Young Jessica Hurwitz is a ballerina with the world as her oyster

ALLISON FOAT

There are 70 entrants in the SAIBC, Africa’s most prestigious competitive ballet event.

Jessica started dancing at the age of four with her mother, Nadine Sacker, who was a former principal dancer with PACT Ballet. Jessica is currently training at the Carstens/Ireland ballet studio where she is under the tutelage of another former PACT Ballet soloist, Natasha Ireland, as well as being trained by Sandra and Anya Carstens.

In 2014, Jessica was awarded a 100 per cent scholarship to attend the American Academy of Ballet’s annual five-week summer intensive in New York. She has been performing with Joburg Ballet since 2013, dancing with the corps de ballet in numerous productions such as La Bayadere and Swan Lake. 

At the East Rand Dance Festival last year, Jessica was runner-up in the national set dance as well as the national championships. At the ballet festival in Johannesburg, she won the trophy for her improvisation, as well as “most outstanding performance”.

At Concours de Ballet, Jessica was awarded the prestigious Shield Scholarship award. Along with writing matric this year, Jessica is also performing in Giselle with Joburg Ballet, doing her Advanced 2 ballet exam and the Solo Seal examination thereafter.