©2024 Kim Kokich
Everyone at CityDance Conservatory is so happy for alumna Rebecca Myles Stewart who has just graduated from three years training in London at the Royal Ballet School, was awarded the prestigious London Ballet Circle Dame Ninette Award for 2024 and has been contracted to dance with the Royal Ballet company as an Aud Jebsen Young Dancer¹ for the 2024/2025 dance season! These are tremendous accomplishments and we are so proud of her.
It is no exaggeration to say that everything about Rebecca Myles Stewart is extraordinary. At only eighteen years old she already embodies all the vital characteristics that a professional dancer requires: humility, openness, technique, fitness, commitment, discipline, and last, but definitely not least, talent.
From the moment Stewart began her dance training at CityDance in 2017, it was evident that she was mature beyond her years. Hers is a remarkable story of determination. Within three short years at CityDance Conservatory, where she began training when only 11 years old, Rebecca moved from her initial “Petite Conservatory” level up to the Conservatory’s “Professional Training Program” level, and won multiple competition awards along the way.
But then, Covid. To be locked down at home, during a crucial period of artistic development, Rebecca Stewart, along with the entire world, and specifically dance students and performing artists, had to find ways to maintain physical condition and continue to progress. And this is where her character truly shone.
Fortunately, CityDance Conservatory quickly adapted their in-person classes to online, and included a rotating schedule of small groups of students who wore masks to protect each other from any potential infection with the virus. In this way Rebecca continued to take classes using this hybrid method. Still, there was time to fill, and she, as did many others, began to explore the vast world of dance over the internet.
Rebecca says, “When Covid happened [in March of 2020] and no one could obviously go anywhere, there were a lot of live streams, and The Royal Ballet broadcasted all of their ballets and panel discussions, like ‘Insights’.² So I really took advantage of that over the entire lockdown period. I remember asking my mum, ‘Can you buy the Royal Opera House stream so I can see their productions?’ And when I realized that they were doing an “Insights” for Black History Month [which, in the UK, is in October] I immediately thought, ‘I have to watch this.’”
For Rebecca, this “Insights” panel discussion opened up a whole new world. “I remember sitting on my bed in my room. I was just 14 and discovering all these other dancers. I didn’t even know that there were so many dancers of color in the company, and I just was truly inspired because they were all so successful. And I could relate to what they were saying…their opinions and views and experiences–and that also led to a path of discovery for me.”
Rebecca’s dream for her future began to take shape. “I started using vision boards when one of my former teachers made it like a project we all needed to do. At that time I hadn’t yet discovered Royal, but it had on it some things I aspired to do, like YGP [Youth Grand Prix] because I was still in the competition circuit. It also had a few words of affirmation and quotes. Things like that. So in the beginning I just kind of glued everything on and hung it up in my room so I could look at it every day. Then I made another one, and some things changed. I put Royal on it, and the Royal Ballet School in London.”
When asked specifically what attracted her to the Royal Ballet, she says, “The first time I saw them was through their World Ballet Day class. I’d never seen this kind of system and all of these professionals warming up, getting ready for the day, so that was already kind of a discovery for me, realizing all of the things about the art form, like you do company class and then you have rehearsal. And then I did more research on them and watched their performance videos. I started to recognize all of the faces and I learned a lot about the principal dancers and where they all came from. Everyone’s stage presence was so engaging. I could pinpoint everyone’s different energy, and it was something about the way everyone performed, even though they were all in this one group. I was drawn to everyone’s energy, from the principals, to the people on the side, to the corps de ballet, and every video I watched I became enamored with…the way the corps de ballet moved together as one, but then also the different pas de deux and different repertoire that they did. I wasn’t aware of MacMillan and Ashton.”³
In the meantime, her family created a space in their living room where Rebecca could practice, with a special dance floor and ballet barre. Rebecca laughs as she describes the challenge of practicing in her home, “I think I’m very much about being in a studio and that energy and being with other people, and I’m a girl that loves big classes and lots of energy. And then suddenly to just be in a room by myself. Not even a room, but our living room which is open to the kitchen, and you know, the dogs are barking!”
Even with those distractions, she kept at it, and then one day she learned that The Royal Ballet School was holding auditions for their online ballet summer intensive. She auditioned and was accepted. There were more challenges, “Buffering! It was so frustrating!” And the time difference! London is five hours ahead of the US east coast.
Rebecca’s mother, Jeninne Stewart, says she was amazed at Rebecca’s discipline, “She’d get up early in the morning so she could take an online ballet class at 5am!”
But even with having to dance at dawn, with dogs barking, and the internet frequently buffering, nothing seemed to faze her, and she continued to watch as many videos and live streams broadcast by The Royal Ballet as she could. “I kind of fell in love with the idea of seeing them or joining them, or one day just going to London.”
