Liam Geck's Story —

I was 10 years old when my dance teacher suggested I start ballet as she thought the technique would assist with my jazz, tap and Irish dancing. I decided to go for it and I remember Mum purchasing my first pair of white leather flats. I vividly remember sitting down with my mum as she showed me how to sew the elastics on. I learnt very early on, how important the sewing of elastics can be! When I was still quite young, an hour before an exam, the entire drawstring came out of my flats and I didn’t have another pair to wear. My dance teacher helped me unpick it, rethread the shoes and restitch them. I ended up getting 97 percent in that exam.

I joined the Queensland Dance School of Excellence at 15 and that was when I decided I wanted to pursue ballet as a career. During my time at QDSE I learned some great tips on how to sew my shoes from Janette Mulligan, who is now my Ballet Mistress at QB.

I usually use a pair of flats a week. When we are doing more contemporary pieces I tend to go through more flats due to the different kind of movement. When I wear long tights I like to wear flesh flats and when I wear shorts I like to wear black flats with socks.

My favourite role to perform so far has been Fritz in The Nutcracker, it was the first time that I got to add character to my dancing. Of course I also loved Madam Ginger :)