A Week in the Life: Jess Templeton

Dancer Jess Templeton models beautiful Bloch products for Dancewear Central. Here, we chat to her about combining dance with modelling and join her for a week in her life… It has been an eventful 12 months for Jess Templeton. In the year since she first joined Dancewear Central as a model, she has juggled photo shoots showcasing intricately-designed dancewear by renowned brand, Bloch, with becoming a multi-award-winning dancer, most recently being awarded the coveted Phyllis Bedells Bursary. “It’s been such a busy time, but I’ve loved it,” says Jess, who features in the Dancewear Central spring fashion edit and recently took time out from her classical ballet training to model our brand new collections. “Modelling is so much fun. It’s really exciting getting to be one of the first to try out all of the new products and I really love the new Bloch Moves range.” This is the third time the young dancer has modelled for Dancewear Central as a Bloch Artist – a role that sees her represent the dancewear brand across everything from catalogue shoots to social media work – and she says she has enjoyed every photo shoot to date: “The new Bloch Moves range is so comfy to dance in – you can just forget about what you're wearing and focus on your dance." “I especially love the gradient print crop tops, shorts and leggings,” she added. “I think they look great for spring and summer.” Jess has danced since the age of four, having started with tap and ballet before adding jazz to her repertoire. She also took up swimming and gymnastics but decided to focus on her love of dance at the age of 11. This focus was the perfect move as she went on to pass an audition for a dedicated performing arts school where trains in ballet, and she also has lessons in contemporary, modern, jazz, and tap. All of this hard work has paid off as Jess has picked up an array of accolades. In March she was awarded the prestigious Phyllis Bedells Bursary, which is a step further in her ballet career. This annual event for Royal Academy of Ballet (RAD) members was established to encourage young dancers to further their classical ballet training and past winners have gone on to perform with companies such as The Royal Ballet and Dutch National Ballet. This is the latest win for Jess after she was named Young Ballet Dancer of the Year and was given the Jean Frecker Contemporary Award at the All England Dance Finals in 2017, which she says was one of the best days she’s had as a dancer: “I couldn’t believe it when I won the awards. It really felt like all of the training was worth it.” She also received the Nijinska Award, the cup given to an outstanding female choreographer at the National Youth Ballet’s Frank Freeman Choreographic Competition and presented by former ballet star, David Bintley CBE. As well as being an award winner, Jess has also featured in the second series of CBBC’s Taking the Next Step, where she befriended Kai Scanlan, the 13 times tap dance World Champion – check out the video of the pair in action below. The future is bright for the dancing star, who has successfully gained a place at the Royal Ballet’s Spring Intensive over the Easter break, and she is also preparing for Can You Dance?, the super convention taking place in Liverpool later this year that also has eight regional conventions. Before these preparations got underway, we caught up with her during school holidays. Here, she takes us through her week off: Friday School’s all finished for the week and I headed straight to the world-famous Pineapple Studios in London where I took a ballet class followed by a class in contemporary/ jazz with some friends. Saturday Today was busy. I had a photo shoot in the morning with Photographytiia and I found that the best thing about the new Bloch Moves range is you can mix and match all the crop tops and bottoms. You can see the stunning look book from this shoot here. Here I am checking out the dancewear samples Dancewear Central sent to me for the shoot: I couldn’t decide what to wear first, they were all so amazing! In the afternoon I headed over to the Royal Academy of Dance headquarters for an afternoon of rehearsals for my Phyllis Bedells Bursary routine. I’m planning on performing the Swanhilda variation from Act I of Coppélia, and then I have a self-choreographed variation that I’ve been working on called Little Sparrow, which I can’t wait to dance on the day. Here’s how I warm up before class: Sunday I had a day off today and went to Go Ape in Battersea with my sister. It was so much fun! Monday and Tuesday These were a packed two days. I attended the English National Ballet February Intensive, which is a full programme of dance classes with children from all over the world. Once it was finished, I travelled home late on Tuesday night. Wednesday Today was a little bit different. I went along to a drama workshop and then had some time out with friends. It’s so good to be off school so we can all catch up. Thursday I got to practice my shuffle time steps at a Tap Attack workshop with Kai Scanlon earlier. We’ve been really good friends since we met when dancing on CBBC’s Taking the Next Step. Here’s a highlight from our day: Friday Another shoot! This one was with Joe Laws, where they captured some fab photos for the new Bloch Moves and Spring collection dancewear, which is available here. Saturday It was an early start because I had to get the train over to London for my Royal Ballet Associates class. After that I headed back to Pineapple Studios for a contemporary and jazz class. Sunday Last day of the holiday today and I spent most of the time travelling back to school. I’m all set to work hard. Jess modelled our latest collections from Bloch now available here. You can also see her in our new spring fashion edit. Get your free copy here.