Gympie dancer lives her dream

SOPHIE Mackay has made her first step towards a career as a professional dancer after being accepted into the Queensland School of Dance Excellence.

SOPHIE Mackay has made her first step towards a career as a professional dancer after being accepted into the Queensland School of Dance Excellence.

The 15-year-old is only the second Gympie girl to be accepted into the prestigious school.

The first was Tracey Heilbronn, who went on to study at the Australian Ballet School and danced with the Queensland Ballet.

The Saint Patrick’s College student will move to Brisbane next year to do her senior years at the dance school.

She will endure a rigorous training and study regime that will see her dance from 8am to 12pm Monday to Saturday and do normal school lessons at Kelvin Grove High school from 1pm to 4pm Monday to Friday.

Sophie will learn all facets of dancing including contemporary, jazz, lyrical, jazz and classical ballet.

Her dance teacher, Michelle Weber from Dance Academy Cooloola, said the young dancer had plenty of talent.

“She is a ballet dancer, but just received honours in her modern jazz 7 exam. That’s really good for a ballerina.”

Her audition to get into the prestigious school involved dancing in front of six adjudicators with all the other dancing hopefuls from around the state.

“Everyone was really good and it was exciting to get picked,” she said.

Sophie has been dancing since she was three and has dreamed of becoming a professional dancer.

“I would like to do dance overseas – perform and entertain people,” she said.

Sophie loves to dance but is a little worried about moving to Brisbane.

“I am excited about dancing all the time, but I am scared about moving away from home.”

The teenager will be boarding with a family who also has a daughter in the school.

Sophie says she would love to enter TV dance show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and hopes Gympie people would vote for her if she made the show.

Originally published as Gympie dancer lives her dream