feature article

State where talent shines

Geoff Shearer
April 11, 2009 12:00am
QUEENSLAND, you've got talent.
 As some of Australia's hottest reality series draw to a close and another handful are about to launch, Queenslanders have once and for all proven that the best talent isn't confined to southern climes.

Brisbane dancer Jack Chambers not only won the first season of So You Think You Can Dance, but he inspired a huge local contingent to try out for this year's show. The upshot being that two of the final four dancers are from Chambers' home state - Talia Fowler from Warner in Brisbane's north, and Gold Coast dance instructor Ben Veitch.

Dance judge Matt Lee put it simply: "They breed really great dancers up in Brisbane."

"There are so many successful dancers working in the industry from there," he said in Sydney recently. "(Guest judge/choreographer) Kelley Abbey is from Queensland. Then there's Talia, Ben, Gianne, and Jack, of course, and Anthony Ikin from last year."

Meanwhile, three out of the eight acts in the Australia's Got Talent grand final are from Brisbane. And if you've been following The Biggest Loser, you will know that not only did seven Queenslanders make it into the top 20, but most of them showed the fortitude and strength of personality to still be there as the show nears its finale.

Bill Simpson, whose four-man dance troupe Red Hot Rhythm has made it to the Australia's Got Talent grand final, said it was "bloody excellent" to see the surge of performers from Queensland.

"Brisbane is great for fostering dance," he told The Courier-Mail as the group prepared for their performance. "In particular there's some great dance schools; there's some great institutions for all sorts of dance, really.

"I don't think Brisbane is as renowned as Sydney or Melbourne, but we've definitely got an equal amount of talent in Brisbane and just as much to offer."

Two of his troupe, David Sheather and Danny Jackson, tried out for the Dance auditions and got call-backs. "It would be quite difficult though to showcase a tap dancer on Dance - it is quite an intricate dance style - but for Talent where anything goes, it was just perfect for that," Simpson said.

Also in the Talent final is Danik Abishev, 23, from the southwest Brisbane suburb of Pallara. Abishev, who was talked into trying out for the show by his sister, is an equilibrist whose circus balancing acts have stunned judges.

He described the performers hailing from his home base as "excellent, excellent", even going so far as to call one of his fellow finalists "a real talent".

"I really like the little kid (Jal Joshua Lebumfacil)," Abishev enthused. "Oh my God, he's so amazing. If I was going to vote, I'd vote for him. He rocks."

Lebumfacil, 12, from Cleveland in Redland City, south of Brisbane, said he was excited about the final - which will go to air on April 15 with the results of the public vote being revealed on April 22 - and a "little nervous".

His mum, Jocelyn, said the family, who only migrated from the Philippines in March last year, was really excited for their boy and had gathered in Melbourne for the event.

But the talent won't end with this month's finals. We've still got MasterChef, home makeover show Home Grown and a new season of Australian Idol to come.

Network Ten executive producer Stephen Tate believes Australian Idol will again see a strong showing from the sunshine state.

Auditions have begun in Cairns, where the turn-out of wannabes was nearly double the number of the previous year, while Brisbane talent will be put to the test over the Mother's Day weekend in May.

"We've always done really well in Brisbane," Tate said. "It is a rich hunting ground for us."

That ground was also thoroughly scoured for Ten's next reality series, MasterChef, which launches later this month. Producers said six Queenslanders got through from the thousands of aspiring chefs to be in the top 50 - and, from all reports, they have given their Melbourne and Sydney counterparts a serious run for their money.

Also making a name for himself is Cairns interior designer Richie Stevens who has made it into the Nine Network's new house makeover challenge Home Made which is set to air in May.

Stevens, 30, is one of only 10 designers who are competing in the show in which they have to fully renovate a house in five days - and he's the only one from Queensland.

"I've got the whole state on my shoulders," he said.

 "The boy from Cairns! Look out!"