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News from Emily Yong (2005-2012)
I attended The Peterborough School from
September 2005 (I started the same day that
my baby sister was born!) to July 2012. I had
a great time at School getting stuck in with
pretty much everything – vocal ensemble,
chapel choir, flute group, orchestra, hockey
club, running club, East of England Food
Challenge, the list goes on. School was a huge
part of my life and it seemed strange when the
time came for me to think about what I wanted
to do after I left. I had the option of going to
university having gained a place to study
French and Chinese at the University of
Edinburgh. However, I also had the opportunity
to venture into a completely different world and
undertake vocational dance training. I’ve
danced since I was three years old and have
always loved moving and performing. Although
it was a fairly difficult decision to make, I came
to the conclusion that you can only dance
while you are young and I didn’t want to regret
not trying, so during my last year at School, I
auditioned for several different dance schools.
This was a competitive process with dancers
from all around the world fighting for a limited
number of spaces. One school that was
particularly attractive was Rambert School of
Ballet and Contemporary Dance and I was
extremely pleased to be offered a place to train
there. I started my training in September 2012.
Rambert is a school dedicated to training
dancers in both classical ballet and contem-
porary dance. The course is three years long
and I will graduate with a BA (Hons) in Ballet
and Contemporary Dance. The school was
founded by Marie Rambert who was the
founder of
Ballet Rambert
, one of the most
influential ballet companies in the UK. The
company still exists today but under the name
Rambert Dance Company
and its focus has
moved to contemporary dance. The school is
based in the lovely leafy London suburb of
Twickenham. It is just round the corner from
the River Thames and is a wonderful place to
train. The school has a warm, family feel to it
which is similar to the atmosphere I remember
at The Peterborough School. There are just 30
dancers in my year- 20 girls and 10 boys and
we are all great friends. I often get asked what
the atmosphere at dance school is like and
whether it is competitive and nasty. Although I
will eventually be competing with my year for
the same jobs, we are a very cohesive group
and support each other through what can be
an exhausting, frustrating and demanding
experience. Another thing I love about the
school is that we all dance differently. Marie
Rambert once famously said that her school
was not to be a “sausage factory” – each
dancer was not to come out the same. I have
found this to be very true. Despite having high-
quality training in dance technique, our
individual personalities as artists have been
nurtured.
Now that I am in my third year, I am working
towards the graduate show. For this show I am
performing in an excerpt from the ballet
La
Bayadere
and also
Stabat Mater
which is a
work choreographed by the father of British
contemporary dance, Robert Cohan. However,
