Alumni Spotlight: Nicola Wills

Dancing has been a part of Nicola Wills’ life since the age of three. While jazz and musical theatre were her first love, Nicola’s ballet passion was sparked nine years later by a Russian guest teacher at her local studio, who encouraged her to take up the artform.

“With more focus came improvement, and my thoughts on pursuing a ballet career grew,” Nicola recalls.

“I always wanted to eventually work in Europe, so Queensland Ballet Academy's Professional Year seemed perfect as it involved working with a small group of young professionals on refining training and getting experience working in a company environment.”

Nicola was invited to join Queensland Ballet Academy in Year 12. With such exciting news came a long wait, having to finish school before moving to pursue her professional dance training.

“My parents did not want me to leave home before finishing high school, and I was extremely upset by this. However, I am grateful now that I waited. Staying in Adelaide forced me to work extremely hard and I managed to achieve a lot in that year,” she admits.

During her time at the Academy, Nicola gained experience working with Queensland Ballet Company, forcing her to learn quickly while growing her confidence. She also danced in Queensland Ballet’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, performing in big stage productions, regional tours and studio series performances to build up an impressive CV before going professional.

“Being young does not differentiate you from high pressure situations, and working with dancers who had more experience than me only meant I had to rise immediately to the challenges put my way to prove myself,” Nicola explains.

After successfully completing her Professional Year, Nicola took the leap overseas, taking up a guest contract at Ballet Dortmund, Germany before successfully auditioning for Ballet Vlaanderen, Belgium in 2013.

“Joining Ballet Vlaanderen has always been a dream of mine because of their neo-classical repertoire. There has since been a shift to more modern and contemporary work, although we still do a lot of modern pointe and daily ballet training,” she says.

In 2017, Nicola was promoted to Demi-Soloist. She has since represented the Company all over the world, dancing in Russia, France, USA, Brazil, the Netherlands, Spain, Algeria, and Switzerland, among others. She has also performed works by and worked with a diversity of modern choreographers such as Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin and Akram Khan, among others.

“The progressive shift to modern work came at the right time for me as I was looking to express myself more creatively and experience moving my body in different ways,” Nicola explains.

“One of my greatest career highlights has been performing the duet, Faun, by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, which has been a staple on the repertoire since 2013. It has allowed me to build trust in myself, performing without nerves and for pure enjoyment, and continuously finding ways to go deeper and keep it fresh.”

Nicola aims to continue her dance career, working with inspiring choreographers and developing her understanding of movement and creative style. One day, she hopes to teach and choreograph in a professional company in either Australia or Europe.

Dwelling on her journey, Nicola advises, “Nothing beats hard work and being true to yourself. Remember, there are more directors out there looking for a shining personality, character, intelligence and versatility in movement than perfection in technique.”

Learn more about professional ballet training programs, and what's involved here.

Photography: Nicha Rodboon, Alain Honorez and Filip Van Roe