Fresh Friday with José Alves

Fresh Friday’s are back. Each week second and third year students experience the teaching of a new teacher, a guest artist from a leading dance company or a practicing professional from the wider arts industry. This term has been both varied and exciting with classes being taken in the studio and online. So far this term, our students have been fortunate to work with Singer/Actor Stephen Hughes currently in BBC Eastenders, Anjali Mehra of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Gerrard Martin, choreographer and Musical Theatre dance artist, the duo behind Lunatics & Poets and most recently ballet led by Isabela Coracy and José Alves of Ballet Black.

We wanted to share some of their inspiring stories and biographies below. Keep up to date with our Fresh Fridays here.

This Friday we are joined by José Alves

Brazilian born José started training in ballet at the age of thirteen. He then went on to join the Bolshoi Theatre School in Brazil graduating in 2008. Following this he attended Youth American Grand Prix in New York where he gained a scholarship to train with the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company but was unable to raise the funds to travel there. He then joined Ballet Company of the Young (Palace of Arts) in Belo, Brazil. Alves’ professional career includes being a featured dancer in Ricky Martin’s music video Samba, joining Ballet Black and becoming a Senior Artist in 2014, dancing original choreography by Javier de Frutos, Will Tuckett, Ludovic Ondiviela. He also created the roles of Demetrius and Bottom in A Dream Within a Midsummer Night’s Dream by Arthur Pita and role of Philemon in Cathy Marston’s The Suit, for which he won the 2018 Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Male Classical Dancer.