That dream became real for Rebecca, because as closely as she was observing all things Royal Ballet, she made such an impression on the Royal’s instructors, even virtually, that they invited her to audition for a placement in the school in London. She auditioned, and was accepted.
Her parents were, and remain, incredibly supportive, despite having the normal concerns about their daughter being thousands of miles away from home. For Rebecca the experience has been eye-opening, “I was supposed to be placed in the last year of White Lodge because of my age, but I was pushed to the first year of upper school instead….I was the youngest and my classmates were a year or sometimes two years older than me. So that also came with ‘You have to be more mature’ because coming from the U.S. and not being from White Lodge, you have to prove yourself because they don’t know you as well. You have to find a way to show that you have something…because everyone at that stage is good, and you also have to deal with the fact that everyone is gunning for the same thing and only a few of us are going to get it.”
In addition to that pressure, Rebecca had to learn how to live in a dormitory and continue her academic studies in a different scholastic system. The Royal Ballet school is not only a ballet academy, but offers academic instruction as well. The pressure was intense, and Rebecca repeatedly and emphatically attributes her ability to cope with these stresses to her wonderful family. Frequent calls home helped Rebecca adjust and adapt to the new environment, “It was always very grounding to speak to my mom. Whenever I had a lot of doubts or I was feeling very overwhelmed, she would always be there just to dispel everything.”
Rebecca’s own resourcefulness continued to forge her path forward. She had photographed her vision board and made it her screensaver so she could continue to be inspired by it, and she made time for self-care, “I already kind of was aware of myself and so I did feel like I did quite well managing myself mentally and physically. I knew what I needed…and I would say journaling was really good because that kind of got everything out, and was like a cleanse every night to just write even if it was good, if it was bad and that particularly helped me in the third year. So journaling, music, calling home, and sometimes just taking a few hours or something, rather than being with everyone. Maybe you just need to be in your room reading, just to have a moment of peace and quiet.”
She explains that in the first and second year, all classes and meals were in one building and it was very structured. This past, third year, she lives in Jebsen House in Covent Garden, five minutes away from the school, “We are all in our own flats so we all have our own kitchens and I think that’s also helped just because it’s not so regimented and you don’t feel so closed off in a way.”
Rebecca’s journey is just beginning. So far she’s had opportunities to perform on the Royal Opera House stage and be part of the Rhythm and Resilience Festival. This past Christmas season she appeared in The Royal Ballet’s “Nutcracker” as a Snowflake. Referring to her vision board, she says, “I had a picture of Snowflakes on it and so now I could pinpoint, ‘Oh, I was that girl and I was that girl, because I had a few different parts, so there, there and there in Snowflakes and it’s been quite insane to see so many things come true that are on my vision board!”
Remember that Insights panel that Rebecca watched during the pandemic? “I was invited to do Insights [Royal Ballet panel of its dancers and students discussing the black experience in ballet] this past October, Black History Month, and sat on the panel with all of these dancers, many of whom were in the original 2020 Insights panel and it was really a full circle moment for me and very surreal. It was so heartwarming and really a very inspiring evening and I’ll always be changed by that because that was the first time I felt so recognized and very welcomed in the space.”
Rebecca is quick to add how well CityDance Conservatory prepared her for the incredible journey she is traveling and notes that the individual attention, nurturing, and positive atmosphere here not only provided a strong technical foundation in ballet, but also prepared her for the transition to a professional company. “At CityDance there’s a very big emphasis on you as an individual, so I became aware of all of my different strengths and I worked on my weaknesses.”
Self-awareness, openness, warmth, dedication to a strong work ethic, and an indomitable spirit all make up the unique person and dancer that is Rebecca Myles Stewart. We congratulate her and can’t wait to see more of her beautiful dancing, and what the future holds for her as she joins the 24/25 season of The Royal Ballet as an Aud Jebsen Young Dancer! Congratulations Rebecca!
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1. The Aud Jebsen Young Dancers program is a program at The Royal Ballet that offers recent graduates a year-long contract to perform with the corps de ballet. The program was established in 2014 and is designed to provide a well-rounded experience for future corps de ballet dancers, including different types of discipline and recognition of veteran choreographers.
2. “Insights”: The Royal Ballet hosts panel discussions with dancers of color during Black History Month, which is in October in Britain. In 2023, Rebecca was asked to join the panel that year.
3. Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992). Sir Kenneth MacMillan, former director of The Royal Ballet. British ballet dancer and choreographer.
4. Frederick Ashton (1904-1988). Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton, British ballet dancer and choreographer.
5. White Lodge, Richmond, U.K. home of the Royal Ballet School’s lower school, for ages 11-16.