Armidale schoolgirl Annabelle Arkit is set to take to the stage in Prague in June this year for the 2024 Dance World Cup (DWC). The talented 10-year-old was selected after competing in the qualifying competition in Adelaide in January.
Mum, Danielle Arkit, says it’s all been a whirlwind as they busily try to balance Annabelle’s hectic training schedule, school, work and fundraising to make their Prague dreams come true.
“Annabelle is so incredibly dedicated to dance, she’s been dancing since she was three years old, and she trains for around 20 hours every week in dance and gymnastics – she’s such a hard worker,” said Ms Arkit.
Annabelle has been selected in the 10–11-year-old division to perform routines in the lyrical, jazz and acrobatics.
No stranger to competition, Annabelle is a regular on the local eisteddfod trail as well as regularly travelling to Sydney for larger competitions.
“Living in a regional community can get tricky at Annabelle’s level of skill and competitiveness so there’s always a lot of travel,” said Ms Arkit.
“She started out with New England Dance Theatre when she was younger, but we now do online lessons at home, as well as a private teacher that comes out from Inverell.”
“Annabelle also absolutely loves gymnastics and trains at Armidale City Gymnastics Club, she actually told me quite recently she’s got dreams to represent Australia at the 2028 Olympics!”
When asked if she thinks Annabelle has a favourite dance style Ms Arkit said, “She loves them all but her favourite is definitely acrobatics at the moment, but I believe she’s got a lot of potential to be a very strong contemporary dancer, particularly after seeing her recent workshop with Rikki Mason from Bangarra Dance Company.”
On top of all of this, Annabelle is also a self-taught violinist, and is taking on singing this year to pursue other dreams of musical theatre. She also choreographs almost all her own routines and will perform at least two pieces of her own choreography at the DWC.
When asked how they juggle it all, Ms Arkit said, “We just keep going – I work full time, we’re still managing regular schooling at this stage, although we may switch to home schooling depending on her training schedule as she gets older.”
“And we’ve also got my older son at high school and he’s an avid swimmer so we’ve just got to make sure we can manage things when his swimming comps clash with Anabelle’s dance comps.”
“But more than anything we’re also trying to make sure we keep the fun in it all so she doesn’t get burned out.”
Despite her busy schedule, Annabelle has also found the time this year to start a small dance team of her own.
“This was purely her own idea, she started up a little not for profit group of eight girls who wanted to dance but either couldn’t afford it or who’s parents didn’t have the time to take them to dance classes and they’re currently training to perform at the New England Dance Eisteddfod which starts on the 29th of May,” said Ms Arkit.
“I’m so incredibly proud of her. She’s so selfless and is really aiming to be a good role model for other local girls.”
“We’ve always had a family motto of create don’t consume and Annabelle is just the embodiment of that, she works hard at it but she’s also just got this incredible natural creative ability, honestly I find her inspirational.”
The whole family plans to be there to see Annabelle in Prague.
“We’re going over for three weeks, we’ve got to be in Prague for most of the time for the competition but then we’ll also probably try and get to Germany to visit some of the dance schools while we’re there,” said Ms Arkit.
The Arkit family have set up a Go Fund Me page to try and help realise Anabelle’s goals.
“We’ve raised about $1800 so far and we just feel so blessed to have the community supporting us – honestly even the smallest amount means a lot to us,” said Ms Arkit. Donations can be made on Annabelle’s Go Fund Me page and her journey can be followed via her Instagram profile.
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