Auckland dancer wins overseas

Press, 10 February 1986, Page 17

Auckland dancer wins overseas

PA Auckland A former Auckland girl has been awarded a major international ballet prize. Nicola-Jane Searchfield, aged 17, won the professional ballet prize at the Prix De Lausanne competition in Switzerland. The prize means the judges considered she can could join a professional dance company without having to complete her training. The prize has not been awarded for three years. Miss Searchfield joined the London-based Royal Ballet School in January, 1985, after winning a scholarship in New Zealand. In her second term of training she was promoted to the graduates’ class, which students do not usually attend until their second year at the school. She and two other cancers were by

the school to compete at Switzerland in November. She said the last month of training was intense. "The training was very tiring,” she said from London. “But it is all worth it now. I am just over the moon.” Although Miss Searchfield has been told she is ready for professional dancing, she plans to continue her training at the Royal Ballet School until graduation in July. She would like to get a job with one of the major dance companies. “I am going to come back to New Zealand eventually,” she said, “But first I want to get some international experience.” She started dancing when she was six years of age at the South Auckland Ballet Academy. She gained honours in the Royal Academy of . Dancing advanced examinations before she won the scholarship to