
Lilla Harvey
Photo Lisa Tomasetti
What was going through your head when they announced you as the 2023 Telstra Ballet Dancer Rising Star Award winner?
After they announced Isobelle as the People’s Choice winner, I was standing on stage next to the fellow nominees just feeling grateful to be there and knew that I would be ecstatic for whomever took out the main prize, each of them just as deserving as the next.
The adrenaline of being on stage in a position like that meant that my thoughts were pretty quiet, while I was hyper focussed on the voice speaking and trying not to look like I was struggling holding my absurdly large bouquet of flowers. Hearing my own name, I did briefly question my sanity, I was truly surprised, as anyone who saw my face would know. The “Is this real?” quickly turned into “How insanely crazy and amazing is this!”
It took hours for my face to break out of its huge smile and for me to come back down to earth.