"A Taste of
the Stage"

Each April a club hosts ‘A Taste of the Stage’ Concert. This concert is held to introduce our many new sub-junior aged members to the sport of calisthenics and the stage.

Calisthenics had its origin in Victoria and was brought to Western Australia in 1957 by Mr Frank Boan, who could see the advantage this activity would have to young girls and young women and promoted it in Perth. It was originally known as – “The Girls Rhythmic League”.

Perth had need of such an activity for young girls and the first classes opened at the YWCA, St Georges Terrace. It was apparent from the beginning that the work had a great future here, but the intake of members and the formation of suburban branches had to be limited, due to the lack of trained teachers.

A special Teacher’s Training class relieved this situation considerably, but the demand still exceeded the supply. The League grew to 11 Branches throughout Perth and suburbs, with a membership of over 1200 girls between the ages of 5 and 25 years. Five teachers had qualified by examination and approximately 45 more were in training and assisting in the various classes conducted by the League. Each year new districts were probed to determine future class venues.

1958 saw the first GRL State Team leave Perth to view the Australasian Calisthenic Championships conducted annually at South Street Hall, Ballarat, and to compete in the Peninsula competitions, Melbourne. An invitation to GRL to visit South Australia in August 1960 was received and accepted when four teachers, a pianist and chaperone travelled to their Annual State Competitions. The following January, two South Australian teachers visited Perth to conduct holiday classes at the YMCA.

In 1962, 200 members from South Australia visited Perth for demonstrations and in 1963 WA Junior, Intermediate and Senior State teams visited South Australia for competitions.

In 1973 “The Girls Rhythmic League” acquired a hall and adjoining building at No. 3 Flynn Street, Churchlands, which was to be a training venue and meeting room facility and office for the League. It continued to house the League until 1980 when its name changed to the “Calisthenics Association of WA (Inc)”. In September 1988, with the approval of all member branches, it was sold to a developer.

The needs of the Association have far outgrown the facility. The beginnings of a new and exciting venture has begun.

Various avenues were investigated and led to negotiations with the Shire of Swan. The Calisthenics Association of WA (Inc) was granted land at the Midvale Sporting Complex at Midland on which to build a facility to cater to the needs of the Association well into the future.

In 1988 the initial work commenced to build the first purpose built calisthenics venue in Australia at Gray Drive, Midvale. A 600 seat auditorium fully equipped with lighting and sound and a full size elevated stage with sprung floor was built. The site originally included a large foyer, ticket box, kiosk, excellent parking facilities, dressing rooms, 10-m2-stage area, small committee room and office. Following extensions in 1995 a larger office and current committee room was added, further extensions in 2001 saw the addition of another wing of dressing rooms on the east side, plus an amenities room and disabled toilets.

The unique aspect of this building was that the members of the Association built it on a voluntary basis. The parents who had building skills, eg plumbing, electrical etc donated their valuable time to the project. Many people gave up every weekend for 2 years to travel to Midvale, and work on the site, doing all the manual labour required. The plans were drawn up by the President of the time Jeff Freeman, an architect, who also gave his expertise and time freely for the betterment of calisthenics in WA.

The building was finished in 1990, in time for WA to host the National Championships. Indeed the first night was the official opening of the theatre, with all competing states and territories performing a specially choreographed routine for the occasion. The men and women who had built the theatre voluntarily were all acknowledged individually. Sir Charles Court officially opened the new Swan Park Theatre in July, 1990.

Now the theatre is hired extensively by schools, colleges, dance schools, community groups and international touring companies for many events including competitions and concerts. This of course is in addition to the calisthenics competitions and clubs usage.

We are proud of our theatre and its history and invite you to come and visit us. If you would like a tour of the theatre, our office is open between 9am and 1pm most days. Please phone on 9274 3958 to make an appointment.