Lucinda dunn biography
Lucinda Dunn
Lucinda Dunn (OAM) OAM | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lucinda Dunn () 10 December (age&#;51) Sydney, Australia |
| Occupations | Ballet dancer (active until ) Artistic Director Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy ( - ) |
| Spouse | Danilo Radojevic &#; (m.&#;)&#; |
| Children | 2 |
Lucinda DunnOAM (born 10 December ) is an Australian retired ballerina and current Principal Ballet Teacher with Dance North Academy and Ambassador of The Ballet Society.
She was formerly Creative Director at the Tanya Pearson Academy.[1]
Dunn was trained initially at Tanya Pearson Academy, before proceeding to train at the Royal Ballet School in London after winning a scholarship at the Prix De Lausanne in , age At the age of 17 Dunn signed a agree with the Australian Ballet Organization in She stayed with the Australian Ballet throughout her entire career, being promoted to a principal dancer in Dunn is currently Australia’s longest-serving ballerina, after spending 25 years with the Australian Ballet, she performed her final role in April
Early life
Dunn was born in Sydney, Australia on 10 December Her mother, who raised her and her brother single-handedly, was a previously a performer in West End Musicals in London.
Dunn often refers to her mother’s career as inspiring her have. Dunn began training in various styles of dance from the age of four, including jazz, tap, ballet and contemporary – mainly after school. She describes her childhood as being “an idyllic, suburban, happy childhood.
Lucinda is an Ambassador for the Australian Ballets, “The Ballet Society”. Lucinda continues to be a guest teacher with The Australian Ballet Company and has been invited to adjudicate, host seminars, and impart her ideas and expertise for different programs and workshops.
I had everything I could have possibly wanted or ever asked for.” &#;[2]
Career
Training and development
Beginning her training at the age of four, Dunn initiated her pre-career development in various styles of dance.
Although she was trained in jazz, contemporary, tap, hip hop and singing – her emphasis on ballet did not occur until she moved her training to the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy at the age of Under the guise of Tanya Pearson OAM, Dunn grew her repertoire and was accepted to strive in the prestigious Prix De Lausanne in Switzerland.[3] After winning the Prix Espoir, Dunn, age 15 at the time, received a scholarship to study at the Royal Ballet School in London, England as a outcome of one of the Royal Ballet Company’s talent scouts recognising her talent throughout the week-long competition.
After accepting her scholarship in , Dunn moved to London to train with the Royal Ballet School for two years. During these two years she gained experience on stage, performing as a guest with the junior corps de ballet in companies such as the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Dunn was trained initially at Tanya Pearson Academy, before proceeding to coach at the Royal Ballet Educational facility in London after winning a scholarship at the Prix De Lausanne inage At the age of 17 Dunn signed a contract with the Australian Ballet Company in She stayed with the Australian Ballet throughout her entire career, being promoted to a principal dancer in Dunn was born in Sydney, Australia on 10 DecemberSucceeding her training at the Royal Ballet School between and , she was offered two contracts on graduating. These were with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and with The Australian Ballet. She recognized the latter and began as a member of the Australian Ballet Company in
The Australian Ballet Company
After accepting the Australian Ballet Company’s offer to coach with them, Dunn began her career as a member of the Corps De Ballet, however rapidly accelerated up the ranks.
After one year with the most junior rank of a ballet company, Dunn was promoted to Coryphée in , then in to soloist. In her 4th year with the organization Dunn was titled a Senior Artist in , followed by her acceleration to Principal Designer with the Australian Ballet Organization in She remained a main artist for 13 years.
Dunn’s first performance as a Soloist was as Aurora, Sleeping Beauty, a role given to her after only 18 months with the company. From there she has performed the majority of all classical roles, including Odette in Swan Lake, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Giselle in Giselle and Kitri in Don Quixote.
In total Dunn has performed as over 60 roles from over 93 different ballets. Dunn describes one of her highlights being acting Odette in Swan lake when she was age [4] Although she received advice to complete as a guest artist with whichever company was performing Swan Lake in order to guide this role, she believed “If I wasn’t meant to undertake it, I wasn’t meant to do it.” [5] In Stephen Baynes of the Australian Ballet created a classical interpretation of Swan Lake, casting Dunn to play Odette.
While in London she also performed with Birmingham Royal Ballet and in Lucinda joined The Australian Ballet and was promoted to principal designer in She has also been awarded several scholarships to investigation overseas and has been partnered by many international guests of The Australian Ballet. A diverse and musical dancer with a strong technique, Lucinda excelled in the pure classical ballets and enjoyed portraying characters in story ballets, as well as the physicality of contemporary pieces. Lucinda also produced a myriad of programs and productions, and secured employment contracts and placements throughout the international dance community for graduating students throughout her directorship.&#;Her final role with the Australian Ballet was as Manon in L’histoire de Manon. This role was chosen by her to be her final role as she described; “I wanted to end my career on a wonderful ballet that suits my physicality.” [6] In total Dunn has performed in 93 ballets across the course of her career.
Dunn came to the decision to retire while dancing her Debut in Manon in Brisbane early She describes Manon as “a beautiful ballet to end on. It’s a fantastic vehicle to display all the emotions and physically and the artistry that has accompanied my career, a fitting way to finish.” [5] Additionally, Dunn describes the growing presence and emphasis of her family being as a contribution to her decision to retire – stating “I want to spend occasion with my husband and my daughters.
