OVER 10 years of dancing with the Hamilton Dance Company has come to an end for Ellie Lehmann and Jorja Hermon.

 Sunday night marked their last performance with the studio, with Ellie and Jorja having spent the last 13 and 14 years respectively at Hamilton Dance Company.

 The stage certainly isn’t an unfamiliar place for either of them, with both getting a rush when the warm stage lights hit their skin.

Now, as both girls near the end of Year 12 they are saying goodbye to Hamilton Dance Company and are preparing for the next step in their lives.

Starting their dancing journeys at around four years old, both Ellie and Jorja said they had always admired dance and knew it was a passion worth pursuing.

Reflecting on her first performance with Hamilton Dance Company, Ellie said she remembered being captivated by the older dancers.

“We did Teddy Bear’s Picnic as our first performance and the best part was once the little kids danced, we got to sit down at the back and then watch the big girls,” she said.

“They’re such an inspiration for you when you’re so young as well, so you’re like mesmerised.”

Jorja laughed as she recalled her first dance lesson with Hamilton Dance Company, where she was devastated that she did not have a uniform like the other kids.

“I remember being mad at my mum because I didn’t have my uniform yet and everyone else had their uniform,” she said.

“I had to go in leggings and a t-shirt - I was furious.”

Throughout the years, both girls have performed at annual Eisteddfod’s, regional dance competitions, and the Hamilton Dance Company’s end of year performances which were described as their “grand final”.

Jorja said one stand out performance from her time at Hamilton Dance Company was her partnered duet titled ‘Tears of an Angel’ in 2019, as it was such an emotional dance.

“I loved the dance but I did it over and over … then coming off stage it was really emotional for everyone in the audience … my Mum cried about it,” she said.

“It was incredible to know the impact our dancing can have on an audience.”

Hamilton Dance Company teacher, Kylie Lewis said it would be sad to see the girls move on from the studio, including another Year 12 student, Charlotte McAdam who had also been training there for years, as all girls had devoted themselves to the art of dance.

“They’re artistic athletes,” she said.

“To dedicate yourself for 13 to 14 years to one art form is to be celebrated.

“It’s the dedication that’s involved to show up every week and it’s not just an hour training session.

“I think people don’t realise the demand that artistic sports have because we make it look so lovely and graceful out there and that’s the whole idea.

“Most of the time that’s why kids do it because that’s the challenge of it.

“Dance is one of those things that there is never perfection either which is really good in a way - there’s always something they can work towards.”

Ms Lewis, who took over Hamilton Dance Company from Angela Magill around 10 years ago, said the goal of the company was to not only teach students how to dance and work in the performance industry, but also provide them with life skills.

“For us it’s not about them going on in a (professional) sense, it’s more about that they’ve had an environment where they can express themselves in an artistic form and be part of a family,” she said.

“To see them come from doing pliés to now actually dancing on ladders and spinning around on mirrors and handling pressure - that I think helps them in all avenues of life.

“And it is a good form of discipline.

“I have no doubt that these two girls will go on and have amazing lives past this place and no matter what they want to do they will actually accomplish it.

“I’ve watched them grow and I see what they do (on stage) and it progresses then to life.

“All the skills they get here are just life skills they can use outside, so that’s rewarding and it’s lovely.”

While Jorja has now reached the end of her time at Hamilton Dance Company, her dancing career is just beginning, with her finding out a few months ago that she had been accepted into Transit Dance in Melbourne, to study their two-year Pre-Professional Program in performing arts.

“It’s more of like a school to prepare you for a career in industry,” she said.

“Each week I’ll have three classical classes to keep up technique and they teach us how to tap.

“We also have singing lessons and we do all performing art styles, which is jazz in Broadway and commercial as well as hip hop.

“A lot of their graduates go on to work as dancers on cruise ships or in theme parks and things.

“That would be really fun if I got the chance to do that.”

Jorja said she was very excited by the new opportunity and was over the moon to be preparing to move to Melbourne to begin classes on February 6.

“It’s really nice too because one of the girls who finished (at Hamilton Dance Company) last year started at the same school this year, so I get to move in with her,” she said.

While both girls are excited for the next chapters of their lives, they said it was hard knowing that Sunday evening was their final performance with Hamilton Dance Company.

“We’re going to be in tears at the end of this,” Ellie said leading up to the performance.

“I was nearly in tears last night just thinking about it because it’s been our family and we’ve all really gotten close the last couple of years.”

Ellie said it would be particularly hard knowing she would not be dancing next to Jorja twice a week, saying the two had basically become sisters throughout the last 13 years.

“Even just not coming back to dance on Tuesdays and Wednesdays - that’s sad as well because we’ve gone through a lot together - school, dance, everything,” she said.

“It’s always been nice to come here each week and dance.”

Both Jorja and Ellie said their dancing success was credited to their incredible teachers Kylie Lewis, Angela Magill, and Rachel Huf, whose guidance had led them to where they are today.

“Angela’s really given us a foundation to learn everything else because you need the classical technique to do anything,” Ellie said.

“(Dance) will always be in a close spot to our hearts.”

After training and performing for over a decade, Jorja said she felt prepared for the next step in her dance journey, knowing that she would always have a home at Hamilton Dance Company.

“For me it will always be something I can come back to, even if I do my course and decide I want to go to uni or something, it’s still there,” she said.