EN POINTE FOR RETURN TO THE COAST
Star dancer to perform at her first major show in her home town after eight years with The Australian Ballet company
WHEN a teenaged Chantelle Van Der Hoek moved to Melbourne to train at The Australian Ballet School, her niece was barely one year old.
Seven years later, she’s returning to the Gold Coast and her niece, now 8, will be front and centre in the audience.
“I think it will be her first ballet and she says she can’t wait to see Aunty Chantelle,” Van Der Hoek, 22, said.
The dancer, who grew up in Tweed Heads, plays a fairy in The Australian Ballet’s Storytime Ballet production of The Sleeping Beauty, which plays at The Arts Centre on January 13.
Designed especially for young audiences aged three to 11, the condensed ballets feature a smaller cast, clock in at 50 minutes and add a narrator and a few interactive elements.
“Because it’s on that smaller scale, it’s more inclusive for children,” Van Der Hoek said.
“Probably the biggest difference is the audience reaction as you get to hear the kids right there.
“I look down and see them up the front dancing their little hearts out.
“They are very, very verbal with their excitement and joy. It’s great for us to feed off their energy.”