Jack Allen (dancer)

Early life

Jack Allen was born 19 November 1991 in Southampton, England. He grew up in the village of Marchwood and attended a local dance school, Emjay School of Dancing, until the age of 11, when he began attending boarding school at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.

Educational background

Allen trained at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts from the age of 11 to 18. He has trained in ballet, jazz, contemporary (Cunningham and Graham technique), singing, and drama. He also studied academic work up to A level standard.

Allen's teachers include Terry Wright, Eve Pettinger, Jeremy Kerridge, Matz Skoog, Irek Mukhamedov, Julie Pedrick, Tim Blowfield, and Lorraine Jones. While at Tring, he also worked with various choreographers and dancers, including Robert Cohan, Richard Alston, Rupert Pennefather, Mark Silver, Wayne Sleep, and Drew Mconie. In 2010, he won the in-house competition, known as the "Ballet Cup", more formally known as the Markova Award for ballet, and was judged and presented by Rupert Pennefather, principal of The Royal Ballet.

In 2008, Allen participated in the BBC documentary, Class, which presented the pure Graham technique and the insight of one of the few remaining original dancers of pioneer, Martha Graham. Scheduled for release in 2013, the documentary is designed to show an entire pure Graham class in one sitting.

Professional background

Allen's first job came at the age of 17, while still at school, when he joined the English National Ballet tour of Australia, performing in Angelina Ballerina's Big Audition by Anthony Dowson.

Allen continued to work with English National Ballet, then left to join a new, small touring company named Ballet Theatre UK, directed by Christopher Moore, where he attained the rank of principal. He danced as the Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker and Prince Charming in Cinderella, alongside longstanding dance partner, Kazuka Oike.

Allen has appeared as a guest of a handful of companies, including St Petersburg Ballet Theatre; Vienna Festival Ballet, where he danced the role of Bluebird in Marius Petipa's Sleeping Beauty; and Ballet West's tour of China, where he danced in the role of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet.

As of 2011, Allen is appearing as Pouncival/ Cover Mr. Mistoffelees in the European tour of Cats. He has performed in galas around the world, including Sweden and Hong Kong, dancing as the Drummer Boy from Graduation Ball and the Grand Pas De Deux from Paquita.

Allen was a member of the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain, where he worked with Frank Freeman and Wayne Sleep. His most notable credits with the company include summer soloist in Frank Freeman's Four Seasons, Bootboy/Jester in Wayne Sleep's Cinderella, and a principal role in Jo Meredith's premiere of A Cowardly Affair.

In his second and final season with the company, Allen was presented with the National Youth Ballet Bronze Statuette, which is given annually for "Outstanding Work within the Company". The award was presented by Wayne Sleep and was shared with fellow dancer and rival, Samuel Chung.