Pro ballet pirouettes into kids’ hearts

Dancers from WA Ballet Company are travelling across the Pilbara to give local children a glance into the world of ballet.

Dance students from across the City of Karratha were given the opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade from some of the State’s best dancers at a masterclass workshop in Dampier last Sunday.

Students from Dampier and Millars Well primary schools and Karratha Senior High School have participated in workshops, in which they learnt about basic positions and a short history of ballet.

Young ballet fans will be packing out Karratha Library tomorrow as the WA Ballet dancers present a special story-time performance of Peter Pan in the lead-up to the company’s 2018 season.

The story-time sessions are fully booked.

WA Ballet executive director Jessica Machin said experiences such as these had the potential to change lives.

“Port Hedland and Karratha have a special place in the heart of West Australian Ballet,” she said. “In the company’s early touring years, both towns were regularly on the tour itinerary.”

One of WA Ballet’s young artists, Courtney Radford, grew up in Port Hedland and said the troupe’s tours of the town were crucial in her career.

“I saw my first ballet when WAB toured their Ballet at the Quarryseason to Port Hedland in 2004,” she said. “That season was a particularly diverse selection of contemporary and classical ballets. I didn’t know ballet could be like that. I’d never seen anything like it before and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”