Award for young dancer

BALLARAT Centre of Music and the Arts student Ashton van Raaphorst has been rewarded for his dedication and commitment to his art with a place in the Cecchetti Ballet Victoria scholars’ program.

Dancers who are currently excelling are chosen for the program, which provides subsidised tuition at the Victorian Cecchetti Ballet headquarters.

“They’ll have professional guest teachers that come in and do masterclasses with you,” said Ashton.

“I want to be a professional ballet dancer and I think being able to see it in a different perspective with teachers that don’t see me often will help me see ballet in a different light.”

Fifteen-year-old Ashton has been studying ballet for the last four years, two of which were during the COVID-19 pandemic with classes were conducted via online video.

He recently got a score of 100 per cent on the grade six Cecchetti exam.

“This is my fourth year of ballet at BCMA and I do classes twice a week,” Ashton said.

“I’ve done heaps of shows with them and my ballet teachers Ella and Julia have helped me so much.”

Ashton said he enjoys the technical aspects of ballet and getting to express his emotions.

“In ballet it’s so technical and it has to be perfect, and I love things having to be perfect and the artistry involved,” he said.

“I like getting to put my emotions through my dancing.”