For most energetic tweens, a broken arm is generally a disaster, so when 10-year-old Benjamin Anderson accidentally fell off his dad’s boat trailer and snapped his arm in two places, his mum assumed his sporting days were over.
“It was such a horrible break – he snapped the bone above his elbow and needed pins to put it back together, so we really thought that would be the end of sport for Ben,” his mum, Katherine, explains.
Instead it was quite the opposite – the broken arm presented an unexpected sliding doors moment that is leading Ben to certain stardom.
Now 13, the Newcastle teen has just joined The Australian Ballet School. Over summer, he packed his bags and headed to Melbourne to board at Marilyn Rowe House, providing a home away from home for promising young dancers from all over Australia.
“We are still pinching ourselves,” says Katherine, who credits Ben’s orthopaedic surgeon for the change of fortunes. As Ben’s cast was coming off in 2013, the surgeon suggested that Ben take up swimming or dancing to help restore strength. Ben was ecstatic. He’d done some dance classes when he was younger and loved them, but had given dance away because he was teased.
“It was silly kid stuff,” Katherine explains. “Kids at school would say, ‘Dancing’s for girls’, that kind of thing, so he stopped dancing because he was embarrassed, but he’d always loved it. Every time music came on at home, he was wiggling his bum and dancing around – he danced around the house endlessly. When they suggested dance to help heal the arm, he jumped at it.”
Katherine enrolled him in the local Newcastle Ballet School and almost straight away his teacher identified something special in the statuesque young man. Within weeks, he was on stage performing and his teachers suggested he head to Sydney for The Australia Ballet’s boys open day at
the Sydney Opera House.
“I thought it would either deter him, seeing how hard it was, or it would cement his passion and I was keen to see which way he went,” Katherine says. “Of course, he was completely engrossed. The first thing he said to me afterwards was, ‘Why aren’t I doing exams? I need to do more’.”
The talented teen says the moment he walked through the doors of the Opera House, a fire in his belly that had been simmering for many years was “totally reignited”. He returned to Newcastle with a steely determination to apply himself. It was clear very quickly that he had extraordinary talent, so when an opportunity arose to audition for The Australian Ballet School, he seized it.
“We didn’t think The Australian Ballet School would even look at him because he was so young,” Katherine says, “but he was accepted and he now has the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Photography by Eamon Gallagher. Styling by Bianca Lane.
Ben is living in Melbourne, the youngest boarder at the newly opened Marilyn Rowe House. Each day, he juggles a punishing schedule of academic school work at the Victorian College of the Arts, followed by between two and five hours of dance practice at the ballet school.
Marilyn Rowe House accommodates 37 young dancers and Ben shares a room with six boys of a similar age. The elite program provides each student with a team of professionals including a nutritionist, psychologist and physios, to support them.
There’s no sneaky trips to McDonald’s or weekends in front of the TV for these kids – they work six days a week, following a strict diet and fitness regimen, to keep their growing athletic bodies in the best shape.
Aside from missing his dog, his mum’s lasagne and playing Xbox with his “cheeky” younger brother, Tim, Ben says he couldn’t be happier.
“I didn’t stop smiling at all on my first day here. I was so excited and grateful – it was an amazing feeling and I met a whole group of people just like me. It wasn’t easy leaving home, it would be great to give Mum hugs and kisses every day, but it’s worth the sacrifice to be here.
“I take it a day at a time and I’m having as much fun as I can. Everyone in the residence is very driven and it’s really cool being with people who share the same passion.”
Ballet is not Ben’s only talent. He was a gifted soccer player, asked to try out for the rep team, a dedicated sailor and although he should be at Year 8 level academically, he has been completing school work for Year 9, a year head of his peers.
He is astoundingly eloquent for his age and oozes passion for dance, peppering our conversation with chat about the pas de deux, mastering the tendu and his goal to conquer a triple pirouette in each class.
“I’m happy when I have a goal to work towards,” he says, adding without a hint of child-star pretentiousness, “a lot of kids in my age group are immature. I try to rise above it – I want to be different.”
“He’s always been an amazing young man,” Katherine says. “He has such focus and discipline. I’ve never had to ask him to try hard, he just gives everything he does 110 per cent. He is totally driven and if he has his mind set on something, nothing will stop him from reaching his goal. He loves ballet and he wants to be the best.”
It’s very easy to liken Ben to the loveable Billy Elliot from the famous film. Like Billy, Ben’s dad was initially reluctant for his son to follow a dancing path, but Ben says he is now his greatest supporter.
“We are just a normal family,” Ben says. “Dad came around to the idea of me moving to Melbourne pretty quickly because he could see what an amazing opportunity this was for me. He’s coming down to Melbourne to visit me in a few weeks – I can’t wait to see him.”
There is little doubt that Ben has the ability to follow in the footsteps of renowned Australian ballet stars such as David McAllister and Li Cunxin, and he says his goal is to be on stage with The Australian Ballet, “even if it’s just for one performance”.
“Dancing makes me feel good,” Ben says, “it makes me happy.”
This story originally appeared in the March 2016 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
