On the grapevine

She works hard at her fitness, practising on an inflatable air-track mat and trampoline at home to gain aerobic fitness.

She also eats the right foods, containing lots of protein and nutrition, and watches videos of past competitions and other competitors.

Harper is a student at League 23 Performing Arts Studio where her dance teacher Miss Dani had her captivated from the very beginning with a range of exciting dance styles, while learning something new each week.

Making friends with children from different schools, who enjoy the dance classes too, has also been fantastic.

Currently Harper performs mostly lyrical — a slower dance style much like ballet and contemporary — and modern dance.

She loves them both and recently at the ‘Front and Centre’ competition held at Kyabram, gained first placing in lyrical and contemporary and a third in jazz as a soloist.

While partnered with Ayva Gumbleton in ‘duo’, the pair were judged first in three disciplines: lyrical, contemporary and jazz.

She and her fellow dancers also competed in troupes under 12 in jazz, lyrical and Latin ballroom, placing first, second and third in the three disciplines.

Each dance requires a separate spectacular costume, and while generally the dancers practise two nights each week at the studio, when preparing for competition it is four nights a week.

A big commitment, but the young dancers appear to thrive and are achieving outstanding results.

Competitions are held in Corowa, Kyabram, Wangaratta and Albury.

And in January 2024, League 23’s winning troupes and soloists from the recent Kyabram competition, including Harper, will go to the national titles on the Gold Coast.

Harper is determined to be the best version of herself as a dancer, and practice and dedication appear ingrained in her, given she has already won a swag of medals and trophies in competitions.

“Hopefully, one day if I train hard and continue to improve and win a lot of competitions, at the age of 14 or 15 I could win ‘Showcase’ at the nationals,” Harper said.

“I really like to compete, it pushes me further when I see others perform. I don’t really get nervous.”

The Year 4 student at Cobram Primary School has quite an athletic family, who all take part in the parkrun on Saturdays during the season.

Harper’s brother Beau, 11, and sister Ivy, 6, have also joined the dance studio.

“It’s a good way to stay fit!” Beau, who plays football at Cobram Tigers, said.

Harper is the eldest daughter of Kristy and Dwayne Kelly, and is determined to one day become a professional dancer.

Closing the doors and saying goodbye after 25 years

It was with mixed emotions that Kate Nuttall closed the doors of her hairdressing salon Shear Kaos last Friday evening for the last time, after 25 successful years in business.

Then the party began, and typical of the people person that Kate is, the vibrant 58-year-old hosted a fabulous evening where lots of memories and fun were shared with loyal clients and friends.

A livewire and enormously popular, Kate always makes time for people, she listens to their needs and ultimately her clients have become her friends.

Opening Shear Kaos on July 1, 1988, a visit to her bank manager informed her there were a lot of hairdressers in town. And the manager asked Kate what made her think she could do it?

“Because I am the best,” Kate said in response.

She certainly proved this was true, for the business grew from a small space in Bank St to the current premises in Station St, Cobram, which Kate purchased outright in 2000 and transformed into the large spacious salon it is today.

However, success does not come easily, and the mother of two sons, Lewis and Sam, needed to juggle work life and her family to make it work, yet by the 1990s was employing a team of six — typifying the determination she had to make the business a success.

“I have had some great people work under me who have gone on to open their own salons, and apprentices who have gone on to be nominated for and won apprentice of the year awards,” she said.

“It has been a great business and I have loved it every day, and while I also gained certificates in beauty such as waxing, facials and nails I didn’t pursue them, as I had chosen to be a ladies’ hairdresser, not a beautician.

“Kerrie Wilkie worked for me back in Bank St and has done the full loop, running Shear Kaos for me here after my workplace accident, and I am so very grateful to her.”

In February 2022, while cleaning the salon at the end of a long day, Kate stepped backwards into a water cooler, which fell on her spine, crushing her T12 vertebra.

Kate lives in constant pain from the injury, which cannot be repaired, but does everything she can to protect her spinal injury and build up the surrounding area in an attempt to live a relatively normal life.

Yet life without hairdressing is not her normal. She can no longer work at her profession, she cannot stand for long, is not comfortable sitting for long and the pain at times can be unbearable.

Kate does everything possible to keep moving and maintain her fitness levels, with stretching exercises, walking, pilates, aqua aerobics and physio, together with much-needed medication that ultimately gets her through the worst times.

“I have had to adjust to not doing what I have loved all these years, but when the time is right I would like to be doing something where I can help others,” she said.

“Firstly, I will take a long break and visit friends and family at Airlie Beach and Perth, and perhaps come back with an idea that could add to Cobram in some way.”

In the interim, Kate is keen to lease the premises, which would make an ideal tapas bar, or attract any type of business, and ultimately the freehold will become available for sale too.

Located at 41 Station St, Cobram, such a clean, well-maintained premises such as this is not always easy to find, and the building with a stylish shopfront maintains an excellent presence to attract a range of business opportunities.

Seeking relatives of past captains and presidents at golf club

Cobram Barooga Golf Club ladies are currently seeking contact with the families of past presidents and captains from the years 1982 to 1997 who might welcome photos from their relatives’ glorious past on the golf course.

The families the club would like to hear from are former captains and presidents: Judy Dunn, Jo Quinn, Audrey Lewis, Jean Ford, Noneen Buzza, Betty Mann and Irene Banks.

If any family member would like to get in touch with the club, they are asked to call Margaret Rhode on 0448 354 114 or Heather Miller on 0419 332 435.