AT SEVEN months pregnant, most women would faint at the plain thought of physical activity, if they don’t throw-up first.
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But for Ballarat’s Lily Paskas Goodfellow, dancing during pregnancy was a no-brainer.
At five months pregnant, the 31-year-old performed in Glasgow as part of the Commonwealth Games Arts Festival which went on to win The Helpmann award for best choreography, and at seven months she performed in the arts show This Endless Becoming which went on to win the 2014 John Fries Art Award.
Things didn’t slow down for Lily after the birth of her baby girl either, with the new mum able to seamlessly weave together her love for dance with her love for being a mother.
“Clara was born on December 8 last year and came on tour with me six weeks later where I was performing in the Spiegal tent in Perth,” she said.
It was during The Big Day Out music festival that Lily was able to harness her inner desire for dance.
As she watched the Melbourne-based dance company Chunky Move perform on stage, she thought to herself – one day, that’s going to be me, and her will didn’t fail her.
“Ten years later I was working for this company myself, performing with them in the Melbourne International Arts Festival,” she said.
But dancing had always been in Lily’s veins, ever since she was a little girl exploring the hidden treasures in her ballet teacher’s attic.
“I grew up in the country and my ballet teacher lived up the road. We used to explore her attic and drag all the costumes down. I have two older sisters and we all danced as children,” she said.
“My mum and dad brought us up on Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies and took us to live stage shows all the time.
“I used to put on classical music and dance around the lounge room creating my own ballets. I liked pretending to be all the different characters and bringing to life the stories and drama that I could hear through the music.”
With her oldest sister also a professional dancer living and working in Europe, dance certainly runs through the Paskas family.
Studying at the Victorian College of the Arts, Lily has been a professional dancer for 10 years now and her work has seen her travel across Australia and the globe for dance and arts festival in Korea, South America, and New York City.
Her accolades are also many, with the internationally-acclaimed dancer nominated for best female dancer in The Australian Green Room Awards in 2012 and also boasting many scholarships to her name.
“Of course, everything I’ve achieved has been made possible by the support of my incredible parents who are prepared to babysit abroad at the drop of a hat, my incredibly flexible dance colleagues, employers and my supportive and loving husband,” she said.
At the end of this month, Lily will take to the stage with dancer Holly Durant as part of their new project at the Lorne Arts Festival.
Entitled TransFIGUREd, Lily said the two-woman show was inspired by the vast experience of different body practices including dance, yoga, Osho dynamic meditation, Tai Chi and Qi Gong.
“The simple definition of the show is ‘to shine through’,” she said.
“It looks at the idea of using the body as a practical space for spiritual work.”
“I hope that audiences will have fun and leave feeling limitless.”
Crossing continental borders and travelling through time, TransFIGUREd will take the audience on a journey through dances of all kinds.
Having worked with various choreographers in both contemporary burlesque and performance art, Lily said the show brought together all art forms.
“Nothing is off limits,” she said.
“We have been extremely busy creating this show, rehearsing after completely sleepless nights and a teething baby and that might be what gave the show its surreal edge.
“We hope to tour this show nationally next year with a season both in Melbourne and Ballarat.”
TransFIGUREd will be staged at the Lorne Arts Festival on August 29. For tickets and more information, visit lorneartsfestival.com.au