 years at the Conservatoire.

Before starting full-time training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Lily trained at Scottish Ballet Associates, the Junior Conservatoire, Ballet West Associates, SMB Company, and at her local dance school.

Mia was born in Scotland and prior to training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland attended Scottish Ballet Junior and Senior Associates, and the Dance School of Scotland. Mia has thoroughly enjoyed her time at RCS and is grateful for the wonderful opportunities the BA Modern Ballet programme provided.

Iana was born and raised in Falkirk where she attended the Central Scotland Ballet School a local dance school where her passion for ballet evolved. Alongside this she was able to enhance her training in the Scottish ballet associate program as a junior, mid and senior associate where she was able to have the chance to perform alongside the company members in the UK tour of the Nutcracker, she also trained at RCS weekly as a junior associate. During this, she was successful in getting into the Dance School of Scotland and went on to continue her training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on the 3-year BA modern ballet degree course and is now due to graduate in early July.

Mary was born in Germany and joined the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland this year. She previously trained at the London Russian Ballet School, Natalia Kremen Ballet School, and Elmhurst Ballet School and spent a year in the Northern Ballet Professional Graduate Programme.

Aoife was born in Oxford and has lived in Henley-on-Thames since then. Aoife trained with Raw Talent, London Junior and Senior Ballet, Dance Gems and Royal Ballet School Associates before joining the BA in Modern Ballet. She has enjoyed her 3 years of training at RCS and is excited for the future.

Jodie is from North Yorkshire and started her training at the local dance school before joining the Yorkshire Ballet Scholarship Centre and then taking a place on the Centre for Advanced Training Programme (CAT) at the Academy of Northern Ballet in Leeds. Her first professional role was a party child in The Nutcracker with Northern Ballet at Leeds Grand Theatre.

Born in Japan, Miyu received her training at Prendre Ballet Studio before participating in the BA in Modern Ballet. She took pleasure in her three years of training at the Royal Conservatoire, and she is thrilled to start the next phase of her dancing career in the autumn.

Born in Vancouver Canada, Phoebe grew up in the Caribbean, the USA and New Zealand – where she spent most of her childhood and calls home. Phoebe began tap classes at age 4 and soon launched into many other dance styles such as jazz, hip hop, ballet, contemporary and modern. At 16, Phoebe was accepted into the Tanya Pearson Academy in Sydney Australia where she commenced full-time training. In September 2022, Phoebe moved to Scotland after graduating from the pre-professional course in Sydney.

Elizabeth is originally from Sydney, Australia. Before moving to Scotland she began her full-time training at the Tanya Pearson Academy under the artistic direction of Lucinda Dunn OAM and was taught by teachers such as Victor Zarallo, Gillie O’Connell, Katie Pianoff and Kim Traynor.

Ellwyn joined the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2021 after graduating from London Vocational Ballet School as well as training through the Royal Ballet School associate programme.

Hikaru Yoneyama was born in Shizuoka, Japan and started ballet at Ishihara ballet academy. At the ballet academy, she played the lead role of Lise in La Fille mal gardee. At the Shizuoka Prefectural Art Festival, she competed in a variation of Kitri’s friends from Don Quixote, and another year, she performed a variation of Gamzatti in a selection. She has thoroughly enjoyed her 3 years of training at RCS. She is extremely excited to be graduating with her bachelors in Modern Ballet this July.

Kei was born in Shizuoka, Japan and trained at Ishihara Ballet Academy before joining the BA in modern ballet. She has thoroughly enjoyed her 3 years of training at RCS and looks forward to graduating with her Bachelor’s in Modern Ballet this July.

Li-Hsin started to dance at the age of 6. When she was 11, she participated in her first ballet competition and received a partial scholarship for a summer course at the School of Cadence Ballet in Toronto. After that, she has taken part in more competitions such as the Star of Canaan Dance International Ballet Competitions and the Taiwan Grand Prix. Before entering RCS, she had been training full-time in the dance department of a Taiwanese high school, where she also learned Chinese dance and character dance apart from ballet and contemporary dance.  

 While training in Taiwan, Li-Hsin choreographed four solo pieces for herself to dance in some competitions and developed her choreographic style. These experiences led her to join the Choreography Competition 2022 and present her solo piece in the graduation performance in 2023. In last year’s Choreography Competition, she won the prize with her group dance piece, which is then going to be performed in the graduation performance this year. 

Daniel danced for Scottish Ballet from 2006-2014 and Rambert from 2014-2022 and now works as a freelance dance artist and choreographer. He recently joined the artistic team of Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show as Assistant Choreographer to Marion Motin.

His choreographic work includes pieces for Rambert School, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 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, Central School of Ballet and National Youth Ballet.

He is currently studying an MA in Choreography at Central School of Ballet.

He choreographed Haunted for the RCS 2024 Graduation Performances.

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.

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.  

Mark Bruce has choreographed, directed and danced internationally for over 30 years, working with Rosas, Bern Ballet, Ballet Black, Introdans, Gibson/Martelli, Probe, and DJazzex among others.  

He formed the Mark Bruce Company in 1991. Productions include Moonlight Drive (1991), Lovesick (1995), Helen, Angel (1996), the celebrated collaboration with Polly Jean Harvey and John Parish titled Dance Hall At Louse Point (1997), Horse, Dive (1999), Sea of Bones (2006) Love and War (2010), Made in Heaven (2012) and Dracula (2013) which won the Sky Arts South Bank award for Dance, the National Dance Award for Best Male Dancer for Jonathan Goddard as Dracula, and the award for Best Independent Company. Bruce’s production of The Odyssey toured in 2016 and his Macbeth in 2018, both received National Dance Awards nominations for their dancers. He created Return to Heaven in 2020 and his triple bill Phantoms in 2022 when the company was also nominated for Best Mid-Scale Company at the National Dance Awards. His latest production, Frankenstein is touring in 2024. 

 In 2005 Bruce created Fever for Probe, Green Apples for the Royal Opera House’s Clore Studio Summer Collection and in 2006 Bad History for The Place Prize. In 2008 he created The Sky or a Bird for Probe and Stars for Dance South West. Bruce’s first commission by Bern Ballet, Crimes of Passion, premiered in January 2010 and his second, Medea, premiered in February 2011. He created Second Coming for Ballet Black in 2015. 

Bruce’s theatre work includes the Royal Exchange Theatre’s productions of Peer Gynt, The Bacchae, Antigone, The Revenger’s Tragedy, Antony & Cleopatra, The Glass Menagerie, As You Like It, Fast Food, Still Time and The Way of the World. He co-devised Skellig, an opera based on the book by David Almond, for the Sage Gateshead in 2008. He directed Rick Bland’s award-winning Thick which toured the UK, US and Canada. He worked with Singapore Repertory Theatre on their 2015 production of The Tempest. 

Mark Bruce has also worked in a variety of new media, screen and interactive stage productions with Ruth Gibson & Bruno Martelli. He has written music for his own work and also for art installations and is published by Mute Song. Albums include Girl in a Graveyard (2019) and World of Love and Wonders (2022). His book of short stories, Blackout Zones was released in May 2010 and his book On Choreography and Making Dance Theatre was published by Oberon in 2018. 

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 BBC Silk Screens 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 here at RCS as well as working with the Scottish Ballet Associates and lecturing in dance at West College Scotland.

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

Deborah Ward is a choreographer and doctoral candidate at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her research explores narrative works by women ballet choreographers using a feminist narratological lens. A graduate of Elmhurst Ballet School, Surrey, Deborah holds an MA in Dance Studies from De Montfort University,  and a Professional Performance Diploma from the José Limón Institute, New York.