As I put this issue together, I kept coming back to the same thought, there is so much more to developing as a dancer than learning the steps.
Of course, technique matters enormously. But throughout this issue, whether I was speaking with an internationally experienced artist, watching young dancers perform, hearing what an adjudicator was looking for or reading the advice of our Bodywise physiotherapists, the conversations kept moving beyond technique. They were about individuality, versatility, resilience, opportunity, understanding your body and, perhaps most importantly, learning to trust yourself.
I loved speaking with former Principal Artist and artistic leader Robert Curran about the work he is now doing with young dancers at Ablaze Dance Academy. Robert talks about choreography as the starting point rather than the end result, and about helping each dancer discover what they bring to the work. His belief that “no two dancers are ever the same” is something I think young dancers need to hear, particularly in a world where it is so easy to compare yourself with everyone around you.
Amy Zhang takes us somewhere completely different. Through her work with Mad Dance House, Amy gives us a glimpse into the enormous creative world that can exist beyond the pathways young dancers traditionally imagine. Her career as a choreographer and movement director spans film, television, fashion, theatre, galleries and major commercial projects. I particularly love her advice to young artists to develop their own taste and not be frightened when their point of view looks different from everybody else’s.
Then there is Phoenix Mitchell, whose journey from Conroy Performing Arts Centre to working internationally as a Dance Captain and tumbler with Disney Cruise Line is such a good example of why versatility really matters. Dance, tumbling, acting, singing, screen skills and the ability to adapt have all become part of his professional life. His career has not followed the path he originally imagined, but that is part of what makes his story so valuable for young performers contemplating their own future.
Our competition coverage also asks dancers to think beyond the result. At Australian Classical Challenge Canberra, competitors were challenged to learn, adapt and respond to new choreography, while at the AICD Victorian Ballet Awards and New Zealand School of Dance Scholarship, Damien Welch offered a wonderful reminder that we develop technique so that eventually we can step on stage and forget about it. The inaugural Australasian Classical Gala demonstrates just how valuable access to international teachers, scholarships and pathways can be, sometimes one correction, class or connection really can influence what happens next.
And if you are thinking about entering IYDC when it arrives in Sydney this October, I particularly wanted to explore what young dancers can gain beyond a trophy. We spoke with incoming Ambassador Frida Hogendorp and outgoing Ambassador Jiya Baikloy because together they give us both sides of that experience, what it means to be chosen and what happens during the year that follows. Their thoughts on friendship, leadership, confidence and personal growth are a lovely reminder of why putting yourself forward for an opportunity can be worthwhile regardless of the final result.
We also spend time with students who are beginning to experience what professional expectations actually feel like. The Australian Ballet School’s Winter Season asks senior students to trust the work they have done in the studio and take responsibility for it on stage, while The McDonald College’s production of The Sleeping Beauty shows why performing a full length ballet teaches something very different from preparing a solo variation. Through The Arts Unit’s NSW Public Schools State Dance Companies, we also meet young dancers discovering professional choreographers, major performance opportunities and, just as importantly, other young people who share their passion for dance.
Our Bodywise pages bring all of this back to something dancers live with every day, their bodies. Susie Bond asks whether dancers are stretching too much and why being able to control your flexibility matters more than simply having more of it. Deborah Wright unpacks that instruction every dancer has heard countless times, “engage your core”, and explains what effective core control should actually feel like. Will Beck then looks at returning from injury and why being able to perform one pain free jump does not necessarily mean your body is ready to withstand an entire class, rehearsal or performance.
What I hope you take from this issue is that there is no single quality that makes a successful dancer. Train your technique, absolutely, but stay curious. Learn how your body works. Put yourself forward for opportunities. Listen to corrections. Train beyond what feels comfortable. Develop skills outside your strongest genre. Find the teachers and mentors who see you, rather than trying to make you look like somebody else.
And when all that work has been done, trust it enough to dance.
Dani
Special Guest Artists
Robert Curran, Shaping the Artist Within
Former Principal Artist with The Australian Ballet and internationally respected artistic leader Robert Curran has spent a career learning what separates a technically accomplished dancer from an artist an audience remembers. Now coaching young dancers at Ablaze Dance Academy, he believes the most valuable work begins once the steps have been learnt.
“Learning the choreography is just the starting point,” Curran says. From there, dancers need to explore musicality, phrasing, character and intention, while developing the independence to understand why they are making each artistic choice. Competitions and auditions can provide valuable preparation, but Curran sees them as stepping stones rather than destinations. The qualities that sustain a career are broader, resilience, curiosity, professionalism and a willingness to keep learning.
