Shining Bright since 1993

The Solo Competition was founded in 1993 and run by the Ballarat Calisthenic College until the closure of the club in 2005.  It then became a Committee run, not for profit competition.

In 2005 we returned to the original spelling of our wonderful town by adding the “aa” to the name Ballaarat.

The Solo Competition provides a platform for Graceful and Calisthenic soloists from 8 years of age to display their talent. Our competitors come from all over Victoria, South Australia & Queensland. In 2016, saw the return of Duos to our comp.

In 2017 we celebrated 25 years of the Solo Competition at Wendouree Centre of Performing Arts, which has been the “home” of competition since 2007.  Then in 2023 we celebrated the fantastic milestone of 30 years.

 

Committee

President/Convenor: Julie Wiseman

Secretary: Gayle Ellen

Treasurer: Rebecca Norris

Social Media: Jas Forbes

Sponsor Officer: Andrea Thorpe

General: Marlee Wallis & Sharyn Kennedy

 

 

Honour Roll - Volunteer Service Awards

 

Life Members
Lorraine Meade (2017)
Julie Wiseman (2024)
Krystle DePlye (2024)

15yrs
Gayle Ellen (2024)
Rebecca Norris (2024)

Rebecca Garlick (2023)

10 yrs+
Andrea Thorpe (2024)

5yrs+
Sharon Mason, Kylie Mason, Cherie Brown, Vicki Brown, Dawn Harrington, Sandra Fishwick, Kerryn Gledhill, Bec Gatens, Louise Brooks, Andrea Brown, Barb Howes, Claire Thorpe, Penny Harris

 

Where the journey began

In October of 1992, permission was granted by Calisthenic Victoria to introduce a solo competition.  Planning then began for the Inaugural year of the solo comp in 1993 on the Mother’s Day weekend.

Util 2015, Lloyd & Lorraine Harvey were the official photographers for our competitions. After their retirement, we welcomed the WinkiPop Media team; Shaun Patterson, Emma Sbarbella and Robin Landrum.  Between 2016 and 2019, we offered DVDs of the competitors performance, created by Matthew Heenan and Nick Hill.

 

Venues

The Ballaarat Solo Comp has had many homes over the 30 years of holding competitions.

1993 - 1994: Ballarat East Secondary College (now called Woodman’ Hill College).

1995 - 1997: Ballarat North Technical School (this now used by the Victoria Police for training)

1998:  Sebastopol Technical School (now Phoenix P-12 Community College), to accommodate rising entries

1999 - 2006: Mt Clear Secondary College, held over two days.  In 2003, the competition was held on a Friday night for the first time and was most successful.

2007: Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts (WCPA) which we still use today.  In the 15 years that we have used the Centre we have had assistance of the tech team from Sound & Light Concepts.

In 2015, increasing entries and regulations about not competing on Mother’s Day, meant that we had to erect a second stage Room 50 at the WCPA. Tarquett flooring was hired from the Australian Ballet and allowed us to run an additional section at the same time as the section on main stage.  Whilst this was not ideal, it did provide a solution to the problem.  James McKee volunteered as an additional tech for the entire weekend.

WCPA is the home of our competitions, but with entries increasing we often use two venues concurrently.

Founders Theatre (Federation University Mt Helen).  The first time we used this venue at Federation University, Mt Clear,  we were presented with the challenge of working with no sound or stage lights from the lightning desk.  We have, of course, overcome such difficulties.

In 2024, the Ballaarat Solo Competition was held at Founders Theatre, Federation University, Mount Helen and Mary's Mount Centre, Loreto College Ballarat.

 

With Covid hitting our sporting community 2020, the competition season was abruptly halted when the Victorian Government placed the state in lockdown.  We were only two days away from welcoming our competitors, so this was certainly an unexpected setback.  We were back in 2021 but in a very different way.

2022: Mary’s Mount Centre at Loreto College.

2023: Phoenix P-12 Community College, using the redeveloped theatre

2024: Founder's Theatre at Federation University and Mary's Mount Centre at Loreto College.

2025: Founder's Theatre at Federation University and Mary's Mount Centre at Loreto College.

Ballarat Calisthenic College Inc

Sadly, after a proud 47-year history the Ballarat Calisthenic College closed in 2005, though the committee agreed to continue running the solo competitions. It was at this time that we adopted the original spelling of Ballarat, and became known as the Ballaarat Solo Competitions Inc.  With the help of many family and friends the competition has flourished.

In honour of the Ballarat Calisthenic College, each year at the Royal South Street Eisteddfod, we donate a perpetual and replica trophy to the winner of Division 6 Inters Aesthetics.  This was the last placing earned by the club before it closed.

 

Volunteers

In 2012, we celebrated our 20th year and gave out many service awards to the solo committee.  Committee member Krystle De Pyle (Williams) baked 350 cupcakes as part of our birthday celebrations, one given to each competitor. We invited past committee members, as well as Joy Smith (DEC) and Gwenda Lucas from CV.

The year that all entries became digitalized we joined the social media scene with a new website and Facebook account.

In 2013 we welcomed volunteers from the Jayde Calisthenic Club to assist with our ever-growing competition. Our schedule had become such that in 2014, time restrictions forced a decision to cancel the 17 years Graceful Novice and we had the unenviable task contacting each competitor to inform them. This was also the year that we asked our local business to become part of the trophy process.

Until 2015, Krystle and Julie were operating as co-convenors.  Krystle moved to Melbourne for work and Julie continued as sole Convenor.

