This year Sadler’s Wells and Stratford East will be working towards a full-scale production of Romeo & Juliet on the Stratford East mainstage, written by William Shakespeare and adapted by Kwame Owusu, co directed by Emily Ling-Williams and Malik Nashad Sharpe. The cast will be made up of non-professional performers drawn from the Stratford East Young Company , a new company of Sadler’s Wells young dancers, and a chorus featuring Newham residents.

For more information about the show, please visit the Stratford East website.

The Sadler’s Wells young dancers will:

• Work with a team of industry-leading artists to perform in a large-scale production on Stratford East’s Main Stage
• Take part in a weekly training programme to further develop skills in various performance and dance techniques in preparation for the production
• Work collaboratively with like-minded young dancers and performers, sharing skills and forming a supportive company
• Take part in a training programme with industry professionals and start to build a network of industry contacts

This is a free development opportunity for young dancers who have not yet started working professionally.

We welcome applications from dancers from all backgrounds, dance styles, disabled and non-disabled dancers.

This opportunity is for people who have a passion for dance and performing. We do not require applicants to have received formal dance training but some dance experience will be required.

As part of our work to select the young cast for Romeo & Juliet, we are inviting young people aged 18 – 24 to take part in auditions on the evening of Wednesday 13 November with second round auditions taking place, daytime of Saturday 16 November.

The auditions will be held by Malik Nashad Sharpe, BLUE MAKWANA and members of Sadler’s Wells producing team.

Once the cast has been selected the group will meet every Wednesday from 6:30pm – 9pm from 27 November 2024 till 9th of July 2025, with breaks that follow the academic calendar, followed by an intensive pre-production period from Monday 14 July.

To apply, we ask you to complete a short expression of interest application form by 12 pm (noon) on Friday 25 Oct.

We also ask you to submit a video of no longer than 2 minutes in length that you feel is a good example of you dancing. The video footage does not need to have any production values (such as lighting etc) or be professionally filmed, we just want to get an idea of how you move.

The application form should take no more than 10-minutes to complete.

Please check the audition and rehearsal dates listed above before completing the application form.

You can complete the short expression of interest application form here.