Dance is another field where Queenslanders have made a strong impression on the world stage. Two of our best-known ambassadors are Garth Welch and John Meehan, who grew up in Brisbane and joined the Australian Ballet before going on to international acclaim.

Welch retired from ballet in 1973 but returned to the stage in 1984 as Aschenbach in Graeme Murphy's After Venice for the Sydney Dance Company. He performed the role that year on the company's tour of Europe and the US, where the tough American critics gave him the best reviews of his distinguished career.

Meehan, one of the most popular male dancers Australia has produced, was the first Australian to be offered a principal's contract with the American Ballet Theatre. He went on to partner the great Margot Fonteyn on many occasions.

Based in the US since 1977, he also appeared in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance in the West End and Broadway before sharing his skills as a dance teacher and ballet company director.

Queenslanders to excel with the English National Ballet include Leanne Benjamin, Janette Mulligan and Brisbane's Susan Hogard, who became the first Western dancer to become a full-time member of the Soviet Union's famous Kirov Ballet.

Rockhampton-born Benjamin left home at 16 to attend the Royal Ballet School in London and in 1993 became the first Queenslander to be a principal artist at Britain's Royal Ballet.

Janette Mulligan . . . from ballet lessons in Townsville to the stages of Europe. She now teaches with the Queensland Ballet. Picture: Nathan Richter

Mulligan began her ballet career in Townsville aged 6. She was accepted into the Australian Ballet school before a career in Britain and Europe, where she danced with the likes of Rudolf Nureyev. She came home in 1995 to become a teacher with the Queensland Ballet.

Robyn White, another north Queenslander, studied in Mackay before joining the Australian Ballet School at 17. At 19 she joined the Munich Opera Ballet where she met French dancer Francois Klaus, whom she married. Their love affair with ballet continues to this day: White is a teacher with the Queensland Ballet and her husband is its artistic director.

That north Queensland tradition continues with Natalie Weir, who became the first Queenslander appointed as one of the Australian Ballet's three resident choreographers. Her first production for the AB was Mirror Mirror, an updated version of Snow White produced in 2000.

Weir attended ballet classes in Townsville before becoming a founding member of Brisbane's highly regarded Expressions Dance Company. At 20 she turned to choreography, working with companies such as the Queensland Ballet, Dance North and the Australian Dance Theatre.

Few have contributed more to generating international respect for Aboriginal culture than Brisbane-raised Stephen Page, who became artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre at 25.