A TASTE of life on the big stage has Warrnambool dancer Keela Moloney-Smith hungry for more.
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Keela, 14, has returned from a sojourn to the US with heightened ambitions to make a career out of dancing.
The talented Emmanuel College year eight student spent two weeks attending classes at the world famous Joffrey School of Ballet in New York.
The visit was part of a scholarship she won at the the Victorian Dance Festival in February.
“After my time in New York, I have realised I would like to be part of a ballet or contemporary dance company,” Keela said.
“It was very intense but very exciting and I learnt so much.
“I had some amazing instructors and learnt different techniques with ballet, jazz, hip-hop and contemporary.”
Keela, who is a member of Melissa’s Dance Elements in Warrnambool, was among a number of international dancers in her Joffrey school classes.
The rest of the class was made up of dancers from across the US, who had auditioned to win their spots.
While in New York, Keela also took the chance to see as much as she could of the city.
This included going to see a Broadway show, a performance by Misty Copeland at the Lincoln Centre and the American Ballet show Whipped Cream.
“New York is an incredible place, we did all the tourist things, Central Park, the Rockefeller Centre,” she said.
“It was a long trip over there but it was all worth it.”
Keela has another offer on the table in the US to expand her skills base.
She was successful in a hip-hop competition in Melbourne late last year, with first prize being another scholarship.
This scholarship is for a week’s tuition at a leading dance school in Los Angeles.
Melissa Dance, from Melissa’s Dance Elements in Warrnambool, said the time in New York would be a valuable learning experience for Keela.
“It certainly has been a great confidence boost for Keela and has opened her eyes to what she could achieve,” Ms Dance said.
“Keela is an incredibly hard worker and I have seen so much growth in her over the past 12 months.
“She continues to push herself as hard as she can and you can see improvement is coming at a rapid rate because of that.”
