We are very proud to feature our Wonderful Web Radio Rising Star interview. In this segment, we speak with Alexandra Cownie.

Alexandra is a former professional ballerina turned author and successful entrepreneur. She is the founder of International Ballet Workshops: bi-yearly workshops with world-class guest ballet masters. IBW bring professional opportunities to all ballet dancers attending.

She is the author of “How to be a Ballet Dancer”, an information filled book for the teenage dancer. She is also the director of Ballet STARS Tamworth, the first dance school offering professional dance training in this area. Today, Mrs Alexandra is a sought after ballet adjudicator as well as master-class, mindset and classical repertoire teacher throughout Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

Transcript of the Interview

Announcement: Welcome to Rising Stars Radio, where we share the stories of ordinary people taking action to create extraordinary changes in their businesses. They are the true rising stars to watch. Get ready to take notes around no fluff, cutting to the chase, 20 minute interview.

Janet:               Hello, everybody, and welcome to Rising Stars Radio. I’m really excited about today’s interview. I’m interviewing Alexandra Cownie and Alex is the owner of International Ballet Workshops and How to be a Ballet Dancer.

I’m just so excited to share her story with you because if you’ve been thinking all these different excuses on why you can’t get things done, Alex is just going to blow them out of the water for you. It’s so wonderful to have you here, Alex. How are you?

Alexandra:       Good. Thank you, Janet. It’s very nice to be here today.

Janet:               It’s exciting. Now, Alex is such an amazing person. She’s been a performer, professional ballet dancer, and now, she’s actually become an author of the books, How to be a Ballet Dancer. She has become a very successful entrepreneur. She’s the founder of International Ballet Workshops, these bi-yearly workshops with world-class guest ballet masters, and she brings opportunities to even rural areas in Australia that just don’t normally get those opportunities. I know she’ll be telling us a little bit more about how she’s doing that through another company that she’s brought in.

So, Alex, tell us, let’s get started. I’d like to, if you could share with everybody who is listening who is it that you serve and how it is that you serve them. If I can just say before that to everybody that is listening, welcome. It’s so great to have you here. Our intention today is to really help you to get some ideas on what’s possible for you to do in your business, and to give you some actions that you can take away at the end of today and implement immediately into your business.

That’s my challenge to Alex, is to be able to get from her some really, really good tips that meant that she’s been able to create some great success in her business. So, let’s start, Alex. Who is it that you serve and how do you do that?

Alexandra:       All right. Basically, what I do is that I help teenaged ballerinas, so it’s mostly girls, but there’s a few boys, to have the opportunity to train and possibly get scholarship or job even in Europe or America, which is where the work is for ballet dancers, without having to leave Australia.

Because that’s the big issue that I’ve been noticed when I’ve been teaching as a guest teacher around Australia and New Zealand, is that all those dancers they are really well-trained, they are really passionate and I really understand what they are going through because I have gone through the very same process when I was young, but they live 10-hour flights away from anywhere where there is a job for them, pretty much.

They train so hard and actually really there’s a very good level all around, but then they turn 16, 17, 18 and then their families have already invested so much money and time to get their training right, then they have to send them to Europe for auditions. One trip to Europe is not enough and often by that time, the families can’t afford it anymore, so the kids become dance teachers or even just change career altogether.

They really miss out on their dreams and that’s what I’m doing, bringing the opportunities to them at home to help their families, to help the students be inspired and have real-life opportunities to reach their dreams, really.

Janet:               How do you bring the opportunities to these ballet dancers in Australia?

Alexandra:       I have a lot of contacts in Europe with amazing teachers and choreographers, company directors, thanks to my years as a dancer. For example, at the moment, I approached a ballet master from the Paris Opera Ballet so big, big name of dance. Everyone is so excited. I cover his flight and his accommodation and organize a teaching tour for him in Australia and New Zealand.

So he’s traveling all around doing one to five-day workshops, depending on which city he’s going to, and everyone is invited. Any student is invited so it’s not just in a specific school. Let’s say we do it in Sydney, anyone from the Sydney area. Then by the end of the workshop, this guest teacher offers opportunities to have a foot in the door into a dance company he thinks would be good for that specific dancer …

Janet:               Wow.

Alexandra:       … so that his personal feedback.

He also invites some of them to his international ballet competition in Brussels, in Quebec, in Canada because this competition has company directors and school directors watching so they give scholarships and they give jobs to the dancer by the end of the competition.

What else does he do? And whenever people need he offers personal references and personal support to get into a professional school in Europe or something like this …

Janet:               Wow.

Alexandra:       … because it’s so competitive and it’s so hard that even if it’s just a foot in the door into an professional ballet school overseas, it is an amazing and never seen before opportunity. That’s why we get people like my current guest teacher from the Paris Opera Ballet which is a big name. With 100 or 1000 applicants for a school or a company the competition is almost impossible! If a dancer is referred by a Paris Opera Ballet master, their file is at the top of the list and it’s quite amazing. It’s an amazing opportunity.

Janet:               Wow.

Alexandra:       And we’ve had results. We’ve had a dancer get a job in South Africa, we’ve had a dancer be accepted in pretty much a top school in Switzerland, the top school in the world that happens to be in Switzerland is what I’m trying to say.

Janet:               Wow.

Alexandra:       We’ve had dancer from New Zealand won a category in Canada. She went two months ago so it’s not just fluffy opportunities. It’s actually things that dancers can do. They get real results from this and it all started attending the workshops with us, which is by itself is amazing because when can they train with such high-standard teachers? Just for that, it’s worth it in terms of what they learn and what they get out of the workshops.

Janet:               Absolutely. I love that you’ve seen … because obviously by your gorgeous accent, you’re French and your seen in this professional … even the idea of being a French ballet … even as I said that, Alex, I stood up from my feet and I kind of swirled across, I don’t know if you can hear me, just hearing you …

You have a visual of Janet so that you can see around her office while talking to you, but just that opportunity to see that … unless you’ve actually been in Europe and being there where it is, where all those opportunities are, within Australia, so many of these dancers wouldn’t even really been aware, it would be like pipe train so to be able to see that niche and to be able to fulfill it through your contacts is just brilliant.

Let’s talk now at how this has developed and your marketing of this because this is where people who are listening are going to be able to get some brilliant ideas from you. Number one that I can see here is you do not have to do everything alone. Through what you do, having contacts, simply facilitating other people to be able to learn from those contacts that you’ve got, looking at what strengths you’ve got in your joint venture partnerships can really help you to achieve your goal. I think that’s a really big thing for people who are listening to take from the way that Alex has approached this.

Alex, let’s look a