Dancer’s week of tragedy, triumph

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 12

Dancer’s week of tragedy, triumph

It has been a week of tragedy and triumph for a young Christchurch ballet dancer, Adrian Burnett. Earlier this week the dancer, aged 16, who studies in Melbourne, had to make an unexpected trip back to Christchurch after his father died in a car accident. On Wednesday he was one of 12 persons to win a national Young Achievers’ Award. Winning the Australian Guarantee Corporation’s Young Achievers’ Award will mean that Mr Burnett has the finance to complete his final year at the Australian Ballet School. He has been studying in Melbourne for three years. His final year was in jeopardy because of financial restraints. Details of prize-money received by the 12 winners were not re-

leased, but a spokesman said a total of $115,000 was distributed. Mr Burnett said he was pleased to have won the award. “I’m really happy that I got the finance I needed.” The artistic director of the Australian Ballet Foundation, Ms Maina Gielgud, spoke highly of the young dancer. “It is obvious that Adrian could become one of the outstanding classical dancers of his generation if he is given the right opportunities and continues his hard work and total commitment to dance,” she said. At the end of the next year, Mr Burnett will graduate with a diploma in dance. He then hopes to join a professional company. Meanwhile, he has to

get through this week. After attending his father’s funeral this morning he will fly back to Melbourne at the end of the week to take part in final rehearsals for the school’s graduation performance. He was one of two Christchurch persons to receive awards. Ceri Evans, a medical student and member of the All Whites soccer team, won an award in the academic category. He plans to spend 12 weeks in the United States taking a skeletal-ortho-paedic course and to study under an orthopaedic surgeon. He is interested in the treatment of soft-tissue injuries and improving sports performance from a medical point of view. He has an impressive

academic record. He captained the New Zealand under 19 All White soccer team for two years and played for New Zealand from 1983 to 1985. The awards were announced by the Minister of Recreation and Sport, Mr Moore r at a ceremony at the Beehive yesterday. Other winners included Susan Roper, an operatic

soprano, of Auckland; Tania Paterson, a springboard diver, of Hamilton; Glen Wilson, a squash player of Upper Hutt; John Irvine a Finn Class yachtsman of Dunedin; Andrea Thomas, a fashion designer of Wellington; Gavin Lovegrove, a javelin thrower, of Hamilton; Lisa Vasil, a disabled writer, of Taihape; and Patrick Cooper, a disabled skier, of Ohakune.