NOT JUST FOR GIRLS
to Arran O’Sullivan, 11, has been selected perform with the Queensland Ballet.
Q How did you get started in dancing? A. When I first decided I wanted to give dancing a try, my mum gave her friend a call and asked where her daughter danced. We soon found out the dance studio was Kay Flynn Dancing Academy (KFDA). At first, my mum assumed I wanted to do hip hop, not ballet or tap, but after my first lesson in both, I knew I was going to love ballet. Q How old were you when you started dancing? A. I started dancing at the age of five. I wanted to start ballet and tap with my friend as she was doing them and told me they were fun. I was only little so I wanted to try something new. I had no knowledge of ballet or tap and was oblivious to the fact that boys sometimes get picked on for this sport. Q What do you love about ballet? A. I love how ballet challenges your limits and pushes you to try harder. Q How were you selected to perform with the Queensland Ballet?
A. The process for getting accepted into the Queensland Ballet production, La Fille Mal Gardee (The Wayward Daughter), was a series of audition classes. The first audition was just for boys and consisted of basic skills in classical ballet and small routines that would be
performed with the company if we were to make it in. In the first class, we were told that if you received a call back, you would return for a second audition class. Fortunately, I was given a call back and so was my friend Annika. The second class consisted of more routines that would be performed with the company and costume fittings as there were only 24 spots, 18 cast members and six understudies. At the end, we were lined up and measured in height, then we were sent back and told that our results would be emailed to us in seven days’ time. I received my email and I got in. Q Tell us about the ballet. A. The ballet production is named La Fille Mal Gardee and it is the story of a love triangle between a girl named Lise and a boy named Colas. These two characters are in love but Lise’s widowed mother, Simone, wants her daughter to marry into a rich family. Unfortunately for Lise, the son of the rich family is an odd character who is more interested in his umbrella so there is a feud between the mother, the daughter and the boy who she actually loves. It is set in a French countryside and is a very funny story. Q How long do you train for each week? A. On average, I dance three days a week and sometimes with the rehearsals for Queensland Ballet I will dance seven days. I really enjoy the classes even though I get sore after so many hours. It can really tire out your body, but I love what I do. Q What is your role in the production? A. My role in the production is of a child to two townspeople and the role consists of having to act out a family with the company’s members and another fellow child. Q How do you manage your school commitments with dance classes and rehearsals?
A. It’s not as hard as you think. Usually I do most of my homework on the days I am not dancing and I do the other small parts of my homework after dance or on the way to rehearsals in Brisbane. But sometimes it gets hard when all my rehearsals and normal dance classes fill up every day of the week. Q Who is your favourite dancer and why? A. My favourite ballet dancer is the famous Li Cunxin. When he was a boy, he was picked to go to the Beijing Ballet Company. Without any ballet training, he was selected from a certain amount of school kids at his local school in China. He came from a very poor family and didn’t have many luxuries. When he went over to Beijing, he wasn’t the best, but soon became one of the best dancers in the world and is also the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet company. Q You’ve recently auditioned for the Australian Ballet School. What did that involve?
A. The audition was a class-like environment consisting of very basic steps to test your technique and to see if you could pick up the steps easily. At the end of the audition, we were given a physical assessment on our strength and natural flexibility. Q What are your future ambitions with dancing? A. My ambitions are to go straight through with the Australian Ballet School. Then, getting a professional contract or scholarship for a major ballet company such as the Australian Ballet company or the Queensland Ballet company. Then to hopefully even get to dance with one of the most prestigious ballet companies in the world, like the Zurich Ballet company in Sweden. These may sound ambitious, but they are goals that I would like to accomplish one day.