Ballet eisteddfod exceeds expectations

FOUR days, one hundred and fifty dancers, three hundred and eighty-two performances and two adjudicators made up the inaugural Ballarat Ballet Eisteddfod last week.

Ninety per cent of competitors represented six local dance schools and took to Federation University’s Founders Theatre stage across classical, neo-classical, lyrical, demi-character, jazz and contemporary sections.

Ballarat Ballet Eisteddfod treasurer Sallee Caldwell said the local field was very strong.

“Ballarat has a really wonderful dance community, and the performers were very competitive. The 16 years and over contemporary was very popular, with a big number of competitors,” she said.

“Overall, a lot of the sections had big audiences. Instead of selling tickets for each session, we allowed competitors to have an unlimited ticket so their friends and family could come to watch whatever section they liked for free.

“It’s the first time we’ve run an eisteddfod as a group, and it really exceeded our expectations.”

The organisers also decided to run the adjudicators’ presentations in a “fresh” way, welcoming competitors back on stage for a short ten-second performance before announcements.

“That made for a really nice atmosphere in the theatre as the audience were really excited to see what the dancers would perform when they came back out,” Ms Caldwell said.

The Eisteddfod’s organisers are currently running a post-comp survey and have collected feedback from more than 50 per cent of participants.

Ms Caldwell said the responses are commonly mentioning the welcoming environment of the comp, and that it was smoothly run.

“Everybody was really happy to be there, from the staff to competitors, parents and guardians,” she said.

“We’re looking forward to 2023 and we plan to expand the eisteddfod to have championship sections, duos and trios, and a novice section to separate the abilities.

“We had 10 percent of competitors from Geelong and Melbourne this year and will look to attract more dancers from those areas. We hope to increase sponsorship support, and offer major prizes.”

Ms Caldwell said the eisteddfod was able to run for the first time with the backing of a City of Ballarat Community Impact Grant.

Organisers are grateful for the support of the dance community, the expertise of adjudicators Kiara Watkin and Donna Lierse, and major sponsor Capezio who “took a chance” on a brand-new comp.

Ballarat Ballet Eisteddfod is a not-for-profit organisation which was established by a local group of friends.