With audition season around the corner, we’re excited to introduce Grad Pro, a relatively new organization from England, founded by Julie Bowers, former dancer with The Royal Ballet. After first coming across the Grad Pro website, we reached out to Julie to invite her to come on our podcast. We were especially intrigued by the programs she’s created to help dancers transition into professional careers, particularly in the post-Covid landscape.
We know there is a lot of material in the podcast, so we wanted to publish this post to give listeners an understanding of what all of the programs are that Julie keeps referring to. There are a lot and we want to help you keep them all straight while you’re tuning in!
Julie launched Grad Pro after seeing firsthand the struggles dancers were facing in the job market. She responded by creating a range of programs to provide additional training and career support for dancers on the cusp of their professional lives.
Here’s a sneak peek at what Grad Pro offers:
Your Next Step Associates Program
This program offers supplemental training for students aged 11-18, held monthly on Sundays at two locations: Yorkshire Dance Centre in Leeds and Birmingham Royal Ballet. It’s designed to complement what students are learning at their home ballet schools. No audition is required—students just need to register.
Summer Intensive
Grad Pro’s summer intensive, held at Birmingham Royal Ballet, is open to senior-level dancers in the last two years of their training. The week-long program feels like a hybrid of company life and ballet career bootcamp. Along with daily dance classes, students get career coaching, CV workshops, audition mentoring, photo opportunities, corps de ballet technique, pas de deux, pointe work, and the chance to interact with BRB company members. The intensive also serves as an audition for Grad Pro’s postgraduate program.
G2P Postgraduate Training
This 15-week program grabbed our attention. Starting each September, G2P offers dancers who have completed their training a blend of advanced ballet instruction and intensive career counseling. Each student is paired with a professional dancer from top companies like Birmingham Royal Ballet, Ballet Black, Scottish Ballet, or The Royal Ballet. Mentors provide one-on-one coaching, from technique to personalized audition prep.
The program culminates in a week-long tour where dancers perform in front of artistic directors from European companies, aligning perfectly with the typical European audition season. Beyond technique, G2P covers essential “intangibles,” like company etiquette, helping dancers transition smoothly from school to the professional world. Students even attend company classes at Birmingham Royal Ballet, giving them firsthand experience of what company life entails—from how to find your place at the barre to appropriate class attire and etiquette.
G2P prepares students for both the technical and professional aspects of company life, and we’d love to see this model applied to more postgraduate programs.
Grad Pro International Showcase
Julie refers to this as a “competition that’s not really a competition.” Dancers in their final year of vocational training can audition either at one of five regional locations in England or via video submission. Finalists, who are paired with professional mentors, perform in front of an audience that includes artistic directors from across the UK. In past years, company contracts have been awarded at the showcase.
Julie emphasized that dancers from outside the UK should not overlook this opportunity, as they are seeing increasing numbers of international applicants, including from the US.
Our Take
When we first discovered Grad Pro, we were intrigued and wanted to learn more. After speaking with Julie, we’re impressed by how she’s leveraging her extensive network to support dancers in their final training stages, helping them build artistry, confidence, and career readiness.
Grad Pro is moving fast, and for dancers in their final years of training, it’s definitely worth considering.
Tune in on October 9th to hear the full interview and learn all about what GradPro offers and how it may benefit your dancer. Search Ballet Help Desk wherever you get your podcasts or listen on our website.