The Australian Ballet School is set to present its first-ever Brisbane performances, with a Coast teen taking to the stage as one of its rising stars.
Peregian Beach local Yamina Yehoshua moved to Melbourne last year to join the Australian Ballet School. She is now at Level 7, which just shy of the highest level of attainment possible in her ballet studies (Level 8).
The 17-year-old trained at The Dance Centre Peregian Springs, where she demonstrated exceptional skills from a young age. At age 10 she was accepted into the Bolshoi Ballet Summer School in New York.
In 2023 she was awarded the Advanced Foundation title at the Royal Academy of Dance Jacqueline Morland Awards and received a scholarship to the Queensland Ballet Academy Transitional Course. She has consistently achieved ballet exam results among the highest internationally and continues to demonstrate exceptional dedication, musicality and technical strength in her training.
Yamina is one of more than 67 full-time students at the school who will dance in the Brisbane debut of NOW, running from Friday to Saturday.
She said it was “just so exciting” to be performing in Brisbane alongside her best friends from the Australian Ballet School. The young ballerina and her contemporaries will take to the stage three times over the two days of performances.
“I have all my family and friends coming to watch me so I feel really proud to share with them all of the hard work and the passion that we put into the art,” she said.
The program will include George Balanchine’s timeless Scotch Symphony, the iconic Entrance of the Shades from La Bayadere and striking contemporary works from leading Australian choreographers.
“I’m really looking forward to performing Entrance of the Shades because even though it’s definitely the most challenging, it’s probably the most rewarding as well,” Yamina said.
“There’s this feeling on stage where you’re surrounded by all these beautiful dancers and you’re all working towards the same goal, which is to bring the magic and the beauty of the ballet to the audience. That really unites us all together and feels really special.
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“My favourite piece to perform, however, is Lyra because I value the message it communicates. Working with choreographer Prue Lang was incredible because she tried to empower us as a group and she mentioned things like she-heroes, people like Simone Biles and women who really own their space and are allowing themselves to grow.
“I think the message that we should take up space in the world and be unapologetically ourselves is a message that deserves to be shared.
“It asks you to go out of your comfort zone and find potential in your body and your dancing and I think that’s really exciting for the audience to be a part of.”
Yamina’s teachers at The Dance Centre Peregian Springs, Deborah Preece-Brocksom and Richard Leader, taught her from a young age about the importance of how to connect with an audience and about sharing the joy of dance.
“I think that’s really what drives my dancing and fuels my passion still to this day, so I’m really grateful for their influence,” she said.
“One of my biggest supporters was another one of my teachers, Gaia Iasi. Gaia taught me so much about the importance of who we are as people and the mental awareness and strength required for this artform.”
Yamina received financial support from ADFAS (now ArtsNational) Noosa Young Arts Committee, which helped fund extra pointe shoes and additional training. She’s also grateful Tutu For You, a tutu hire company on the Coast, allowed her to perform in any of its costumes whenever she needed.
Yamina said she was lucky to have had support along the way from family and friends.
“I was also lucky enough to grow up training besides dancers of all different ages on the Sunshine Coast, one of them being Sophie Donald who is a recent graduate of the Australian Ballet School,” she said.
“Seeing her dedicated work ethic and the love that she put into the art had a very profound impact on me that I still feel now.”
Ultimately Yamina would like to join a professional ballet company but her main goal at present is to keep working on development and the passion she feels for the art, and to be able to keep sharing the joy of dance every day.
“I’m just trusting the training and I know that if I keep working at it and enjoying it, I’ll find the place that’s right for me,” she said.
