Ciara O’Rourke

“Don’t dance for the audience, dance for yourself” – Bob Fosse

RAD Ballet

Ciara began ballet at the age of five, training with the Royal Academy of Dance and achieving Distinctions in all exams up to Advanced 2.

At age 13, she joined the Irish National Youth Ballet, performing for four years and also spending two summers in the USA training at the American Ballet Theatre.

At age 17, she moved to London to train at the London Russian Ballet School with former Bolshoi Ballet dancers. A highlight of this time was performing at the London Palladium alongside Bolshoi Ballet stars, including Ekaterina Krysanova.

Alongside her training and performing, Ciara developed a strong passion for teaching. She began assisting at her local school as a teenager and is now completing her BA in Ballet Education at the Royal Academy of Dance while teaching at schools across London. She has also taught internationally, volunteering with “Annos Africa” in Nairobi to deliver ballet classes and to introduce the RAD syllabus to children in Kibera.

Ciara is delighted to be joining Jumpup and is looking forward to inspiring and supporting her students in their dance journeys.