RAD names WA Awards after local dance icon

The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) Australia has announced that its annual ballet Awards Day in Western Australia will now be named after local dance figure Diana de Vos-Beck. The inaugural Diana de Vos OAM MA FRAD Awards, which sees over 100 young dance students from across the state compete, will take place on November 25, 2018.

Diana de Vos-Beck is a former dancer who performed with West Australian Ballet. She’s also a RAD Registered Teacher, a RAD Fellow and a recipient of the RAD’s prestigious President’s Award. She was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2015 for service to the performing arts through dance.

RAD Australia National Director Bronwyn Watkins said of this latest accolade, “Diana de Vos has been an integral part of the RAD community in Western Australia for many years. Her contribution to dance in the region is considerable and we are thrilled to have our Western Australian Awards named in her honour.”

When asked to reflect on the honour, Diana de Vos-Beck said, “When asked if I would mind having this award named for me my response was one of amazement. Mind! I was thrilled and humbled, especially to know that my peers and friends felt that I was worthy of this honour. Dance, and particularly ballet, have been such an important part of my life. I remember thinking of my parents and my grandmother, all of whom have passed away. As they were instrumental in my involvement in dance, they deserved this thought.”

“My family migrated to Australia from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1947 when I was three and a half— they were looking for a new life and opportunities for their children. I began dancing in Colombo and of course my mother took me to dancing classes with Dorothy Fleming, an RAD teacher in Perth,” she continued. “Australia has been good to me, and so also has the Royal Academy of Dance. I have been given so many opportunities to work in the occupation I love. My reward has been to watch how the profession has grown in Western Australia and to know that I have been a part of its development.”

“My most sincere thanks to all who enabled this honour. My wish is that these awards will encourage all those young people who also love dance to engage and persevere in this activity in whatever direction their journeys take them,” she concluded.

Diana de Vos-Beck joins a notable list of Australian dancers and educators whose names grace the Academy’s national awards programmes, including Jacqueline Morland (QLD), Isobel Anderson (NSW), Kathleen Gorham (VIC), Betsy Sawers (ACT), Joan Burnett (TAS), Joan and Monica Halliday (NSW), Nan Badenoch-Iversen (SA), Jacqueline Tucker (SA), Sheila Laing (SA), Eileen Hogarth (SA), Gwen Mackay (SA), Sir Robert Helpmann (SA), Jack Floyd and Jonny B’Nay (SA) and Audrey Nicholls (VIC). 

The Academy welcomes the whole dance community to enjoy the Awards later this month and celebrate with Diana de Vos-Beck.

Photo: Diana de Vos-Beck. Photo courtesy of RAD Australia.