Australian Ballet’s Evie Ferris Balances Ballet with The Wiggles

Dancing with Australia’s preeminent ballet company and being part of a children’s musical group that has over 1.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 3 billion views on YouTube is no small task. For Ferris, getting to explore multiple avenues of performance makes her jam-packed schedule worth it.

Ferris attributes her dance-and-music-filled upbringing to her love of performing. “I’m First Nations Australian,” says Ferris. “Dance, movement, and music were always a massive part of my childhood, family, and cultural ties.” She is of Taribelang and Djabugay descent.

Ferris and her family relocated from Cairns, North Queensland, to Melbourne when she began full-time training at the Australian Ballet School in 2010. She trained at the school for six years before joining the main company in 2015 and being promoted to coryphée in 2023.

A chance meeting led Ferris to audition for the expanded lineup of the international children’s musical group, The Wiggles. Ferris met Anthony Field, the current and original Blue Wiggle, at the Sydney Opera House. “He was there for another performance, and he needed someone to take a photo of him and his friends,” says Ferris. “I recognized him from The Wiggles and he recognized me from the ballet, and we struck up a conversation.”

That conversation led to a friendship. Like many children, Ferris grew up watching and listening to The Wiggles. The children’s musical group was formed in 1991 in Sydney, and still performs live shows, on television, and more recently on YouTube.

Field invited Ferris to be part of “Fruit Salad TV,” a YouTube series that began in 2021 that aimed to show more diversity, so that more children could see themselves reflected on screen. “It felt like an opportunity to grow as an artist that I just could not pass up,” says Ferris. “I know how to tell stories just through dance, but singing and playing instruments and even talking on stage or TV is a really different thing.” The new series featured eight Wiggles: two red, two yellow, two purple, and two blue. Ferris became the second Blue Wiggle.

As a nod to her ballet career, Ferris wore a blue tutu and blue pointe shoes as her Wiggles costume. Later, Ferris traded her blue costume for yellow and added another detail: yellow and red stripes on her black shirt and bow to represent her First Nations heritage.

“It’s special to have that small, subtle symbolism with me,” Ferris says. “Having that in mainstream media is so cool and important.” She also takes pride in being the second First Nations Australian to dance with The Australian Ballet.

“Just being an Indigenous ballerina can speak volumes for a lot of aspiring young dancers, that it’s not unattainable, and it’s not too big of a dream or a goal,” says Ferris. “I want to make a small difference in whatever way I can in the community, especially the First Nations community, but for children of all cultural backgrounds.”

Now, Ferris balances her career with The Australian Ballet and her engagements with The Wiggles. On some days, she finds time for both. Her schedule might begin in Sydney at 6:30 or 7 am in the recording studio or on set with The Wiggles. Then Ferris heads to The Australian Ballet for rehearsals and an evening performance. Live performances with The Wiggles are typically on weekends, so Ferris performs in those as her company schedule allows.

“It’s a pretty demanding schedule, but I feel really supported,” says Ferris. “I’m so grateful and fortunate that both organizations accommodate as best they can for me to do both.”

The audiences for The Wiggles and The Australian Ballet might have minimal overlap, but Ferris finds the commonality in the two different performance opportunities.

“It’s all connecting through storytelling, and communicating with people through music and dance,” says Ferris.

For now, Ferris is enjoying each day of performing.

“It means I will have early mornings and late nights, but I really love it. It’s just so much fun,” says Ferris. “I’ll just stick my teeth into both roles for a nice amount of time.”