After eight months of training on the weekends at Clayfield College, the Intermediate State Calisthenics Team competed at the Australian Calisthenics Federation (ACF) National Championships on July 7.
The Queensland team placed third performing to a Moulin Rouge soundtrack in the Rods section, where dancers manipulated rods synchronised in time with the music to create patterns in the air.
The team’s Head Coach Michele Pink is one of the Principal Coaches at the Rosemore Calisthenics Dance College based in Clayfield, and said she was very proud of the girls.
Ms Pink said: “We went in as the underdogs of the competition, and historically there has been a gap between the level between Queensland and the other states.”
“But this was one of the first years where the response was that the gap has closed, and the girls really were up there at the same levels as the other states.”
The team is made up of members from Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, with the team ranging in age from 12 to 17 years old, up against other teams with predominately 15- to 17-year-old members.
Calisthenics is not as well known in Queensland as it is in other states, but Ms Pink said: “The more girls we can get participating, the more they will realise it is a fantastic sport”.
“Calisthenics is a performance dance sport that incorporates a lot of genres; the girls get to do different routines that are a mix of gymnastics, jazz, ballet, apparatus work, and acrobatics.”
“We like it because there is always something for everybody.”
