The talented dancer, Marlo Kempsey-Fagg, talks about being given a special opportunity by Birmingham Royal Ballet and how he hopes it will lead to a dream career

Without sounding glib, Marlo is someone with the world, literally, at his feet. Each year one highly rated student is selected from Elmhurst Ballet School’s graduates to become an apprentice to Birmingham Royal Ballet. This year that honour went to the Birmingham-born dancer who gets to tour and perform with the Company – he was dancing in Cinderella in Sunderland when we interviewed him.

As well as soaking up all the incredible experiences and opportunities along the way, at the end of the year-long ‘apprenticeship’, all things being well, Marlo hopes to be offered a full-time contract by BRB. Truly, the dream come true.

BALLET BROTHERS

He first started dancing through the Company’s Dance Track programme before joining Elmhurst Ballet School, where he won the Elmhurst Dance Award in 2020 and 2022. Dance Track had seen potential in Marlo and his brothers. His older brother Oscar also dances with BRB. Marlo says their parents weren’t into dance, so it was all a bit of a surprise for them how it panned out with their boys!

He admits he didn’t love it immediately – it was more of a slow burn. He says the experience of being a day pupil at Elmhurst was intense but brilliant and that the teachers were incredible. “We were taught about mental strength as well as physical strength, technique, and skills,” he explained.

“We were taught to keep going. It’s more of a case of doing things for yourself when you get into a company. The corrections I was taught at Elmhurst, I will carry on forever and will continue to work on, but the mindset that Elmhurst instils in you gets you through it.”

THE PLACE TO BE

Of the process of being chosen to join BRB for the year he said: “It’s very competitive as there’s only one spot – but as we’re all striving for the same goal actually everyone’s really supportive of one another at the same.” And settling into life with BRB hasn’t been that difficult.

“I’m lucky that I’ve got my brother in the Company. Because of him, I already knew and had a social circle with some of the Company members, so I was already aware of people, and they were aware of me, so it was a smooth transition into the Company.

“I started dancing because of BRB and their Dance Track programme. Everything I knew about ballet was down to BRB, so it’s always been a place that I aspired to be. And now I’m here.” Marlo says he is already enjoying touring with the Company. “It’s been nice to dance on different stages, get to see more of the country and perform to different audiences,” he said.

DREAM ROLES

Looking forward, Marlo is part of BRB2, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s second company who will be performing for the very first time at Birmingham Hippodrome on 6 May with Carlos Acosta’s Ballet celebration. And once his year is complete, Marlo says he has only one goal – to be offered a full contract at the end of the season. As for dream roles, he says he’s always wanted to do Trepak and also play the Prince in The Nutcracker as well as be Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. But he admits that his ambitions “change all the time.”