Ballerina Riley Lapham details the hard work that goes into her job

This dazzling gala program includes a beautiful selection of pas de deux and Swan Lake Variations, a tribute to the beauty of Tchaikovsky.

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The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded in 1962 by J.C Williamson Theatres, with English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and director Dame Peggy van Praagh as founding artistic director.

In 1964 the Australia Ballet School was founded, envisioned by Dame Peggy van Praagh.

Since she was six years old dancer Riley Lapham has lived and breathed ballet.

"I joined the company in 2019," she said.

" I graduated from the Australian Ballet School, which feeds into the Australian Ballet Company. When you graduate a selection of us are selected to come on board with the ballet, and I was chosen which was super exciting.

"The thing I love most about ballet is the music. Growing up I played the flute and then it got to a point where I had to choose either ballet or flute and ballet won."

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Ms Lapham said that studying and performing ballet was a journey and an infinite challenge, with no destination.

"I love being challenged everyday and constantly learning and problem solving. I feel a sense of achievement and growth very satisfying and inspiring," she said.

"It's hard on our bodies, especially regional tours as we don't set up in one place for a long period of time. We are always on the go.

"The tours are quite long and we need to find ways to stay inquiry free don't require much equipment as we are living out of travel bags and suitcases.

"Using the pool at the hotel instead of an ice bath is a great hack and using stretch bands and weights to keep up bodies limber and fit."

Much like every other artistic industry, the ballet scene was hit hard by the effects of COVID.

"We didn't perform for nearly two years, we missed both of our major Sydney seasons," she said.

"2020 we didn't perform at all. It was challenging. You can't work from home as a ballerina. The space at home does not lend itself at all for what we need to do.

"It became dry and boring class at home, it made us realise how exciting performing is and it's the whole point of what we do. Not being able to connect with the other dances made us realise how big of a role that plays in the joy we get as ballet dancers."

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With the Australian Ballet's Regional Tour the performances are varied each show in terms of who performs what section.

"The shows vary from city to city but my Launceston performance I will be doing include the La Bayadère Pas D'action and I'll also be doing a new creation from Lucas Jervies called The Vow , which is a 30 minute narrative ballet in which I play the bride," she said.

"The story is about a wedding and my ex turns up uninvited and it's about the ambiguity of love and about the idea of having feelings for past lovers. It's very-much an Australians wedding."

She said she still gets nervous before every show, but finds a sense of freedom once she begins.

"The whole point isn't to refine or scrutinise yourself. It's purely to give the audience a good time and I find that preformative aspect of it the most fun," she said.

"We often cross paths with audience members after a show who you can tell who hasn't been to a ballet before and they give us the most lovely compliments.

"It's easy to forget sometimes that apart from the technical aspect of the show and if we thought we could have done better, there is someone in the crowd who was utterly amazed at what we can do and that is always the best feeling."

As elite athletes, Ms Lapham said that the hardest part of the job is the toll it takes on their bodies.

"It can be really relentless and tiring, we still have to come in and dance pretty much everyday

"Personally I struggle mentally with being perfect. Not ever looking back and seeing how far you have come but nit-picking the things you could have done better, it's always important that we remember we are only human and we are not perfect."

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The Australian Ballet will perform on July 27 at the Princess Theatre. For tickets visit the Theatre North website.

The ballet are also running a 'Class on Tour' experience on July 27 from 11:30 at the Earl Arts Centre. It is an in-theatre view of their training, with commentary by artistic staff. For this bookings are required and can be made through Theatre North.

Following their show in Launceston, the ballet heads to Hobart on July 29 and 30, before heading to Bendigo, Mildura, Broken Hill, Darwin and Alice Springs.

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