Levi Miller’s ‘one in a million’ feet have the ballet world in a spin
TWELVE-year-old Penrith ballet dancer Levi Miller has “gorgeous” feet, according to his teachers. And those feet have helped him into The Australian Ballet’s training program.
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CRANEBROOK ballet dancer Levi Miller is following in the pointe steps of Penrith’s Steven McRae, currently the principal of The Royal Ballet UK.
Twelve-year-old Levi — lauded by his dance teachers for his “gorgeous feet” — has just been invited into The Australian Ballet School’s prestigious Interstate Training Program.
It’s hard enough to stay grounded with that news, let alone having the chance to see Australia’s premier ballet company perform right on his own doorstep in Penrith on Saturday.
“My favourite was the Le Corsaire pas de deux (dance duet),” Levi excitedly told the Penrith Press. “I liked how high the boys jumped.”
Dance teacher Natalie Brock, of Penrith’s Dance Avenue studio, where Levi has trained since he was four, said they had high hopes for Levi.
“He has the perfect pointe,” she said, adding “his feet are one in a million.”
The studio’s director, Jessica Berry, said he was a “very intelligent dancer” and “brilliant turner”.
Levi is part of a growing legion of ballet dancers in the Penrith region, an area described by The Australian Ballet’s executive director Libby Christie on Saturday night as having the largest number of ballet schools per capita nationally.
“We had a huge turnout from our Dance Avenue families (on Saturday),” Ms Berry said.
“It’s very inspiring for the young generation of dancers to see them come out here.”
More than 12,000 people registered for Saturday’s event, including from interstate.
Huge crowd for @TheAusBallet 'Ballet Under the Stars' in Penrith tonight. Supporting the arts in western Sydney. pic.twitter.com/pL9Vau2Thm
— Stuart Ayres (@stuartayresmp) November 5, 2016
The Australian Ballet’s artistic director, David McAllister, remarked on the night that it may have been the largest audience The Australian Ballet had ever performed for.
He joked on the night that it would be “a step down” for the dancers to perform at the Sydney Opera House after performing on a lake in Penrith.
Under an arrangement secured by the NSW Government, The Australian Ballet’s annual free outdoor community program, Ballet Under the Stars, will be presented exclusively in Penrith for the next three years, potentially injecting over $1.3 million into the local visitor economy.
The 2016 program included the world premier of a pas de deux based on Spartacus created by Lucas Gervais especially for the Penrith event, as well as Act II of choreographer Stephen Baynes’ Swan Lake, performed after the sun set on the picturesque Penrith Lakes.
Levi said he aspired to one day be the dancer portraying the handsome young Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake.
“I liked how high they (the male) dancers jumped, and how much control they had when they lifted the girls,” said Levi, who trains 10 hours a week after school.
Levi will attend The Australian Ballet Interstate Training Program, for students aged 8 to 13, during the 2017 school holidays in Melbourne.
He placed first, from 60 dancers, in the lyrical section of the 2016 McDonald’s City of Sydney Performing Arts Challenge, and was a finalist in the classical section in the Challenge.
He is also the pre-teen winner of the 2016 Hollywood Bound Regional Dance Championships, and will compete in the nationals in Sydney in 2017.
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