His advice also offers an important reminder in an era of increasingly impressive technique. “Technique provides the foundation, but artistry is what allows an audience to connect emotionally with a performance.” For Curran, developing that artistry does not mean creating dancers who all look the same. Classical tradition provides the framework, but within it, he believes, there must always be room for individuality.
Amy Zhang, Finding Movement in Every Story
Choreographer and movement director Amy Zhang works across worlds that might appear remarkably different, film, television, theatre, fashion, galleries, live performance and international commercial campaigns. Yet behind every project sits the same question, what are we trying to say?
Amy did not take her first dance class until she was 17, but has since built a career spanning collaborations with artists, arts organisations and global brands, while developing an artistic voice informed by her Chinese heritage, street dance foundations and contemporary practice. Rather than creating movement simply for spectacle, she begins with story, character and the individuality of the performer.
For emerging choreographers, her advice reaches well beyond accumulating more dance vocabulary. “Spend time getting to know yourself and developing your taste,” she says, encouraging young creatives to explore music, fashion, food, film, art and culture because “your work is an extension of who you are, where you’ve come from and what you value.”
Perhaps most importantly, Amy sees difference as something to cultivate rather than disguise. “People connect with artists who have a point of view. Don’t be afraid if yours looks different to everyone else’s. That difference is your greatest strength.”
Phoenix Mitchell, The Power of Versatility
Phoenix Mitchell’s pathway into professional performance is a valuable reminder that a career does not need to unfold according to the original plan. He danced professionally as a child, stepped away from training, returned with considerable ground to make up, worked to help pay for his own classes, faced repeated auditions that almost became contracts, and ultimately built an international career encompassing dance, tumbling, acting, singing, screen work, teaching and leadership.
Now a Dance Captain and tumbler with Disney Cruise Line, Phoenix credits much of his employability to refusing to define himself too narrowly. “My best advice for all dancers is to cross train and be as versatile as you could possibly be. The more diverse your training is, the more employable you will be.”
His career also challenges the idea that only the biggest opportunity matters. Each experience has contributed something, including the disappointments. His advice is to remain curious enough to find the lesson even in a job or situation that does not appear to fit the ultimate plan. As Phoenix has discovered, the destination may remain the same even when the route towards it changes completely.
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Competitions
Australian Classical Challenge Canberra, More Than the Result
At the Australian Classical Challenge Canberra, dancers were tested on far more than the performances they arrived prepared to present. Across Ballet and Contemporary, masterclasses, new choreography, feedback and performance placed the emphasis firmly on a dancer’s capacity to listen, adapt and develop under pressure.
In the Ballet divisions, adjudicator Sian Stokes offered advice worth remembering well beyond competition day. “Never forget that ballet is an art form. Technique gives you the vocabulary, but artistry is what tells the story.” Her message was not to abandon technique, but to use it as the means through which personality, musicality and emotion can emerge.
Contemporary competitors faced a different challenge, learning original movement material in a matter of hours before being asked to interpret it as artists rather than simply reproduce it. Choreographers Paul Malek and Davide Di Giovanni looked for individuality, emotional connection, musicality and the courage to make choices. The result was an important lesson for young dancers, versatility is not simply being able to perform several genres. It is being able to enter something unfamiliar, absorb information, respond to feedback and still bring something of yourself to the stage.
Australian Classical Challenge
australianclassicalchallenge.com.au
AICD Victorian Ballet Awards and New Zealand School of Dance Scholarship, Beyond Technique
Watching dancers at the Australian Institute of Classical Dance’s Victorian Ballet Awards and New Zealand School of Dance Scholarship, adjudicator Damien Welch repeatedly returned to one idea, technique is essential, but it should ultimately free a dancer to perform.
“The reason we develop technique is so that we can completely forget about it when we step on stage,” he told competitors. After years spent refining placement, line and coordination, the aim is not to arrive on stage thinking about every step, but to trust the preparation and allow the audience to see the artist.
Welch also had an encouraging perspective on mistakes. Recalling choreographer William Forsythe cheering when dancers fell because it showed they were pushing their limits, he urged young performers not to allow the pursuit of perfection to suppress courage or joy. “I saw some beautiful technique today, but I also saw some wonderful performances and genuine joy. That’s what audiences remember.”
The full feature celebrates the award and scholarship recipients, while also capturing advice from Welch that every young classical dancer can carry back into the studio.
Australasian Classical Gala, World Class Mentorship
More than 80 scholarships, over $90,000 in scholarship opportunities and benefits, approximately $20,000 in prize money and pathways to international schools and companies made the inaugural Australasian Classical Gala significant. Yet some of its greatest value could not be measured financially.
