Last week was an unforgettable period in the lives of Mount Gambier dancers Halle and Beau Anderson.
The young sisters have danced for more than a decade and achieved their career-long ambitions of performing on the national level at the Evolution Dance Competition on the Gold Coast.
Despite competing against hundreds of Australia’s best dancers, amazingly their magical moves led to a combined total of six national champion titles throughout the five-day event.
After months of hard work building up to the competition, 15-year-old Halle compiled four national crowns and said she struggled to describe her emotions. “It feels really special to achieve those places,” she said. “The whole event was really cool and I will never forget it,” Halle said.
The slightly younger Beau enjoyed a similar level of ecstasy and said scoring two national titles was the highlight of her career. “They are definitely my biggest achievements, so I was pretty excited,” she said. “I am very proud with how I performed.”
Halle enjoyed incredible success in all five of her on-stage appearances. Her victory in Musical Theatre was inspired by her impressive transformation into a character from the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Halle also had to impersonate during her Open win, where she transformed into a procrastinating bride, who completed high-flying jumps, while wearing a large wedding dress and holding a bouquet of flowers.
Her victorious Jazz routine was much simpler, but her performance to place in the top three of her age group’s Evo Elite championship required more than just dancing.
While completing a dance inspired by the French revolution, Halle also sung Empty Chairs At Empty Tables during a lyrical solo. Beau turned heads in three events and her act to win her Open category and also place in her age group’s Evo Elite championship was particularly stunning.
She portrayed an image of Lady Gaga and danced through the emotions of fame. To add to the theatre, Beau also rolled out a carpet and performed challenging moves around the moving prop, which represents her journey as a celebrity.
The dramatic performance comes to a crashing end as her character became overwhelmed by the pressure of fame. Beau also won Cabaret Jazz with a clean and fast routine and claimed third in the Jazz category after a dance inspired by Broadway.
Their achievements were fitting results after months of dedication, exercise and hard work.
Since qualifying for the event last August, the sisters poured all of their energy into the national event and spent countless hours practicing with coaches Lucy Ellis and Linda Ellis.
They also made regular dancing trips to Adelaide and completed online sessions with Norris Studios from New Zealand.
To ensure they could complete their jaw-dropping moves, Halle and Beau need to maintain a high level of fitness. “Every dance is very physical,” Halle said. “We need to do lots of running, skipping and jumping plus ab workouts, so we can have a strong core to complete moves like turns.
“We also have to do lots of training and stretching to have the flexibility and strength to get through it.” Beau said the competition did test her fitness, but she had enough in the tank to shine each day. “Especially on the day I had three solos, I got pretty tired and drained out,” she said. “But then I wake up and think I just need to push through it all again because the adrenaline keeps you going.”
The two sisters are not just dancing in the dark because their success requires a team effort. Alongside their dancing and singling coaches, mum Tegan Anderson also supports them every step of the way, while grandmother Jayne Downs plays an integral role.
Downs spends around 25 hours creating each eye-catching costume the girls compete in. Unfortunately, the dream week ended on a sour note after the competition was unexpectantly cut short due to an outbreak of coronavirus in Brisbane.
The early finish meant Halle and Beau could not complete the rest of their solos or the Evo Elite Championship grand finals. However, if the sisters eventually get the chance to return to the bright lights of the Evolution Dance Competition, they will certainly represent Mount Gambier with flying colours.
