Echuca dancers represent at State Youth Ballet

“I really didn’t expect it at all, especially coming from Echuca and being in Melbourne and being able to get that opportunity. It was so special,” she said.

“I auditioned with about a hundred other people and after all the callbacks I happened to get chosen for Cinderella.”

Between the audition process and the actual performance, the whole thing was a huge time commitment for Maia.

“We did rehearsals for 10 weeks every Sunday in Melbourne,” she said.

“So every week the other girls and I would travel down together. Then we did the performance at the end.”

As well as Maia, her fellow iDance performers Maggie Hillman, 10, Imogen Livsey, 11, Isabella Louttit, 12, Sienna Varcoe, 16, and Daisy Griffiths, 13, also took part in the production.

Maia said she hoped she was a role model for other dancers at iDance who were hoping for similar opportunities.

“It was exciting to come back and really show the younger kids that they can do this too,” she said.

iDance owner Courtney Loader said Maia had been an inspiration for her other dancers.

“It’s really rare for someone local to get the lead like this,” she said.

“The girls see that Maya got Cinderella and they want to try out for that kind of stuff too, which is really cool. It was nice she was able to inspire the little kids.

“When they auditioned and they found out that Maya was Cinderella they were so excited.”

iDance teacher Cassandra Gadsden said it had been good to see how being part of the production had shaped the group’s dancers.

“The dancers’ confidence has increased dramatically and we’ve seen so much improvement in the girls who took part,” she said.

Ms Loader said it had been a huge honour to watch these students take part in the production.

“Maia is a gorgeous kid and we’re very proud of her. We’re very proud of all of them,” she said.