 

Compares and MCs

  • 1991 to 2001 – Verna Shackell
  • 2002 to 2003 – Suzanne Powell
  • 2004 to 2005 – Anne Beer
  • 2006 to 2010 – Heather Richards
  • 2007 – Jackie Lewis
  • 2010 to 2012 – Anne Beer
  • 2011 – Verna Shackell
  • 2012 – Heather Bogers and Rebecca Garlick
  • 2013 – Anne Beer, Rebecca Garlick, Dawn Harrington, Sharon Mason
  • 2014 – Dawn Harrington, Rebecca Garlick, Pam McKee
    2015 – Sharon Mason, Rebecca Garlick, Pam McKee, Dawn Harrington
  • 2016 – Dawn Harrington, Sharon Mason, Heather Naughton, Pam McKee
  • 2017 – Dawn Harrington, Sharon Mason, Cherise Jones, Pam McKee, Amanda Fewell, Bec Gatens
  • 2018 – Viv Edlund, Dawn Harrington, Sharon Mason,
  • 2019 – Barb Dunlop, Dawn Harrington, Amanda Fewell
  • 2020 – no competition due to state-wide Covid lockdown
  • 2021 – Emma Quayle, Tegan Jenkins, Donna Flynn,
  • 2022 - Donna Flynn, Teagan, Jenkins, Paula Horgan, Emma Quayle, Wendy Riding, Annette Lawson
  • 2023 - Lexie Brown, Annette Lawson, Andrea Brown, Dawn Harrington, Amy Rhodes, Emma Quayle
  • 2024 - Jas Forbes, Annette Lawson, Allira Kennedy, Emma Quayle

Adjudicators

± 1993 Unknown
± 1994 & 1995 Judy Currie & Barbara Evans
± 1996 Barb Nickless & Janice Unsworth
± 1997 Unknown
± 1998 Judy Currie & Lisa Ritchie
± 1999 Maureen Connelly & Helen Simmons
± 2000 Eileen Deveney & Jan Rogers
± 2001 Gayle Ciotti & Glenda Sellick
± 2002 Alison Lewis, Shirley Pettit & Jan Rogers
± 2003 Judi Baird & Glenda Selleck
± 2004 Gayle Ciotti & Dianne Bailey
± 2005 Kristen Skinner & Sharon Bates
± 2006 Glenda Selleck & Gayle Ciotti
± 2007 Barbara Nickless & Paula Hessey
± 2008 Jenny Godber & Judi Baird
± 2009 Kristen Skinner & Kelly Finlayson
± 2010 Helen Simmons, Judi Baird & Gayle Ciotti
± 2011 Kerryn Waddell & Judi Currie
± 2012 Bronwyn Lloyd, Glenda Sellick & Gayle Ciotti
± 2013 Karen O’Donnell, Genine McCorkell, Mellany Drew, Jenny Godber &
Bronwyn Lloyd
± 2014 Susan Anderson, Barbara Nickless, Genine McCorkell, Kristen Skinner &
Paula Hessey
± 2015 Susan Anderson, Glenda Sellick, Shirley Pettitt, Kristen Skinner &
Genine McCorkell
± 2016 Rhonda Just, Genine McCorkell, Kristen Skinner, Susan Anderson, Shirley Pettit & Michelle Urquhart
± 2017 Genine McCorkell, Michelle Urquhart, Lenore Shea, Wendy Riding,
Sharon Bates, Rhonda Just, Glenda Sellick, Lisa Ritchie, Kerryn Waddell & Alison Lewis
± 2018 Rhonda Just, Michelle Urquhart, Julie Fox, Glenda Sellick & Gayle Ciotti
± 2019 Glenda Sellick; Julie Fox, Gayle Ciotti, Wend Riding, Rhonda Just &
Genine McCorkell
± 2020 COVID No Comp
± 2021 Paula Hessey, Julie Fox, Sue Anderson, Genine McCorkell, Michelle Urquhart, Kerryn Waddell, Rhonda Just & Wendy Riding
± 2022 Genine McCorkell, Gayle Ciotti, Di Lukey, Deb Godsell,
± 2023 Deb Godsell, Paula Hessey, Julie Fox, Michelle Urquhart, Di Lukey,
Genine McCorkell
± 2024 Andrea Philipsen, Michelle Urquhart, Di Lukey, Paula Hessey and Liz Bolzon

 

RSSS Ballaarat Cali Solo Winners:

We were honoured to be a part of the RSSS Ballaarat Solo Comp from 2016 to 2022 (5 years) with 2020 & 2021 we missed due to COVID.

Previous winners of the Ballaarat RSSS Solo Section:

  • 2016 - Callista Reed - Regent
  • 2017 - Julia Doig - Ceres
  • 2018 - Kathryn Andrews - Ceres
  • 2019 - Angeline Cray - Jeaden
  • 2020 - NO Comp due to COVID
  • 2021 - NO Comp due to COVID
  • 2022 - Elyse Pavan - South Australia
  • 2023 - Ceased our sponsorship

Competitor Entries

In our first 30 years of competitions, we had a total of 7299 competitors which calculates to 14,598 pairs of feet perform over our 30 years in all our venues.

± 1993 -63 ± 1994 - 125 ± 1995 - 113
±1996 - Unknown ± 1997 - 101 ± 1998 - 150
± 1999 - 122 ± 2000 - 134 ± 2001 - 177
± 2002 - 164 ± 2003 - 148 ± 2004 - 149
± 2005 - 186 ± 2006 - 236 ± 2007 - 208
± 2008 - 191 ± 2009 - 236 ± 2010 - 238
± 2011 - 210 ± 2012 - 368 ± 2013 - 390
± 2014 - 420 ± 2015 - 450 ± 2016 - 490
± 2017 - 360 ± 2018 - 373 ± 2019 - 269
± 2020 - Covid No Comp ± 2021 - 257 ± 2022 - 365
± 2023 - 606
± 2024 - 420