Young dancers from Australia and overseas spent four days working with an extraordinary collection of educators, adjudicators and choreographers, transforming the event from competition into an environment of genuine mentorship. Internationally respected educator Zoica Tovar, School Director of The Washington Ballet, offered a particularly revealing insight into her approach. “I believe in individual instruction,” she explained. “Not every dancer needs the same corrections.”
For Russian dancer Mariia Prokopenko, attending her first solo competition also exposed her to a different relationship between technique and expression. Comparing her experiences, she observed that Australian training placed greater emphasis on emotion and enjoyment. “So I love when you can just dance.”
It is an idea that captures much of what the Gala set out to achieve, creating connections between dancers, teachers and institutions across borders, while making education, artistic development and opportunity every bit as important as the final result.
Australasian Classical Gala
acgala.com.au
IYDC Ambassador Program, Leadership Beyond the Stage
What does success in a dance competition look like when the trophy is removed from the equation? The International Youth Dance Competition Ambassador Program offers an interesting answer.
Twelve year old Singapore dancer Frida Hogendorp, the 2026 IYDC Ambassador, and 2025 Ambassador Jiya Baikloy from Thailand reveal a side of competition centred on communication, leadership, cultural exchange and service. The Ambassador is not necessarily the dancer with the strongest technique. Character, maturity, initiative, resilience and the ability to connect with others are equally important.
For Jiya, the experience fundamentally changed her understanding of achievement. “I used to think success was only about winning first place and getting trophies. But this year showed me that the best part of dancing is actually the amazing memories you make, the friends you meet, and how much you grow as a person.”
Her advice to Frida is wonderfully simple, “Don’t worry about being perfect on stage. Just stay true to who you are, smile, and use your platform to help other dancers shine.”
Schools in The Spotlight
The Australian Ballet School Winter Season, Learning to Trust the Work
For students at The Australian Ballet School, Winter Season takes training beyond the familiarity of the studio and places it where it ultimately needs to function, in front of an audience.
Level 7 and Level 8 students performed a program spanning classical and contemporary repertoire, but their reflections reveal that some of the most formative experiences happened around the performance itself. Backstage anticipation, learning from visiting artists, sharing demanding repertoire with friends and discovering how a work develops from one performance to the next all became part of their education.
For Level 7 student Maya Conn, one of the most important lessons has been learning to trust what has already happened in the studio. “I’ve learned to trust the work I’ve put in, to embrace challenges and to keep believing in myself even when things don’t go perfectly.”
That may be one of performance training’s most valuable lessons. No live performance can be controlled completely. Preparation gives a dancer the tools, but artistry also requires the confidence to respond to what happens in the moment. Winter Season offered these young dancers another opportunity to make that transition, from students who have prepared the work to artists capable of owning it.
The Australian Ballet School
australianballetschool.com.au
The McDonald College, From Studio to Stage
Learning a classical variation is one thing. Understanding how that role functions within a full length ballet is something entirely different.
For students at The McDonald College, staging The Sleeping Beauty meant months of rehearsals, academic commitments, costumes, spacing, entrances and exits, backstage etiquette and the responsibility of understanding that one dancer’s preparation affects an entire company. Head of Classical Ballet Jane Kesby sees that experience as an essential part of classical training. “Working together as a company is so important, educational, fun and bonding. Your first contract in any ballet company would be as a corps de ballet dancer.”
For Matilda Byrne, taking on Princess Aurora made that development deeply personal. The Rose Adage initially felt overwhelming, but repetition, feedback and learning to manage her thoughts gradually built the stamina and confidence she needed. Rather than focusing on everything that could go wrong, Matilda learnt to stay calm and grounded.
By performance time, the challenge had shown her something larger than whether she could execute a famous sequence of steps. “I learnt more about what I am capable of as a dancer,” she says. The journey from struggling through the Rose Adage to stepping on stage as Aurora captures exactly why productions such as these matter in a young dancer’s education.
Dance Education
NSW Public Schools State Dance Companies, Where Young Artists Belong
Opportunity in dance can depend heavily on where you live and who you have access to. The Arts Unit’s State Dance Companies bring together NSW public school students who might otherwise never share a studio, giving them access to choreographers, workshops, performances and, just as importantly, one another.
For 17 year old Adrian, the Boys State Dance Company provides the rare experience of training alongside other young male dancers with the same commitment to performance. He values being able to represent “the strength, dedication and creativity that boys can bring to dance”, while developing confidence, versatility, leadership and stage presence.
