’I’m buzzing’ Telstra’s $20,000 Ballet Dancer Award goes to Perth 21-year old Lilla Harvey

‘The grind and the work that I have put in every single day for the last 15 years of my life is really being seen,’ says 21-year-old dancer.

Ballet dancers Isobelle Dashwood (left) and Lilla Harvey at Carriageworks in Sydney on Sunday. Both dancers were announced as winners in the 2023 Telstra Ballet Dancer Awards. Picture: Nikki Short

Perth ballerina Lilla Harvey says her soul feels like it’s on fire.

Last night, after her closing performance in George Balanchine’s Jewels at the Sydney Opera House, the 21-year-old corps de ballet dancer was crowned winner of the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award.

“I am buzzing. I think anybody who was at the show or on stage could tell how shocked I was.

“I was not expecting to win,” Harvey said. “The grind and work I have put in every single day for the last 15 years of my life is really being seen. It’s being recognised. Which is all that I really wanted to do through my dance.”

The partnership between Telstra and The Australian Ballet, now in its 39th year, is one of the longest-running arts collaborations in the country. Each year, the competition, considered the most prestigious accolade in Australian ballet, hands out two distinct honours: the Telstra Rising Star Award, which bestows a $25,000 prize upon the recipient, and the Telstra People‘s Choice Award, accompanied by a $15,000 prize.

Queensland soloist Isobelle Dashwood was named the winner of the Telstra People’s Choice Award. Also in the running were Adam Elmes, Riley Lapham, and Katherine Sonnekus.

Winning the Telstra Ballet Dancer Awards has been a career-defining achievement for some of Australia’s most prominent ballet stars. Eleven winners have gone on to become principal artists of The Australian Ballet, something Harvey says is “100 per cent” her topmost ambition. ”You can have the most artistic power and creative licence (as) a principal.

“There’s nothing I want to do more than just have the power to really express myself and impact the audience,” she said.

Harvey, who grew up in Subiaco, Perth, studied at the local Silhouette Dance Studio, which she said gave her a rounded education on dance. It was after a visit to The Australian Ballet in Melbourne at age 11 that ballet became an all-consuming passion. “Entering the building was a huge culture shock,” she recalled. “You feel walking those halls just how sacred ballet was to the people there, as though you were entering a temple. I wanted nothing more than to be a part of it.”

After a period of hardship defined by Covid lockdowns that “stole” performances for which Harvey and her peers had been training for five years, she found renewal in 2021 when she was accepted into The Australian Ballet.

“It‘s everything I could have imagined and more. I feel as if I have grown so much in the atmosphere of the company and being around people who are so kind, inspiring, and passionate. It’s been food for the soul.”

Dashwood, who joined The Australian Ballet in 2016 and in 2021 became the first member of the company to be promoted from corps de ballet straight to soloist rank, says that the prize came “as a real shock” to her.

AB artistic director David Hallberg said: “We see such bright futures in these two dancers … they have both dedicated so much hard work and time to reaching their goals.”