Local dancer takes spot at elite ballet school

Tauranga dancer Amelia Dawe, 14, has been accepted into the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. Photo / Andrew Warner

A gifted Tauranga dancer is set to soar to new heights after being accepted to train at the prestigious Australian Ballet School.

Amelia Dawe, 14, who has been a student at the Dance Education Centre in Matua since she was eight, said she started doing ballet at three at Tauranga's Susanne Hanger Dance Ballet School after watching her older sister dancing.

"I just love to dance. I have known since I was eight or nine what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

"When I dance I feel very free and it makes me feel really happy," she said. Thousands applied from around the world for places at this elite school but only 60 dancers were selected to compete at the four-day final auditions in Melbourne a few months ago.

"I was the only Kiwi in my audition class," Amelia said. The teenager said her dream was to become good enough to become a principal dancer, like her Russian idols, Maria Kochetkova and Polina Semionova, and former Dance Education Centre student Delia Matthews, who dances with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

But Amelia said she knows all the hard work is still ahead of her.

She has been accepted into the school for three years but whether she was asked back would depend on each year's performance, and who her stiff competition was, she said.

The Otumoetai College student said she and her mother Linda Moultrie were currently packing up their home and would both be heading to Melbourne in December or early January.

A humble Amelia revealed she had also had offers from four other Australian dance schools.

In the end it wasn't a hard choice which offer to accept, she said.

"I'm just so excited and I can't wait," Amelia said.

The fees for her to attend the Australian Ballet School would cost her parents $10,000 a year, on top of her school fees to attend the Victorian College of the Arts.

Dance Education Centre director Prue Gooch was delighted with Amelia's invitation and said the Australian Ballet School was one of the best in the world - the Royal Ballet of the Southern Hemisphere.

I was the only Kiwi in my audition class ... I'm just so excited and I can't wait.

Amelia Dawe

"Amelia has worked really hard for this opportunity. The Australian Ballet School was always a long shot given Amelia's age, but they have not only offered her a place but put her up to the next skill level, which is a real coup as she will be dancing with more experienced dancers, aged 15 and 16 years old.

"There has always been something special about Amelia. She definitely has the x-factor, and the iron will she'll need to make it as a professional dancer.

"But even if she doesn't make it as a dancer she could easily become a movie star," Mrs Gooch said.

The Australian Ballet School

* The Melbourne-based school is linked to The Australian Ballet Company.

* It is a national centre for excellence in classical dance training.

* In 2014 the school marked 50 years in existence.

* The school has an eight-level programme aimed at producing dancers which can seamlessly integrate into professional dance companies.

- The Australian Ballet School website