Australian First Nations ballet student visits Yprinia School in central Australia

Meet Troy Schreiber, a young man who dreams of traveling the world sharing traditional stories through dance.

The 18-year-old has been dancing with The Australian Ballet for at least four years thanks to an ongoing partnership with his Cairns-based dance company, Miriki Performing Arts.

The collaboration recently brought a new twist on Troy’s journey.

“I do Aboriginal training with the Australian Ballet and have been freestyle swimming since I was two,” he said.

The training program was launched in 2020 but paused during 2021 due to the global pandemic.

Jasmine Dwyer, Australian Acting Head of Education and Communication, said the program is for First Nations people who have been students in performing arts or have recently graduated.

“This year, the students work with us for 20 weeks within the Australian Ballet Education and Outreach team, participating in various training, performance and teaching activities in Melbourne,” she said.

Ms Doerr said Troy, who was one of two apprentices this year, has shown great talent and commitment to dance.

“We have shared our passion by sharing the love of dance with young people and the broader community,” she said.

‘Never in my life’

Troy has been working on freestyle dancing at his dance company, where there is a strong focus on fusing Aboriginal stories, dance, and culture with contemporary choreography.

He says he loves to dance because “you can show off your moves and styles.”

However, ballet was a style that Troy never planned to pursue because he thought it was only for girls.

“It’s just something that just came out of nowhere.”

Troy admired male ballet dancers, learned the technique and increased his strength.

He said, “They were really strong, and they jumped high and I thought, ‘Oh, cool. I want to do that “.

Part of his training was to travel with the program to Yipirinya School - Alice Springs School for First Nations Children that promotes a philosophy of bi-directional learning between Western and Aboriginal cultures.

He said he wanted to inspire students and give them hope by seeing a First Nations student with the Australian Ballet.

“If they want to dance and follow along, it’s possible,” Troy said.

He also has dreams of traveling around the world.

“I just love sharing stories,” Troy said.

“If we have a traditional story… you can incorporate it into your contemporary work and then share it with the audience.”

Ballet Barrier Removal

Yprinia School Principal, Gavin Morris, said it is very important for students to be exposed to a high standard of ballet.

“It’s the kind of distinction that we strive to achieve for our children, and that’s what they deserve,” he said.

“I’m sure there are some great ballerinas in our school.”

He added that it could help remove some of the barriers children face if they want to pursue ballet.

“If children show discipline, resilience, and the ability to want to keep going and do that… then my job is to ensure that these barriers are addressed,” Mr. Morris said.

But he added that it may be difficult to ensure continued training.

“It’s important that we don’t have people going in and out, sort of skydiving into the school,” Mr. Morris said.

“We will work with the group to ensure that the programs are left so that we can continue training and then also make sure that we have the human, financial and other resources, to ensure that if these children want to continue, they can.”

Uncover a new world

It’s essential to travel to remote places like Alice Springs where students may not have been exposed to ballet before, said Chantel van der Hoek, senior dance teacher at Australia Ballet.

“This style of dance is something they might have seen on YouTube,” she said.

“Go in and have them be able to touch the miniskirts, see the pointed shoes, and then make the moves themselves and learn about storytelling through dance.”