Adelaide dance graduate Jesse Moore will take her high kicks, splits and cartwheels to the stage of the Moulin Rouge during an eight month contract with the famous Parisian establishment.
A position in the Moulin Rouge, which welcomes more than 600,000 visitors annually, is hotly contested with 500 people trying out for about 20 places on offer each year.
Flinders-TAFE SA graduate Jesse, 21, of Happy Valley, got her call late last year after auditioning for a position during the first ever Adelaide auditions in July 2016.
“It was always a dream of mine to perform on the stage at the Moulin Rouge,” she says.
“I love performing, dancing and Paris – it ticks all the boxes for me.
“I’m looking forward to so many things – the new experience, new lifestyle, meeting new people, performing in beautiful costumes, living in Paris, the list goes on.”
Ms Moore, who last year graduated from the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance), which is delivered in collaboration between TAFE SA and Flinders University, will jet off to Paris on 5 February.
After spending a month learning the high-energy, technical routines before taking to the stage in March, she will then perform two shows each day, six days a week.
Jesse says her dance training at TAFE SA’s Adelaide College of the Arts helped to develop the “discipline and work ethic” she will need while working at the Moulin Rouge.
“It taught me how to work hard and to stay focused on my goals as well as how to conduct myself as a professional,” she says.
“It strengthened my ballet technique, which is a great foundation for all styles and taught me to be versatile.”
Flinders Associate Professor Alison Wotherspoon from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences says opportunities in the creative arts are “much greater than many people think”.
“Jesse is a great example of how University-level training in the arts can develop international potential,” says Associate Professor Wotherspoon.
Along with drama, digital media, screen, creative writing and visual arts, Flinders University and TAFE SA have partnered to offer a new Bachelor of Creative Arts (Costume Design), to complement the fashion design courses on offer in South Australia.
TAFE SA Dance Lecturer Lisa Heaven says the Adelaide College of the Arts dance department trains students to be versatile for any employment opportunities that may arise.
“The programs and teaching philosophy empower the students to respond to a myriad of approaches, styles and formats in dance and it is intended that they enter an ever diversifying space for performance,” Ms Heaven says.
“Jesse Moore is one such graduate that has found herself contracted to the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris and will leave shortly to fulfil her contract.
“For the staff of AC Arts it is no surprise that Jesse has been chosen as she has not only abundance of talent but an infectious work attitude that is irresistible to observers.”