The finals of the Ballet Teachers' Workshop were in a different format than usual this year, in response to the difficulties of holding the event through Covid restrictions.
Lockdowns prevented the second day of auditions from going ahead, some sections had to be cancelled, and the semi finals and finals were rescheduled three times. But the organisers forged ahead, and the semi's and finals were finally held on January 23 at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School in Melbourne.
There were 558 entrants from 48 ballet schools, with ten finalists chosen for each section. Because of the difficulties of learning and practising a performance dance, the students learned two set enchainements.
Also, sadly, due to a very small enrolment for the Paul Hammond Award (for boys), that section was combined with the Mabel Pryde Memorial Scholarship.
The adjudicator for Sections B and C was Amy Harris. The adjudicator for section D and the Paul Hammond/Mabel Pryde combined section was Benedicte Bemet. Both are Principal Artists with the Australian Ballet.
The lucky winners were
Section B aged 9-10 (prize pool $2,250)
1st Eve Vlahodimos (Melbourne Academy of the Arts)
2nd Lucy Paxman (Kerry Moore School of Ballet)
3rd James Hann (Melbourne Institute of Dance)
Section C aged 11-12 (prize pool of $3,200)
1st Caitlyn Martin (Expressions Ballet Academy)
2nd Mia Antoniou (Melbourne Academy of the Arts)
3rd Elise Huynh (Glen Iris School of Dance)
Section D aged 13-14 prize pool of$4,500
1st Manon Baranger (Melbourne Academy of the Arts)
2nd Madison Sparkman (Kerry Moore School of Ballet)
3rd Mantraa Rane (Melbourne Academy of the Arts)
Paul Hammond/Mabel Pryde aged 15 and above prize pool of $5,000
1st LilySophia Dashwood (The Jane Moore Academy of Ballet)
2nd Charlotte Booth (Glen Iris School of Dance)
3rd Jasmine Jordan (Dance School of Distinction).
Auditions for this year's BTW are planned for May 22 and 29 and June 5. The finals will be held on August 28.