Developing PRIMA Ballerinas

She is Mount Gambier’s undisputed dancing queen. Her own dancing career was outstanding and she has been passing on her knowledge to father who also loved performing and being on stage, the pull to the performing arts was incredibly strong.

“One of the top teachers in year of developing dancers in the Limestone Coast but those celebrations also had to go on hold.

Ballet, jazz and tap are the subsequent generations of dancers ever since. Maxine Lockwood has done it all and seen it all. From Mount Gambier to London and back again it was as a two and a half year old in 1962 that Maxine’s dance education began, working with Zelda Parker, and it has consumed her life from that point on.

Maxine was also a trailblazer. While it is reasonably common for parents to ferry their talented kids, whether it be for sport of performing arts, to major metropolitan centres for extra trainings and more elite opportunities, it was anything but in the 1960s and 70s. Maxine and her parents broke that mould, though, with the promising young dancer heading to Adelaide for dance lessons, before moving to the South Australian capital city permanently after two years of high school, to study ballet full time. And it was a bold move that paid dividends with Maxine, as a 16 year old, accepted into the Royal Ballet School in London.

 “…it was a great experience. I started in the middle of the school year which made things difficult as well but I really did love it…” Maxine Lockwood

It saw the Mount Gambier born ballerina head to the UK on her own to take up such a prestigious and rare opportunity for an Australian dancer.

It set up a 12 months she will never forget as she rubbed shoulders with the best rising talent in the world and learned from some of dancing’s most revered teachers.

Not to say it wasn’t also a challenging 12 months for a teenager on her own on the opposite side of the world to everyone and everything she knew. Even in 2022, it would be a rare adventure for a teenager to undertake – most regionally based talents move within the borders of Australia and are usually well and truly finished school before any overseas opportunities are explored.

“I was very homesick in London,” Maxine said. “But it was a great experience. I started in the middle of the school year which made things difficult as well but I really did love it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maxine’s time at the Royal Ballet School was a five day a week commitment, with her days staring at 8.30am. There were ballet classes, pointe work, pas de deux classes and a raft of other skill development to fill each day.

“It was different every day,” Maxine said. And she was clearly good enough to be there, gaining the highest mark for her solo at the end of year assessments, performing as the Black Queen in Checkmate. In the end, Maxine’s greatest enemy was her height- she was 5”2 and 5”4 was considered the ideal height. For Maxine, ballet literally became a game of inches.

And as enriching as the London experience was, from a financial point of view, as well, it was only ever a short term opportunity and Maxine returned to Australia.

She investigated other dancing opportunities, including cruise ships, but felt contemporary wasn’t where her skill or passion lay, but having grown up with a mother training her to be a ballerina and a Adelaide suggested I try getting into teaching and as soon as I started doing that, I knew this was what I wanted to do,” Maxine said, completing two years of study to gain her teaching qualifications.

She spent a year in Millicent taking over that dance school before setting up her own school – Maryke Dance Academy.

That was 37 years ago and she had 32 students in those early days when her studio was in the former Arthur’s Studio, an iconic local photography business.

After two years she moved to the Commonwealth Bank building and then to her current home on Pine Hall Avenue at Suttontown.

In a twist of fate, Maryke Dance Academy hit its peak enrolments at the beginning of 2020 and then COVID hit and dance school were one of those had hit areas along with gyms and hospitality that were shutdown longer and with more intense restrictions that so many other industries.

That was also the year Maxine was set to celebrate her 35th main genres on offer and just as Maxine has seen her passion for tap exceed all other dancing options, so, too, it has become the most popular of the classes at her respected dance academy.

Ballet will always be a mainstay though – it such a critical foundation for any dancer, whether they want to perform Swan Lake or the latest hip hop number.

“Once you’ve done ballet, the footwork, the legs and other techniques flow into jazz,” Maxine said. “The arm lines in ballet also complement tap and jazz. You can tell if a dancer hasn’t done ballet. It also develops a dancer’s overall strength.”

Despite the fact ballet consumed Maxine’s formative years, she understands the discipline of ballet can be challenging for young dancers.

“There is so much to remember and so many exercises to master,” she said.

But just as she had the will and passion to perfect those ballet fundamentals and see how far she could take her dancing, so, too, she has had exceptionally talented students that she has been able to develop and nurture and go on to significant careers.

Rachel Walsh ended up at the Queensland ballet and is still involved in the Sunshine State, while Lisa Robinson ended up in Toronto, while Luke Ingham was initially part of the Australian Ballet and has also danced in the United States.

“I have also had a few other dancers move to Queensland and New South Wales and start their own schools,” Maxine said.

And she has another potential star under her tutelage with Holly Allison making her mark on the national stage (see breakout box for Holly’s story).

Holly was one of three Maryke Dance Academy students to recently excel in their Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dance exams.

“They were major exams – they were the difference between being at primary school to high school,” Maxine said. “The girls were with me three or four times a week working towards their exams and I was ecstatic with the results.”

Chelsea received a highly commended; Bessie Leake secured honours plus, which means she scored in the 95-100 bracket and Holly topped the State, accepting her award while dancing at a showcase in Adelaide.

Maryke Dance Academy is ser to showcase its latest crop of talented dancers at its annual concert at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre

– the 36th time Mount Gambier’s premier theatre space has hosted the showcase – Friday, December 16 at 7pm and Saturday, December 17 at 2pm. Tickets are on sale now for the two concerts titled A Christmas Dream.