AUSSIE DANCER ELLE-MAY PATTERSON DANCE CAPTAIN OF PROFESSIONAL NEW YORK CITY MUSICAL Top Australian dancer Elle-May Patterson has come on in leaps and bounds while living in New York City after landing professional musical theatre gigs consistently, soon to include dance captain of Mamma Mia.
Six months later, she flew to Singapore on her new journey to achieve a Bachelor/Honours degree in Musical Theatre. Elle-May’s passion to succeed led her to graduate with First Class Honours.
Like many other Australian performers seeking a career on Broadway, Elle-May is a continuing success story. She is a highly motivated dancer on her way to the top with the new musical Mamma Mia as part of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival in New York. She will lead the chorus as dance captain to help bring this show to life in June this year. It has not always been easy for Elle-May to be successful in the Arts, in fact, she says being a performer is one of the most challenging careers.
“Surprisingly, the industry over in Singapore is huge. I booked roles I never would be able to do back in Australia! My year group had nine people and we really relied on each other to get by,” she admitted.
Born and raised as a dancer, she first started her rigorous dance training at her local studio down the end of her street. Her whole life suddenly shifted to dance when she was accepted into Brent Street Studios during her high school education. Her first professional gig was at just seven-years-old, landing a role in the Australian tour of Showboat. She knew then, her training had begun to eventually be a professional performer, so she successfully auditioned for The McDonald College Performing Arts. Upon graduating high school via distance education, she was picked up by a manager who instructed her to take up vocal lessons with the renowned Patricia Oertel. After years of vocal training, it was Patricia who first sparked Elle-May to pursue an international career in the Arts. Patricia took Elle-May and several other students to Singapore for a one-week musical theatre workshop at Lasalle College of the Arts. During that week, Elle-May was exposed to a whole new performing arts industry that was exciting to her. She watched in idolisation at the third years’ showcase and knew she had to attend Lasalle College of the Arts the following year. “I was crying at the end of the performance, and at that moment, I finally knew what I wanted to do!” smiled Elle-May.
After three years of college and another three years of living in Singapore working as a performer throughout Asia, she ventured to New York City where she had always dreamed of living. Elle-May has lived in three of the most expensive cities in the world growing up in Sydney and moving to Singapore, now residing in New York City. She admits the ‘big apple’ is certainly the most difficult to live in ‘comfortably’. “I had to figure out a way to live comfortably in the city so I searched for dance teaching jobs. I really had to start at the bottom, but once I was in, I was in!” said Elle-May. Within a month of living in New York, a resident director from Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore guided her to participate in a four-week program that puts performers in front of New York City’s biggest agents. Even though it was an investment, Elle-May ended up performing in front of a panel of agents in both dance and song and walked away with the agent she has today. “I would never have known to register for that program. I signed with my agent over 2 years ago at that program, and she has played a crucial role in boosting my career here in NYC. To share her books with choreographers like Mia Michaels is still astounding to me!” told Elle-May.