Celebrating 100 Years!

Celebrating 100 Years of Graceful Solos at Royal South Street.

The longest-running and highly prestigious Calisthenics Graceful event has just celebrated its 100th birthday. First introduced to the South Street Eisteddfod in Ballarat in 1924, as an extension of the exciting Eurythmic style of physical culture, the “Best Type Physical Culture Girl” section was conceived. The first winner, Madge Hamilton, demonstrated not only flexion, balance, and corrective movements but also held two classical poses for 8 seconds to show her ‘mastery of the mind and body’ (Celebrating 100 Vears Graceful Solo, Royal South Street Society Official Program, 2024).

We have come a long way from competitors being assessed for symmetry, proportion of figure and static poses, to the dynamic athleticism and technique displayed by the 25 entrants in the 2024 RSSS Graceful Solo competition. The competition has always attracted the best calisthenics performers, vying for the prestigious title – which has had many iterations over the years, including Most Graceful Physical Culture Girl, Most Graceful Girl, and now Graceful Solo. As Andrea Brown, Chair of Calisthenics at RSSS proclaims “These confident, graceful yet athletic young performers are the definition of calisthenics – beauty and strength (kallos+ thenos).” The AC wishes to congratulate the Royal South Street Society Ballarat Eisteddfod for this milestone achievement and thank them for their guardianship of this most esteemed Australian calisthenics competition.