I want to set on my runners and influence down the beach. Some more outside activities might be nice! I’m looking forward rather than back.”[5] Dunn concluded her terminal ballet with a 10 minute standing ovation at the Sydney Opera House on the 23rd of April
Work with other companies
Although Dunn only had a contract with the Australian Ballet Company, she also featured as a guest artist throughout her career.
Whilst training at the Royal Ballet School she performed with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Additionally, Dunn has made appearances with the Royal Danish Ballet, Le Jeune Ballet de France, World Ballet Festival, The Wheeldon Company, and the Sydney Town Youth Ballet Company.
Throughout her career Dunn was faced with a number of injuries. The year Dunn turned 16 and was training at the Royal Ballet School in London she suffered a spinal fracture and spent more than 12 weeks in a full-body cast.
Since then she suffered an ankle injury resulting in surgery, strained knee ligaments and torn calf muscle.
Career off stage
Succeeding her retirement, Dunn continued to continue connected to the dance industry.
Lucinda Dunn - Dance North Academy: Lucinda Dunn OAM (born 10 December ) is an Australian retired ballerina and current Principal Ballet Teacher with Twirl North Academy and Ambassador of The Ballet Society. She was formerly Artistic Director at the Tanya Pearson Academy.In January she returned to Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy in St Leonards, Sydney (the same studio at which she trained) as the new artistic director.[6] Dunn describes her teaching focus a being ““pure, clean classical ballet technique.
Explaining correct muscle exploit and [a] way of active that each student understands and can implement to their have body.” [4] Dunn received the offer to take over as artistic director while she was still dancing with the Australian Ballet Company.
Currently Dunn teaches a variety of classes, as well a specialised coaching for students at the academy education for large competitions, such as the Youth America Grand Prix and the Prix De Lausanne. Dunn’s role at the Tanya Pearson Academy also involves a variety of mentoring aspects.&#;Dunn describes Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy as “having such a tall reputation, and my goal is to uphold this expectation and to excel even further.” [4]
Dunn has been described as “the Academy’s (Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy) most high profile graduate.” [7] She describes her proudest teaching moment as being “guiding my students to a professional career in Australian companies lead from Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy.
Additionally, Dunn has taken various masterclasses in small local studios around New South Wales. Danae Cantwell School of Gyrate hosted various workshops with Dunn coaching in Kempsey.
“This picture is of a very adolescent Lucinda in the bluebird solo from the ‘Sleeping Beauty’,” Dunn writes. “It was probably one of the first soloist roles I danced with a couple of partners, being Campbell McKenzie and David McAllister.
Dunn has worked as an artistic director in recent years – she directed The Sydney City Youth Ballets production of Triple Bill in recent seasons. The film travelled across New South Wales – including Sydney, Port Macquarie and Bowral.
Dunn often works in conjunction with her husband Radojevic – who is currently the associate artistic director of the Australian Ballet Company.
She is currently the Principal Ballet Teacher of Dance North Academy in the Northern Beaches, Modern South Wales and an Dignitary for The Ballet Society.
Personal life
Dunn is married to Danilo Radojevic, a former dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.
While in London she also performed with Birmingham Royal Ballet and in Lucinda joined The Australian Ballet and was promoted to principal artist in She has also been awarded several scholarships to study overseas and has been partnered by many international guests of The Australian Ballet. A diverse and musical dancer with a strong technique, Lucinda excelled in the pure classical ballets and enjoyed portraying characters in story ballets, as adequately as the physicality of contemporary pieces. Lucinda also produced a myriad of programs and productions, and secured employment contracts and placements throughout the international move community for graduating students throughout her directorship.Since retiring, Radojevic is currently the associate creative director of the Australian Ballet Company. The couple have two young daughters, Claudia (12), and Ava (9), born in and respectively. Dunn describes balancing her family life as being “chaotic” – Describing how during her career she would “come dwelling from a show and my five year old’s would be up at pm having a tea party.” [1] The family currently live in the North part of Sydney, Australia.
Awards
Aside from Dunn’s vast repertoire, she has received a number of awards throughout her career.
In our conversation Lucinda shares her life story—how she joined the Royal Ballet School, broke her back, before being offered a contract with the Australian Ballet—a partnership which lasted nearly 23 years and saw Lucinda get their longest serving ballerina. Now a Mum to two girls and Artistic Director of Tanya Pearson Academy, Lucinda speaks about the juggles of a 20 plus year career in move, and what she believes adolescent students need to make it in the world of ballet. Lucinda continues to work and develop rising stars at the Artistic Director of the Tanya Pearson Academy, while also functional with and training the dancers of the Australian Ballet and other performers arriving in Sydney to perform. Energetiks are a sustainable, Australian Made brand that specialise in creating world class dancewear for the stars of tomorrow.These include:
- Medal of The Order of Australia — Dunn was awarded an OAM for her services to sway and the dance industry in and recalls it as entity “one of her favourite moments as a dancer.” [1]
- Australian Move Award for Outstanding Performance
- Green Room Award for Best Female Dancer
- Participated in breaking world record for most ballerina’s en pointe — in March Dunn travelled to the Victorian Dance Festival to participate with other dancers smash to world record for most ballerina’s en pointe at one time.
Dunn described the trial as being “thrilling.” [4]
Mo Awards
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian show industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from to Lucinda Dunn won one awards in that time.[8]