By ALESHA CAPONE
A YOUNG ballerina from Williamstown is set to shine on the international stage when she competes in the world’s most prestigious student ballet competition.
Sixteen-year-old Kiely Groenewegen has been accepted into the Prix de Lausanne, which will take place in Switzerland next year.
More than 250 teenage dancers auditioned for the contest and Kiely was one of five Australian girls who made the final cut for the prestigious competition.
“Getting into the Prix was the best thing,” Kiely said. “When I started I didn’t think I’d get anywhere with it.
“Mum woke me up at 3.30 in the morning when she got the e-mail and when she told me I thought I was still dreaming,” she said.
“I think I was more shocked than anything because I didn’t really believe it.”
Kiely said she hoped competing in the Prix would help her gain entry to a European dance school and later on, a ballet company.
Presently Kiely is studying a Diploma of Dance at the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet.
She gets up at 6am to take public transport to the studio, where she dances six days a week before heading home to do her school work via distance education.
Before starting at the conservatoire, Kiely attended the West Pointe Ballet Academy in Williamstown and Westbourne Grammar School.
Kiely said she has been dancing since she was three years old.
“When I was 10 or 12 I thought, ‘I could do this full-time and get paid for it and that would be amazing’,” she said.
Kiely will perform the principal role of the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty at the Arts Centre Melbourne on Tuesday 11 December at 7.30pm and Wednesday 12 December at 1.30pm and 7.30pm.
