Dance of Delight
Auckland teen’s big win
An Auckland teenager says she owes her success at a world ballet competition to a strict routine of “ballet, school, ballet, sleep” — and her grandmother’s dedicated costume-making skills.
Monet Hewitt, 16, has won a gold medal at the Genee International Ballet Competition in Hong Kong.
She was among 51 of the world’s finest young dancers from 13 countries, aged between 15 and 19 years old.
Hewitt, who has been dancing since she was 8, says it was “terrifying” but she loved every minute of it.
Ahead of the Genee — her first big international competition — Hewitt prepared two routines and once there, had a week to learn a third, twominute-long routine.
She says it was challenging at first but she made it her own.
“I felt like it was choreographed for me.”
“Some years the judges don’t even give out a gold,” she proudly said.
She also won $10,000, which will go towards her next big career move — she’s been accepted for the English National Ballet School in London.