Alexander Idaszak's Story —

My first pair of ballet flats were a hand-me-down pair from my older brother John-Paul. My mum has loved ballet her entire life and enrolled me and my two brothers in dance from an early age. Until I was 16 years old my ballet, jazz and tap shoes were always hand-me-downs from my brother. When I turned 16 I became more focused and decided that ballet was what I wanted to do as a career, from this moment on I got my own pairs of flats!

My mum used to sew my elastics, but as I progressed as a dancer I decided I wanted to learn how to do it myself. It used to take me an hour to sew one pair, but now it only takes 10-15 minutes.  I like to sew two pieces of elastic together and then wrap it around my foot.

During rehearsals I tend to prefer black flats because I like to wear black socks and long tights, the black flats ensure I have a nice leg line. My flats normally last around two weeks, I use them for as long as I can as I like a really worn in shoe,  I feel I can work through my feet a lot better. I find when flats are brand new they are harder to dance in and I can get cramps in my feet.

To my mum’s delight, my brothers and I all continued with ballet. John-Paul was a professional ballet dancer with Australian Ballet, my younger brother Daniel is still studying and hopes to become a professional dancer and I’ve been dancing professionally now for three years. In my first year at Queensland Ballet I had the privilege to perform the principal role of Albrecht in Giselle. This is still the favourite role of my career: not only was it technically challenging but I was required to act and truly delve into the character who has a tragic yet romantic end.