https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oI-YD-nv_0
“Ella” is a short film that tells the story of Ella Havelka, the 50-year-old Australian Ballet’s first indigenous ballet dancer. Via Broadsheet:
When Ella Havelka was accepted into the Australian Ballet in 2012, as the company’s first Indigenous dancer in its 50-year history, it attracted a huge amount of positive media nationwide.
Havelka herself was thrilled to finally achieve the goal she had strived for since she was eight years old.
But three years down the track, Havelka is questioning her position in the company. Notwithstanding artistic director David McAllister’s insistence every dancer is accepted purely on merit, Havelka is tormented by the thought she might only there because she is Aboriginal. The pressure she puts on herself is immense and heartbreaking.
These insecurities are something filmmaker Douglas Watkin knows only too well. As the only Indigenous student studying film and television at Queensland University of Technology, he recognises how lonely and isolating life can be.
“Trying to find an identity, where you stand [is tough]. When you’re born you have to decide which type you are: the successful black fella or the lazy black fella,” he laughs wryly. “It’s a lot of pressure put on you because you’re so used to seeing your culture stereotyped or portrayed negatively in the press.”