There won't be a dry eye in the house when the Illawarra ballet community farewells one of its own and honours the lifetime achievements of its doyenne.
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Ballet prodigy Riley Lapham, 14, will perform for the Beverley Rowles School of Dance for the last time when she dances the lead role of Kitri in the school's gala anniversary production of the classic Don Quixote.
Riley is leaving her home town to move to Melbourne to take up a full-time position with the Australian Ballet School.
She is one of an elite group of students chosen from hundreds of hopeful applicants, internationally and nationwide, for a spot in the program which produces the country's best ballet dancers.
"It's definitely a dream come true," said Riley, who will also say goodbye to her St Mary Star of the Sea College classmates at the end of the school term.
"I've dreamt about it since I was little but I never thought it would happen."
The Don Quixote performance at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre will be dedicated to the influential Beverley Rowles, who is celebrating 55 years of teaching from the family's Corrimal studio, known affectionately as the "tin shed".
Mrs Rowles, 76, established the school on her return from an international ballet career, which started when she won a prestigious scholarship, at the age of 16, to attend the Royal Ballet School in London.
"It's my life - the most beautiful and wonderful thing," she said of the art form which she began practising as a small child.
Mrs Rowles's influence on young dancers and her enduring legacy is as strong today as it has ever been.
"I wouldn't be the dancer or the person I am today without Mrs Rowles and her family," said Riley.
Perhaps the most emotional person during the two Don Quixote performances on December 19 and 20 will be Marshall Rowles, Mrs Rowles's son and Riley's teacher.
Mr Rowles, who is a product of the Australian Ballet School, runs the Corrimal studio with wife Amie.
Mr Rowles said Riley, who started ballet lessons in the "littlies" class with Amie when she was six years old, was an extraordinary talent.
"I'm going to miss her," he said. "She has the world at her feet. She has huge potential to become a world-class dancer."
Saying goodbye to the popular ballerina will be moving for Mr Rowles, yet so too will be paying tribute to his mother's lifetime of work and passion.
"She has touched so many lives, and the ballet community wouldn't be what it is today without her," he said.
