Selection and Awards for the dancers who will represent Cecchetti Ballet Australia at The Cecchetti International Classical Ballet (CICB) Competition 2024.
For more information about the CICB Competition, visit: https://www.cecchetti.org/cecchetti-competition-2024/
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Congratulations to the
Team Australia Selection
Junior Division
Ella Plichta (WA)
Maya Rose Reynolds (WA)
Misa Titcher (VIC)
Nico Lundqvist (VIC)
Sam McSweeney (VIC)
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Senior Division
Kira Spencer (NSW)
Rebecca Dooley (NSW)
Samantha Wong (NSW)
Junior and Senior Selection at the Team Australia Selection& Awards
With Bloch Representative: Alyssa Hopkins
Melbourne, Victoria - April 2024
Photograph credit: Belinda Strodder
Junior and Senior Selection at the Team Australia Selection& Awards
With Adjudicators: Jayne Beddoe, Simon Dow and Amy Harris
Melbourne, Victoria - April 2024
Photograph credit: Belinda Strodder
Junior and Senior participants at the Team Australia Selection& Awards
Melbourne, Victoria - April 2024
Photograph credit: Belinda Strodder
ADJUDICATORS in Victoria
Jayne Beddoe
Jayne trained under Rhyl Kennell at the National Theatre Ballet School in Victoria and later with Anne Woolliams at The Victorian College of The Arts. Between 1982 and 1984 she undertook further studies with the Australian Ballet School and won the Lucie Saronova and Dame Peggy van Praagh awards. During this time, Jayne toured with the Dancers Company to regional areas.
Jayne joined The Australian Ballet Company in 1985 and over the following 9 years was promoted to Corphee, Soloist and leading Soloist. In 1989 she won the Big Brother Scholarship and travelled to Europe and the USA.
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Since retiring from dancing in 1993 Jayne has been involved with the Cecchetti Ballet Australia, teaching, adjudicating and performing guest roles with The Australian Ballet. Jayne currently coaches and teaches at Glen Iris School of Dance.
Simon Dow
Simon Dow, a former winner of the Cecchetti Medal and graduate of the Australian Ballet School, danced soloist roles with The Australian Ballet before joining the Stuttgart Ballet where he also danced soloist roles.
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Simon joined the Washington Ballet as a principal dancer and shortly afterwards was awarded the Best Partner Award at the Moscow International Ballet Competition. He has choreographed more than fifty original works that have been performed throughout Australia, Japan, China, Thailand, Germany, Italy, France and throughout the U.S. Among these works are five full-length narrative ballets.
In 2023 Simon performed in Alice Topp’s ‘Paragon’ as part of the Identity season to celebrate The Australian Ballet’s 60th anniversary and also performed the title role of Don Quixote in Rudolph Nureyev’s ‘Don Quixote’ with The Australian Ballet.
Amy Harris
Amy was born in Ararat, Victoria and began jazz and tap classes at her local ballet school at the age of three. From the age of ten, Amy trained in the Cecchetti method with Carole Oliver School of Ballet in Ballarat, and as a Cecchetti scholar won bronze and silver medals.
In 1999, aged 15, Amy successfully auditioned for The Australian Ballet School. She joined The Australian Ballet in 2002 and was promoted to coryphée in 2007, soloist in 2011 and senior artist in 2012.
In 2018 she was promoted to principal artist on stage after her performance as Tertulla in the world premiere of Lucas Jervies' Spartacus.
ADJUDICATORS in Western Australia
David McAllister AC
Born in Perth, David McAllister joined The Australian Ballet in 1983 and was promoted to principal artist in 1989. During his time with the company, he danced many principal roles, including those in The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Coppélia, Manon, La Sylphide, John Cranko’s Onegin and Romeo and Juliet; in 1985 he won Bronze at the Fifth International Ballet Competition in Moscow. Throughout his career, David made numerous guest appearances worldwide, dancing with Bolshoi Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, the Georgian State Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre and, in 1992, as part of a Royal Gala performance in London in the presence of the Princess of Wales.
After two decades at the head of The Australian Ballet, at the end of 2020 David embarked on a new freelance career, co-authoring a Memoir with Amanda Dunn titled SOAR and creating a new production of Swan Lake for the Finnish National Ballet. In 2023 David is working with the Royal New Zealand Ballet as Acting Artistic Director and in 2024 will take up the role of Guest Artistic Director with West Australian Ballet.
Kim David McCarthy
Kim was born in Perth and graduated from John Curtin Senior High School. In 1990 he joined the Hamburg Ballet School and in 1991 was accepted into the Hamburg Ballet Company under the direction of John Neumeier. In 1993 he was promoted to Soloist. His principal roles include Armand - Lady of the Camelias, Blue Bird – Sleeping Beauty and Mercutio -Romeo and Juliet and in works by Mats Ek, Lar Lubovitch and Balanchine. Since 2000 has been a sought after stager and guest teacher with dance companies throughout Europe, Asia and America, including Royal Ballet Covent Garden, New National Theatre Tokyo, Universal Ballet, Korea, Compania Nacional Bailado, Portugal, Gothenburg Ballet, L’Opera National de Lyon, Ballet du Marseilles, Staatsballet Hannover, Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, Ballet Teatro Colon, Royal Finnish Ballet.
In 2008 Kim was appointed Classical Ballet Coordinator and Lecturer at WAAPA. During his tenure at WAAPA he has choreographed many works to critical acclaim. The most recent of these have been performed by West Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet and as part of the Asia-Pacific Dance Bridge, Singapore and in Tokyo, Japan.
Dayana Hardy Acuna
Dayana Hardy Acuna completed her training at the National Ballet School Fernando Alonso Academy (Cuba) in 2010. She danced as a Soloist at Ballet Santiago of Cuba, before being promoted to Principal Dancer with the Joburg Ballet in South Africa and then Guest Principal Dancer at Liaoning Ballet (China)in 2017.
Since she joined The West Australian Ballet in 2019, her highlights include the improvised pas de
deux in Aurelian Scannella, Sandy Delasalle-Scannella and David Mack's In-Synch as part
of In-Synch: Ballet at the Quarry, La Bayadere by (Greg Hosman), Dracula and Swan Lake by (Krzysztof Pastor), Take me with You by (Robert Bondara), Sleeping Beauty (Javier Torres), Romeo and Juliet classical version with Joburg Ballet and a contemporary version by (Eduard Clug), Architecture of Hope by (Wubkje Kuindersma), Before Night Fall by (Nils Christe) and more.
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She also had the opportunity to do choreography work, collaborating with another dancer
and performed at Quarry in 2021. Dayana is also a member of the International Dance
Council CID (France).