Growing up in the small outback town of Julia Creek in Queensland, Australia, Maddy Murphy spent her childhood balancing two very different passions. One day she would be riding horses, and the next she would be practising ballet steps in her family’s lounge room or at the local dance studio.Now, at just 16 years old, Maddy is preparing for the biggest journey of her life. This month, she will travel nearly 15,000 kilometres from Australia to Switzerland after securing a place at the prestigious Tanz Akademie Zurich, one of Europe’s most well-known ballet training schools.The opportunity marks the latest step in a journey that began when she was only five years old. Over the years, Maddy has moved away from home, changed cities, completed school through distance education and spent countless hours training, all in the hope of becoming a professional ballet dancer.
Maddy’s first steps
Maddy’s love for dance started early after her mother, Belinda Murphy, enrolled her at Julia Creek’s newly opened Branches Performing Arts studio.Her mother says Maddy always enjoyed performing. “She was always very theatrical,” Ms Murphy said as quoted by ABC news.Maddy’s ballet teacher, Amy Tinning, quickly noticed that the young dancer had qualities beyond natural ability. “Talent can only take you so far, but Maddy had this maturity and commitment that isn’t very common in someone so young,” Ms Tinning said.Julia Creek is home to only about 550 people. While the town had a dance studio where Maddy could learn ballet, it did not have a high school. That meant bigger decisions had to be made as she grew older.
Leaving home to chase a dream
When Maddy was 11, she left her hometown and moved more than 1,600 kilometres away to Brisbane to attend boarding school. Alongside her studies, she trained at the Prima Youth Ballet Academy instead of taking part in after-school sports.Within a year, Maddy realised she wanted to focus completely on ballet. She convinced her parents to let her train full-time while completing her education through distance learning.“I saw other people were going full-time at my age, dancing all day and doing school at night online, and I felt that I really wanted to do that, too,” she said.
Maddy began dancing after her mother enrolled her at Julia Creek’s Branches Performing Arts studio.
Her routine soon became demanding. “I’d wake up, do some school, dance from nine till four, come home and do all my schoolwork and then do it all over again the next day,” she said.Despite her determination, the schedule was not always easy. “There were definitely hard times, don’t get me wrong. The last thing you wanted to do when you came home from full days of dance was maths.”Her mother also saw the pressure that came with balancing school and dance every day. “The pressure of doing all those hours and then trying to do school at night by yourself at home. We just thought that she can always go back,” Ms Murphy said. Maddy eventually completed high school at the end of Year 10.
A setback became opportunity
Early in 2025, the Prima Youth Ballet Academy closed. Instead of giving up, Maddy moved again, this time to Sydney, where she joined Dance North while continuing her studies online. The move kept her training on track and helped prepare her for even bigger opportunities.Maddy says ballet continues to challenge and inspire her because of the discipline it demands. “I just found this love for ballet because it’s so hard. You have to make it look easy, but it’s such a complex form of dance,” she said. Her years of hard work soon led to a breakthrough.
Audition in Switzerland
Before finishing school, Maddy competed in the Brisbane International Contemporary Dance Prix. Her performance earned her a scholarship to travel to Switzerland in March, where she spent a week auditioning for Tanz Akademie Zurich. The audition was unlike anything she had experienced before.“It was unlike anything I think I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “There was the pressure to do well, but you also have to have the mindset that, ‘This is what I’ve worked for, I’m ready’,” she added.The competition attracted talented dancers from around the world. In the end, Maddy secured one of only around 22 places available at the academy.Receiving the offer was a moment she had worked towards for years. “It’s still a bit surreal, honestly. I think it’ll finally sink in once I start packing,” she said.
