Hannah O'Neill

The guest on episode 2, season 2 of 'A Body's Language', is Hannah O'Neill, Premier Danseur with the Paris Opera Ballet.From 1998 to 2007, O'Neill studied at the Kishibe Ballet Studio in Tokyo, Japan. When she turned eight, she moved with her family to Aukland, New Zealand. There, she studied ballet at the Mt Eden Ballet Academy and then in 2008, at the age of 15, moved to Melbourne to study at The Australian Ballet School. In 2011 she graduated as dux of the ballet school.In 2009, O'Neill won the Pros de Lausanne, the world’s most prestigious competition for young dancers. The next year, she won first place in the senior woman's section at the Youth America Grand Prix in New York. Following these achievements, she passed The Paris Opera Ballet's external audition in July 2011 and was accepted into its Corps de Ballet with a seasonal contract. In August 2012 she was offered a second short-term contract with the company.Succeeding in the external audition in July 2013, O'Neill was offered a life-time contract. Now a regular member of the Paris Opera Ballet, O'Neill moved up through the ranks, being promoted in each Paris Opera Ballet internal promotion contest from 2013 to 2015. On 3 November 2015, she was ranked first in the Paris Opera Ballet internal promotion contest. Consequently, since 1 January 2016 she dances as a premier danseur, the second highest rank in the company.