For Ava-Rose Muscara, her first Victorian Dance Festival (VDF) was always going to be special. Performing in IGNITE with Scimm Platforms Youth Company, taking class with new choreographers and sharing the experience with friends and fellow dancers made for an exciting weekend. But she certainly wasn’t expecting her VDF debut to lead to a Dance Informa Australia cover shoot.
During the festival, hundreds of dancers stopped by the Hoffa Studios expo booth to pose for a photo and enter the chance to win a professional photoshoot with photographer Leah Hoffman of Hoffa Studios – and ultimately appear on the cover of Dance Informa.
Muscara was the lucky dancer chosen.
“I was very shocked and excited to learn that I won the feature cover of Dance Informa magazine,” she recalls. “I felt very honoured and extremely appreciative to be chosen for this amazing opportunity.”
Muscara’s love of dance began at just four years old at The Edge Performers School, which remains her home studio today.
“It has been my foundation and where I developed my love for dance,” she says. “My teachers and coaches have always provided a supportive and caring environment, providing encouragement and guidance to extend my training outside of the studio.”
That encouragement has seen Muscara embrace a diverse range of training. Alongside The Edge Performers School, she has trained with Dance Prescription for three years and Rise for two years, and is a member of Scimm Platforms Youth Company 2026. Her training encompasses jazz, lyrical, hip hop, contemporary, pom, tap, ballet, commercial, pointe and RAD ballet.
It was through Scimm that Muscara found herself at VDF for the first time this year, throwing herself into everything the weekend had to offer.
“I enjoyed the variety of classes and styles, dancing with my peers and meeting new choreographers,” she says. “I also really liked being able to have the flexibility to move between different sessions.”
Amid the classes, performances and excitement of VDF, Muscara made her way to the Hoffa Studios booth and posed for a photograph. It was a fun festival moment that she could never have predicted would result in such a memorable opportunity.
When it came time for her prize photoshoot, Muscara discovered that being in front of the camera offered a different kind of creative challenge to being on stage.
“The photography session was an incredible experience,” she says. “I had a wonderful day full of lots of pampering, support and guidance.”
Working with Hoffman gave Muscara the opportunity to explore movement and expression in a new way, experimenting with shapes and poses and learning how even the smallest adjustment can transform an image.
“The highlight was working with Leah and bringing her creative vision to life for the session and photos,” Muscara shares. “I learnt how to feel more comfortable in creating more unique shapes, new poses with my body and to feel more confident in front of the camera.”
That growing confidence will no doubt serve Muscara well as she continues to pursue a future in dance. After high school, she hopes to undertake full-time dance training, with ambitions to perform professionally and develop her skills as a choreographer. And further into the future, there is another dream she would love to realise.
“The ultimate dream would be to open my own dance studio one day,” she says.
For Muscara, though, dance is about much more than where it might take her professionally. Some of its greatest rewards have already come from the people she has met and the relationships she has formed along the way.
“I love dance; my whole life revolves around it,” she says. “The most rewarding aspect is the friendships that I have made through dance and assisting the younger students to be an amazing role model, as I have had in my dance journey.”
From stepping onto the VDF stage for the first time to stepping in front of Hoffa’s camera, Muscara’s festival experience turned into something she won’t soon forget. And now, seeing the results of that creative day on the cover of Dance Informa Australia makes an already special first VDF all the more memorable.
By Deborah Searle of Dance Informa.
