SHOOTING STARS STAGE RIGHT WORDS JEMMA PEARSON PHOTO KRISTA EPPELSTUN 26 <strong>salt</strong>
Photo Steven Walsh PIROUETTES, FAN KICKS, box steps and plies – they’re all in a day’s work for dancer Libby Hendrie. The 21-year-old’s early years reflect a typical Sunshine Coast upbringing. Her family moved to the region when she was six and she grew up in Noosa, attending primary school at Good Shepherd Lutheran College. But from there, her story moved off script. “After grade seven, I went and did a full-time dance course at Noosa Professional Dance Academy,” Libby says. While she performed at the academy she kept up with her studies through distance education. “I would dance all day from 8.30 in the morning and then have lunch and then dance until about 3.30.” She would then attend more dance classes before getting home at about 9pm. While she didn’t have a ‘normal’ childhood (“I missed out on lots of birthday parties”), Libby says she loved what she was doing and, she adds with a smile, “It kept me out of trouble, I suppose.” Libby returned to school in grade 10 but performing was still a big part of her life. And all that dancing was paying off. Of her return to school, this time at Nambour Christian College, she says, “It was definitely different getting back to assignments and full-time schooling, and I was dancing every night after school. It was a juggle but it taught me lots of discipline.” And yet, talking to Libby, you get a sense that none of it felt like hard work. Clearly she can’t help but dance. When asked if she was that little four-year-old twirling along public paths and shops, Libby laughs. “I think Woolworths has the best floors for practising pirouettes!” She adds, “I’ve got all these photos from when I was six years old and I would wear this big blue tutu and dance along Hastings Street.” Out walking with her family along the famous Noosa boardwalk, she would draw small crowds with her impromptu ballet recitals. As soon as she had graduated from high school Libby’s mum Jo encouraged her to apply for a place at the Brisbane Academy of Musical Theatre (BAMT), the training arm of the Harvest Rain musical theatre company. Along with about 60 or 70 others, Libby was accepted. After that first year, BAMT then invited just 14 performers to come back for a second year. Libby was one of those 14. And after that second year, she was one of the four performers selected to stay on with the company for another year. Libby says that in relation to the triple threat of musical theatre (singing, dancing and acting) it’s dance that most people struggle with. For her, missing all those birthday parties was worth it. She had graduated to being a professional performer and appeared in the company’s show, Hairspray. She says, “Hairspray was a short tour – Brisbane, Newcastle and Adelaide.” The tour may have been short but the cast was huge. The 20 or so professional performers on stage were joined by between 700 and 900 school children and young performers, who came from the city they were performing in. “It was really fun realising I had crossed the line [from amateur performer] to a professional. “ SO FAR I HAVEN’T RUN INTO HUGE EGOS; WE ARE ALL A BIG FAMILY. IN A SHOW, NO ONE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYONE ELSE. ” “The whole idea of these shows is connecting the dreamers with the doers,” she says, adding that she loved interacting with the younger performers in Hairspray. Harvest Rain has helped Libby transition from eager amateur into a busy professional performer. “Now I am touring Australia in the production of Grease, which is also an arena show. I am playing Patty Simcox, the cheerleader. That show will last until next year. It is so exciting to keep going. It’s really hard to crack into the industry.” Once the Grease run, which tours only during the school holidays, is over, Libby will have performed in Newcastle, Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. And when she’s not on the road waving her pompoms in the musical theatre classic, she will be back home. But she’s won’t be resting. “I am still quite busy because I teach musical theatre at a few different places on the Coast. I am co-directing Fiddler on the Roof for the Little Seed Theatre Company. I am also involved in a Tina Turner Tribute show. “It’s good to have too much rather than too little to do.” She wouldn’t be able to do all that work without the support of her family, and other friends and mentors in the industry. “It’s not a competitive industry,” she says. “Sometimes in audition rooms it is tense but so far I haven’t run into huge egos; we are all a big family. In a show, no one is more important than anyone else.” While Libby says she is lucky to have had opportunities come her way, she acknowledges the hard work that got her there. From the little tap-dancing three-year-old in her first dance class to the boardwalk of Noosa and the arenas of the nation’s capitals, what next? “I am taking one day at a time and seeing what auditions come up. I have lots of little things in the works.” She wants to continue connecting with young performers. “I would love to start choreographing and directing musicals in schools. I just love teaching. “There is so much talent on the Coast, it blows my mind. It is on par with Sydney. The Sunshine Coast is really up there. I am really excited to see the arts grow here.” No doubt she will be a valuable part of that growth. <strong>salt</strong>magazine.com.au 27
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