Jessica Gross of Gembrook is getting ready to take centre stage in a performance of a lifetime.By Tania Martin
JESSICA Gross is well on her way to becoming a star as she gets ready to take centre stage in the play Cats.
This Gembrook 14-year-old has a passion for dancing and singing and will do anything to live out her dream to be a star.
She was over the moon last year when she was given her first big break – a role in Cats.
Jessica said auditioning and winning parts in musicals was a great step forward for her future career.
“If I just keep working hard, one day I might come out ahead of everyone else,” she said.
Jessica has been dancing since she was just seven and singing since she was two.
But it wasn’t until Jessica was seven that she got the chance to start honing her vocal skills with a position on the Berwick Youth Choir.
She is now spending all her waking moments on her dancing and singing as she pursues a career in either ballet or musical theatre.
For the last three years Jessica has been singing with other gifted children on the Gondwana Voice choir, which is based in Sydney.
Since joining the voices in 2005 Jessica has been given the chance to perform in concerts in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Jessica has travelled around the country to sing at the Perth Concert Hall, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
But she said the biggest highlight of her short choral career has been performing in the 2007 APEC summit at the Sydney Opera House.
Jessica said it was an amazing experience to not only sing at the opera house but to perform in front of all the country leaders.
“It was the most amazing thing,” she said.
Jessica said she dreams of working in musical theatre one day.
“I would love to be on stage entertaining people,” she said.
Jessica’s dance teacher Cathy Smith of the Cathy Lea Academy of Performing Arts said she has a lot of potential and a bright future ahead.
“In my dance school I require all my students to be able to sing, dance and act, but Jessica has something special,” she said.
Jessica is now rehearsing for Cats as the play opens at the Drum Theatre in Dandenong on Friday 13 June.
