Ahead of Varna International Ballet's return to Bournemouth Pavilion in February, we caught up with Bayley Webster, who will be performing in the classic ballet, Swan Lake.

Bayley Webster was born in Northam, England in 2000. He graduated The School of Ballet Theatre UK in 2019, from where he joined the associated company Ballet Theatre UK. He danced various roles over 3 seasons, such as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Prince in Paquita, among other roles. He has performed with various companies in countries around the world.

Bayley joined Varna State Ballet in 2023 where he’s danced Prince Sigfried in Swan Lake, and performed in Nutcracker and Cinderella. He has toured with the company in Mexico, France, Italy and Bulgaria.

When did you join Varna International Ballet?

I started at Varna International Ballet at the beginning of the 23/24 season.

Which roles do you play?

On this tour, I will play the roles Time, Bees and the ball in Cinderella. In Swan Lake, I'm dancing the waltz and muzerka and in Nutcracker, parents, Mouse King, Drosselmier!

Where did you train?

I started dancing in 2006 at The Sarah Anne Westcott School of Dance. Whilst I was training here in 2014, I was part of the British Ballet Organisation as a male Scholar, where I went to London every month to further my training with other boys from around the country. After this, when I graduated from secondary school in 2016, I was offered a place at The School of Ballet Theatre UK, where I graduated with a first-class honours degree in Ballet Performance.

What excites you most about this tour?

I’m really excited to be coming back to England to perform again as I’ve not performed in the UK for over 3 years. It will also be nice to visit some theatres that I have performed in before as well as exploring some new stages around the UK that I’ve not visited before! It will also be exciting to bring some new repertoire that I’ve not danced before that has been choreographed by Sergei Bobrov, the artistic director of Varna State Opera, whose choreography brings a variety of styles accompanied by some very well-known classical scores.

What are the biggest challenges of a tour of this scale?

I think that one of the biggest challenges whilst being on tour is that we will be on a tight schedule some days, especially when we have double show days! For us as dancers, it’s really important to keep our health and fitness up during more intense periods of the tour, so making sure we have time between shows to warm up correctly and to stay well maintained throughout the tour to make sure that the risk of injuries is low!

Which of the ballets is your favourite, and why?

My favourite ballet that we are bringing on tour this year is The Nutcracker because it means that it’s the festive time and everyone is excited about Christmas! So, for us as dancers to be able to bring joy and festive spirit to the audience is really rewarding.

How do you keep your energy levels up for the whole tour?

During the tour for us as dancers, it’s a very intense period. Making sure that we are maintaining good levels of rest is really important for us! Some days we spend many hours on the bus, which is great for us to rest our muscles and use the time wisely, such as using different pieces of equipment to help soothe any pain we might have!

What can audiences expect from the performances?

All three productions have different stories but feature lots of high energy and artistry, making sure that we have the audience's full engagement from beginning to end! The audience should expect different styles throughout each performance, too.

Swan Lake returns to Bournemouth Pavilion for two performances on Sunday 8 February. Tickets are on sale now.