For 15 year old Niamh, who travels from Lismore, participation requires considerably more logistical commitment. Yet those journeys to Sydney have exposed her to professional choreographers, new movement ideas and a community she had long hoped to find. Working with choreographer Pete Evans even revealed an unexpected interest in creating movement herself.
“I have loved being part of such a positive and supportive group,” Niamh says. “Everyone has become really close through the workshops and rehearsals, and it feels like we are one big team now.”
For both dancers, the program demonstrates that meaningful pathways do more than put young people on a stage. They give them access, connection and a place to imagine what might come next.
The Arts Unit
artsunit.nsw.edu.au
Our Digital Issue is separate from what you’ve just read, with a fresh collection of dance stories, advice, opportunities, reviews and more, delivered FREE to your inbox every two months.
Bodywise
Are Dancers Stretching Too Much?
For Deborah Wright, Senior Physiotherapist, APA Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, Physiotherapist for Dancers and Performers, flexibility is part of a dancer’s toolkit, but greater range does not automatically mean better dancing.
Deb explains that the more useful question is whether a dancer has the strength and control to actually use the flexibility they have.
There is an important difference between passive flexibility, the range a joint can reach with assistance, and active flexibility, the range a dancer can control using their own muscles. A dancer might be able to place their leg into an impressive extension, for example, but still lack the strength around the pelvis, trunk and hip to lift or hold it there independently.
The concern is not stretching itself, but repeatedly forcing the body beyond a range it can actively control, particularly when anatomy may already determine the limit. This is especially important for naturally flexible or hypermobile dancers, whose greater challenge may be controlling movement rather than creating more of it.
Social media can make extreme positions appear like evidence of superior technique, but a photograph cannot show how the dancer entered the position, whether they can control it, or what happens to their alignment afterwards.
Instead of asking, “How far can you stretch?”, Bond suggests a more useful question, “Can you control the range you have, and does it improve your dancing?”
Kinetica Physiotherapy
kineticaphysio.com.au
Understanding Core Control for Dancers
Susie Bond, Physiotherapist for Dancers and Performers, states that “Engage your core” is one of the most familiar instructions in a dance studio, but it can also be one of the most misunderstood.
Susie explains that effective core control is not about aggressively pulling the stomach in, holding the breath or making the entire torso rigid. The muscles surrounding the spine and pelvis work together as a coordinated movement system, providing enough support for the body to remain organised while still allowing the dancer to breathe and move freely.
Good core activation can actually feel surprisingly subtle. There may be a gentle sense of support around the waist, length through the spine and firmness through the lower abdominal area, without gripping. Importantly, the amount of activation should change according to the movement. Balancing quietly on one leg does not require the same support as a powerful jump or landing.
“More activation is not necessarily better,” Wright explains. Excessive tension can interfere with breathing and movement quality rather than improve it. A simple check is to ask, can I maintain control while still breathing and moving freely?
Ultimately, core control is less about how strongly a dancer can contract their abdominal muscles and more about coordination. As Wright explains, it should be considered “a movement skill, not simply a strength test.”
Activate Physiotherapy, Exercise Rehab
activatephysiopilates.au
You Can Jump, but Are You Ready to Dance?
Will Beck, Physiotherapist, Performance Medicine Melbourne explains that after an injury, successfully completing the first pain free jump can feel like a major milestone. But Will says that one successful jump does not necessarily mean a dancer is ready to return to class, rehearsal or performance.
Dance rarely asks the body to perform a movement once. It requires repeated take offs and landings, rapid directional changes and the ability to maintain technique even as fatigue builds. A jump may look completely normal from the outside while the dancer is still protecting the injured side or relying disproportionately on the other leg.
Force plates can help reveal what the eye cannot. They measure how a dancer produces force during take off, absorbs force on landing and distributes work between the legs. They can also show whether that strategy begins to change after repeated jumps.
Importantly, the goal is not necessarily to make both sides of the body perfectly identical. Dancers naturally develop preferred supporting legs and individual movement strategies. The aim is to know whether each leg can safely meet the particular demands being placed upon it.
Baseline testing while a dancer is healthy can also provide a valuable individual reference point. Rather than comparing recovery only with general population averages, clinicians can consider the dancer’s own usual jump height, power and movement strategies. Force plates do not determine return to dance on their own, but they can provide another piece of concrete information when deciding whether the body is genuinely ready for the demands waiting outside the treatment room.
Performance Medicine Melbourne
performancemedicine.com.au
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Dani Brown | 0407 782 256