14 August 2024 13:20

INSPIRE Alumnus : Miguel Herrera 2020

We recently caught up with Alexander Grant Award Winner Miguel Herrera to see what he has been up to since winning the award in 2020.

Since winning the Alexander Grant  Award at the 2020 Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) 14+ ballet competition, I have continued my ballet training and education to outstanding heights.

I completed my secondary school at Chilton Saint James; was awarded the Chilton Performing Artist of the Year for Dance and Chilton Ballet Academy’s Most Outstanding
Classical Dancer. I completed my Cambridge International University Entrance certificate in 2021. I have also accomplished all my RAD vocational exams with distinction.

In 2022, I studied full-time in the New Zealand School of Dance as a classical major with a scholarship under the New Zealand School of Dance Foundation Scholarship for Classical Ballet from 2023 to the present day, which I am forever grateful. I also successfully gained the RAD solo seal award during my first year.

In 2023, I was selected for the exchange programme with the National Ballet School of Canada. It was an amazing opportunity to travel, and I loved the experience of the diversity of ballet education and dance from another country.

My favourite memories in the New Zealand School of Dance are working with phenomenal guest choreographers and performing their works of art. I have worked with New Zealand choreographer Louglan Prior performing his “Verse” and “Curious Alchemy” pieces in 2022 and I worked with Betsy Erickson, who staged Lew Christensen’s “Vivaldi Concerto Grosso” and Val Carnipaoli’s “Street Songs” in 2023.

I am currently in my third year, studying to complete my New Zealand School of Dance Diploma in Dance Performance (level 7 on the NZQF as a Bachelor’s Degree). I recently completed a secondment with the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s season tour of Swan lake. The highlight of my ballet dance career was competing in this year’s prestigious Prix de Lausanne international ballet competition. It was the most enriching experience of my ballet journey. A once in a lifetime opportunity to dance and perform in the Beaulieu Theater stage in Lausanne Switzerland, with thousands of people watching around the world. It was amazing to meet and be surrounded by so many ballet and dance enthusiasts from all ethnic backgrounds. The conversations I shared with one another were so engaging, motivational, and inspiring. The platform and the networking forum allowed me to show my work and be seen. I didn’t make it to the final selection, however, it was a fundamental connection and stepping stone for my future career and my dream to be a professional dancer. The best is yet to come.

To Royal Academy of Dance New Zealand, I am deeply grateful and very appreciative of the opportunity you provide for young dancers to take the challenge in the RAD 14+ competition. This special moment is a memory that will last forever with me. Thank you.

I would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank you, Ms Bronwyn Bennett, and all my tutors and friends from Chilton Ballet Academy who supported and prepared me for the 2020 RAD 14+ competition. To Mr Garry Trinder, the Artistic Director of the New Zealand School of Dance and all the amazing tutors at NZSD, who have had such inspiring careers from whom I have gained outstanding knowledge and ballet development. To many friends, schoolmates, respected choreographers in the ballet industry. To my generous sponsors and to my loving family.