Dancer awarded top accolade

A BALLARAT-based dancer was awarded the highest honours in her chosen field of calisthenics earlier this week.

After two years of exams, Kaitlyn Brown received a gold medal from Calisthenics Victoria during the organisation’s CaliChamp Senior State Championships event at St Kilda’s Palais Theatre on Sunday.

She said it was an incredible honour to achieve the accolade.

“It’s a huge achievement and not one many people get because it’s very challenging,” she said. “I think it’s something a lot of people in calisthenics strive for.

“It was an amazing feeling to be able to achieve that, knowing the hard work I’ve put in has paid off.

“To achieve the gold, I had to perform different dance steps at a higher level than what’s usually taught in class.”

Undertaking the exam for the gold medal in July at Ashwood’s Ceres Calisthenics Club, Brown was assessed on five dance routines, three of which were self-choreographed.

She was awarded credit plus with a completion score of 89 per cent.

Performing calisthenics since she was six years old, she’s been involved with Studio Arc Dance School throughout her near-two-decade journey, and began her exams a year into her practice.

Learning under the institution’s principal coach and owner Jane Lovison, Brown said earning the top gong in Calisthenics Victoria’s medal program has been a longtime goal of hers.

“I’d heard it was an amazing achievement so I always just worked through my exams up until I was about 17,” she said.

“Once I got to working on my bronze medal, I knew I really wanted to progress through them.”

Over the years, Brown has also represented Victoria as part of the state’s juniors team in the National Championships, earned a Certificate III in Dance, and has numerous coaching qualifications.

She previously received the bronze and silver medals in 2022 and 2023 respectively.