National Ballet’s apprentice program takes the best from around the world

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When Minkyung Lee was 13 years old, she travelled from her home in Seoul to compete in the Youth America Grand Prix in New York. The annual student ballet competition is a monster-sized event, with 8,000-odd dancers descending on Manhattan to vie for scholarships or contracts with the best international schools and companies. (You might know YAGP from the documentary First Position; in the film's final cathartic scenes, its six young subjects trade in years of sweat for a few consequential moments on the Grand Prix stage.)

At the 2010 competition, a teacher from Canada's National Ballet School spotted Lee in ballet class and offered her a scholarship for the school's competitive summer program. Lee accepted and, after a month of training at the Jarvis Street studios in Toronto, she was awarded a full-time spot in the school. Still just 13 and hardly speaking a word of English, she moved to Canada on her own and boarded at the school.

Now, at 20, she's hitting another milestone. Lee has been offered a place on the National Ballet of Canada's RBC Apprentice Program. In an industry notorious for its low entry rate, few occasions are as significant as landing a first professional contract.

As the National Ballet of Canada returns to its studios this month in preparation for the coming season, 10 young apprentices are crossing the threshold into what they hope will be long and rewarding careers. Five men and five women, ranging in age from 18 to 21, they come from three different continents (this year, only two of the 10 are Canadian). Despite differences in background and training, they all have their sights set on the same long-term goal – a goal that some admit to readily, while others equivocate shyly, hemming and hawing through all kinds of modest qualifications first.

"Obviously, everyone wants to make it as principal," says Lauren Ostrander, an animated and articulate 21-year-old from Tacoma, Wash. "Obviously, that's the goal. But anywhere between here and there, as long as I can still be dancing, I know I'll be happy."

The National Ballet's apprentice program received more than 350 applications this year from graduates of the best ballet schools around the world. Applicants are screened through a video submission (they must send a recording of themselves performing a classical and contemporary variation), then a smaller number are invited to Toronto to audition. Depending on how many spots are available (the apprenticeship can last two years, so the number of openings varies), a select number of apprentice offers are made.

While a spot in the corps de ballet is the holy grail at the end of the program, it's by no means guaranteed. Still, the odds of promotion aren't bad; 43 per cent of current company members are program alumni. Take the 2015-16 group as an example: Three apprentices joined the corps, two accepted contracts at other companies, four are returning as second-year apprentices and one has decided to pursue a different career.

For the newcomers, the apprenticeship is a climactic step between being a student and a professional. The recalibration of responsibility is sudden and huge: After years of paying someone else to teach them, they are now salaried employees, contractually bound to be in the studio at a certain time and to execute steps at an established standard. They must learn how to manage a demanding work schedule, with all the physical and emotional stresses of dancing, while taking full responsibility for their own health, eating habits and personal lives. Most importantly, they have to learn what it means to be a professional performer.

In fact, what distinguishes the National Ballet's apprenticeship program is a unique performance opportunity borne of its collaboration with YOU Dance, an outreach initiative with Toronto schools. The apprentices get a chance to stretch themselves well beyond servant and peasant roles by performing soloist variations for young audiences at the Betty Oliphant Theatre.

For Lindsay Fischer, director of the apprentice program and company ballet master, the performance dimension on the program is crucial. He sees the apprenticeship phase as a time when dancers must mature in a completely reconfigured way. "It's an opening of the mind to the fact that the arts are a service, they are a calling," he says. "It's not something you do to gratify your own ego. You do it to tell the stories of people who do not have voices of their own. And until you understand that, you never really perform well."

Eric da Silva, who's starting his second year as an apprentice, says the YOU Dance component has been the most rewarding element of the program. "You see the kids after the performance, and you connect with them, you see the impact you've had," explains the 21-year-old, who was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro and has a huge, infectious smile. "We have a saying in Brazil, but you can say it anywhere, of course: Kids are very honest about what they like. And we get to inspire them."

What's the most intimidating part of the apprenticeship? At the top of the list is company class, where the apprentices might find themselves standing at the barre beside a renowned principal dancer. "We just had our first one," says Lee, now perfectly fluent in English. "It was very crowded. And yeah, it's interesting, finding a spot at the barre and kind of feeling like everyone's watching me, even though they're not!"

Isaac Wright, a second-year apprentice from Belleville, Ont., thinks the pressures of understudying can be stressful, too. "The very first time you have to step in on stage to do someone's corps part is a little nerve-racking," explains the 19-year-old, who danced in The Winter's Tale and Romeo and Juliet last season. "You're not really sure what to expect or what anyone's thinking. But everyone here is really kind and caring, really helpful and trying to make sure you understand and fully adapt to what you have to do."

For Heather Capen, a 19-year-old from Colorado Springs, Colo., joining the apprentice program comes with some more ordinary anxieties. Capen is a rare success story of part-time training: She lived at home throughout her adolescence and took classes at a studio in the evenings and on weekends. When she travelled to Toronto to audition for the apprenticeship, it was her first time leaving the United States. Now, she's living away from home and getting used to the most demanding dance schedule she's ever known. "But I'm looking forward to it," Capen says resolutely. "I love dancing and that's why I came here, so the more dancing during the day, the better."

Ostrander's story is more itinerant: She completed high school online and lived with host families in order to attend first-rate ballet programs, moving from the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet to the prestigious San Francisco Ballet School, then back to Pennsylvania for private coaching. She auditioned for 15 companies, and cried tears of joy when she received her acceptance letter from Toronto. "The National Ballet of Canada is one of the best in the world, so I thought: 'I don't know, it might not happen. I don't want to get my hopes up.'"

When it comes to long-term aspirations, the apprentices all know what roles they have their eyes on. The young men dream of the classical heavyweights – Wright wants to dance the hapless Albrecht in Giselle and da Silva the expressive Prince Florimund in The Sleeping Beauty. Capen and Ostrander fantasize about the dramatic dual-role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, while Lee adores the musicality of Balanchine.

But for now, the group is focused on the tough and exciting year that lies ahead – hard hours of technical work in the studio and all the artistic growth that needs to take place on stage.

"I just want to see how good I can get, how far I can push myself," Ostrander says.