HSC Callback 2025

Published in Print May 2025 order now!
view photo gallery | Callback 11th Feb Technical Rehearsal
view photo gallery | Callback 12th Feb Technical Rehearsal
By Danielle Brown
 
Each February, the Seymour Centre in Sydney becomes more than just a performance venue. It transforms into a place of culmination, celebration and introspection as the most exceptional HSC Dance students from across New South Wales gather for Callback—a curated showcase of the top practical works submitted for the HSC the previous year.
 
For those unfamiliar with Callback, it’s easy to assume it’s simply a “best of” talent show. But it’s so much more. Callback is a rare event that threads together rigorous academic achievement, artistic risk-taking, personal storytelling, and the collective triumphs of students, teachers and families. It offers a unique window into the role dance plays within the NSW curriculum—and into the emotional and intellectual maturity of the young artists who take part.
 
As John Montgomery, Senior Curriculum Implementation Officer Creative Arts at NESA, reflected during the Friday evening awards ceremony:
 
“Why do we create these other versions of the world—ones that move us, speak to us more deeply, or engage us in ways that transcend the tangible world?”

Montgomery’s words set the tone for the evening, a reminder that the performing arts are not an add-on to education—they are a way of seeing and engaging with the world.
 
“These students have understood dance as a distinct art form that engages you physically, conceptually and philosophically… These arts practitioners will be the dancers, choreographers, composers, administrators and creatives of tomorrow. Their contribution will be significant—not just to our industry, but to our cultural identity.”
 
It was a moment of recognition—not just for the students on stage, but for the teachers and parents who walked this path beside them.
 
“Your work and commitment to our young people is the most important work in the world,” Montgomery said. “Thank you.”
 
One work that left a lasting impression on me was by Elise Babbage from St Vincent’s College, Potts Point. Her Major Study Performance performed first with, then without, a mirror—was a visceral portrayal of the internal dialogue so many of us live with: the push and pull of self-love and self-critique, the tension between vulnerability and control. I was completely captivated by the rawness of her storytelling and the clarity of her choreographic voice. Elise is now studying full-time at Brent Street, and I sincerely hope she continues to make work—she has an extraordinary gift.
 
Another deeply resonant performance came from my son, Conor Parkinson-Brown, a graduate of Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, who is now studying German and Japanese at Sydney University. Their Major Study Performance, Behind the Façade, explored identity, transformation, and the painful but liberating act of shedding what no longer serves us. It was a haunting and deeply personal expression of what it means to build, inhabit, and eventually release a façade created to protect oneself from rejection. The honesty and complexity of Conor’s performance stayed with me long after the curtain closed.
 
Elise and Conor’s works were just two of many that demonstrated how the HSC Dance syllabus—across performance, composition and appreciation—offers far more than technical skill. It fosters expressive maturity and encourages young people to grapple with the world around and within them.
 
One of the curriculum’s most demanding components is composition—creating a work for another dancer. This presents unique challenges for Year 12 students, who must communicate their intent clearly and relinquish a degree of control over their final product.
 
Chloe Woodward, Dance teacher at Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus, shared her process for navigating this dynamic:
 
“We run a composition workshop where Year 12s teach a segment of their work to younger dancers. It’s not about picking the ‘best’; it’s about who connects with the style and brings the vision to life. Often, the dancer who’s flown under the radar really shines when the right choreography lands in their body.”
 
That intuitive matching process often leads to collaborative relationships that last well beyond the HSC.
 
For Mollie Rytmeister from The McDonald College, Callback marked both a farewell and a launchpad. After sustaining injuries, Mollie is now studying physiotherapy—but dance, she says, remains a formative force:
 
“It’s surreal. I feel so grateful to my teachers and the Arts Unit. Even though I’m not pursuing full-time dance, I want to work with dancers as a physio one day. Dance has given me so much joy—and such a deep understanding of the body.”
 
Scarlett Cook, from Southern Cross Catholic College, echoed the theme of adaptability in teacher-led choreography:
 
“Our teacher gave us the base, but we adapted the movement—different turns, leg holds—to suit ourselves. It meant the work was still ours, even if we didn’t choreograph it from scratch.”
 
While some students pursue dance professionally, many others carry the discipline and creativity it instilled into entirely different fields.
 
Summer-Eve Smyth, from Redlands, has begun university studies in psychology and criminology:

“Dance taught me how to manage time, energy and stress. It gave me structure and a release. Even though I’m no longer dancing full-time, I still carry that discipline into my study.”
 
Lily Martin, from Randwick Girls High School, discussed the challenges of choreographing a Core Composition an experience that stretched her creatively and emotionally:
 
“It was hard not to constantly scrap things, but my teacher helped me trust the process. Teaching someone else made me a clearer communicator. It was one of the hardest, and most rewarding, things I’ve done.”
 
For Daisy Hughes and her dancer Audrey Hayes (Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus), collaboration blossomed into friendship:
 
“It’s the only subject where someone else carries your mark,” Daisy said. “But it was never about control. We worked together. And I’m really proud of what we created.”
 
Audrey agreed:

“There was a connection with the choreography from the beginning. Daisy made the whole process fun and supportive.”
 
Laila Burgess (Northern Beaches Secondary College Mackellar Girls Campus), who had performed in Callback the year before as a composition dancer, said the experience changed the way she approached her own HSC work:
 
“Being backstage the previous year helped me feel less nervous. I could take it all in. And the relationship I had with my teacher, built over six years, gave me so much confidence.”
 
For Kiani Braund, who completed HSC Dance through an accelerated program at Reddam House, the subject was a welcome relief from the demands of heavy academic coursework:
 
“I did a lot of science-based subjects, so dance gave me a chance to reconnect with creativity. Even the theory was analytical, but in a different way. It reminded me that education can be joyful.”
 
That’s what makes Callback so vital. It acknowledges dance not just as an artform or academic subject, but as a powerful tool for navigating life. Through movement, students learn how to think critically, communicate emotionally, collaborate meaningfully and reflect deeply.
 
As the curtain fell on Callback 2024, it was clear this wasn’t just about top marks. It was about connection—between mind and body, artist and audience, student and teacher. It was about recognising that dance, as taught in New South Wales schools, is not only a discipline, but a language of resilience, reflection and renewal.

As John Montgomery so beautifully concluded:
 
“Whether you pursue a vocation in dance or simply carry creativity into your future, you owe credit to yourselves, your families, your schools and your communities.”
 
And as an audience, we owe them our gratitude—for reminding us, through movement and memory, of the extraordinary potential of young artists.