Meet Riley Fitzgerald

Studied: New Zealand School of Dance.
Presently: Sydney Dance Company.

Did your original career aim change by the time you graduated?

I had great ambition to become a dancer with the Sydney Dance Company. In 2016, when I was at the VCA Secondary School, I saw SDC perform for the first time and was in awe of the athleticism and physicality that was on display. 

Did anything that first looked like a setback turn out to be an opportunity instead?

Through a lot of trial and error over the years, I’ve discovered that our paradigms, the lens through which we see the world, often shape our reality.

During training, when the workload is particularly high, the body can become tired and more susceptible to injury, forcing us to stop or reduce load in order to recover. For me, particularly when I was younger, this was a challenging concept to grasp as dancing all the time was (and still is) the priority.

Whether you’re a student or a professional, an injury often feels like a setback as it stops you from doing what you love for a period of time. The frustration can sometimes be overwhelming but ultimately it’s essential to see your progress and development as a dancer over the long term.

I learnt to take each injury as an opportunity, not only to learn and grow but to recharge and reorient my goals. What is important to you as an artist becomes a fundamental part of the process.

NZ school of Dance’s strength lies in its ability to guide and coach students through adversity, always striving to support students in preparing them for life not only as a dancer but as a well-rounded individual in society.