Feedback is an integral part of the eisteddfod process. Speech and drama adjudicator Helen Gallea shares her performance notes with 10 Years and Under contestants at the Gold Coast Eisteddfod.

Warm-up is a communal affair in the ‘green’ room at the Cowra Eisteddfod.

Open Ballet Scholarship entrants take part in a master class with Cowra Eisteddfod dance adjudicator Andrew Mortimer. Small group tutelage such as this is a trademark of the country eisteddfod and gives the adjudicator the opportunity to mentor the contestants in a practical sense, as well as handing out written critiques.

For many eisteddfod contestants, the pull of the bright lights keeps them coming back year after year. At Cowra, children return annually having honed their skills and improved in leaps and bounds.

Prop at hand and dressed to impress, Dubbo dancer Paris Burns waits in the wings with a volunteer before her performance at Cowra Eisteddfod.

Leeton teenager Sara Cope has been competing at the Cowra eisteddfod for 10 years and last year danced an astounding 30 routines ranging from jazz and tap to classical ballet and contemporary. She has high hopes of becoming a professional dancer; she’s seen other eisteddfod alumni go on to have successful careers.

Little Bo Peep, aka ballerina Sara Cope, prepares for battle on the boards of Cowra Civic Centre in the NSW country town’s annual eisteddfod.

Before and after their on-stage performances contestants mingle, compare notes and share words of encouragement.

In its purest form, the eisteddfod gives aspiring performers, from would-be prima ballerinas to aspiring Shakespearean actors, the chance to hone their art form in front of a receptive audience.

Costumes hung on rails and nervous reflections are the order of the day in the dressing rooms of town halls, civic centres and theatres around the country during the eisteddfod season, which typically runs from April to October.

Eisteddfods aren’t only the realm of youngsters. The City of Ryde Eisteddfod invites competitors of all ages to take to the stage.

While not compulsory, costumes add drama and punch to a performance by Gold Coast youngsters in the Speech and Drama program.

Awaiting adjudication, ballerinas rest off pointe on the Cowra Civic Centre stage.

After the song and dance is over, eisteddfod paraphernalia – pointe shoes, water bottles, bejeweled costumery – lies discarded in dressing rooms, often to be resurrected the following year. And the eisteddfod tradition continues…

Sara Cope, at left, Paris Burns and Eilis Small share the stage with Open Class Classical Ballet winner Hannah Evans, aka Cupid, at the Cowra Eisteddfod.

Hanging in the dress circle of Her Majesty’s Theatre, adjudicators Suzanne Johnston (left), Richard Duvall and John Bolton Wood listen intently to competitors in the Sun Herald Aria competition – Australia’s most prestigious classical singing event.

Adjudicator’s crits (critiques) help performers young and old to improve their performances.

Canberra dancer Hannah Evans gives a fellow dancer the thumbs up before taking the stage herself at the Cowra Eisteddfod.

The Australian eisteddfod movement got its start in Ballarat, Victoria, and today the city’s Her Majesty’s Theatre calls to the stage more than 40,000 performers in 13 disciplines (and 530 different sections) between July and October.