Dancing dream one step closer

Ari Thompson has been accepted into the Australian Ballet School.

Sarah Harvey

AT THE tender age of 15, Coalfalls dancer Ari Thompson is ready to leave home and follow his career path in Victoria.

His mother Sharen says ballet is his first love.

“He wants to be a dancer – he doesn't want to do anything else,” she said.

Ari was earlier this month accepted into the Australian Ballet School after a gruelling round of auditions in Brisbane and Melbourne.

“It was exhausting,” he said.

“They had 28 kids from around Australia in Melbourne.”

Shayne McCormick Ballet Centre director Shayne White, Ari's teacher, said she was “pretty pleased” that another of her star pupils was making the trek down south.

“The ballet school is where they all aspire to be,” she said.

“There they all want to be professional dancers.

“He's still got a long way to go, but he's got the potential to do really well. He's got the right attitude, and the love of it.

“I've pushed him pretty hard.”

Ms White's former student Rudy Hawkes is currently performing lead roles with the Australian Ballet Company.

Ari made a late start into ballet just three years ago, after taking lessons in jazz and tap from the age of 10.

He's achieved enormous success with Latin American ballroom dancing, says Mrs Thompson.

“He was named the national ballroom champion in Canberra in June,” she said.

“He and his partner have just come back from the New South Wales Open – they came second and third there.

“He's got really strong performance skills after doing eisteddfods in Ipswich since he was a little boy.

“He's also done speech and drama since he was three. All those performance skills translate from one to another.”

Described as a ballet “prodigy” a year ago, Ari had successfully auditioned for a Ballet Theatre of Queensland production.

The challenge for Mrs Thompson is keeping Ari interested in his school work as he pursues his main passion, namely a ballet career.

He's excited about his Australian Ballet School acceptance.

“I was very happy. That's what I want to do,” he said.