DON'T DIS THE WEST

Coming from Sydney’s west myself, I’ve always had a keen interest in what dancers out that way are achieving in dance. Let me tell you they are doing damn well. Gone are the days when there are only a very small amount of reputable dance studios where you can train, most of them being in the city.
Today we not only see a surge in people taking up dance but the quality of the dancer is increasing and at a very young age. I think back only a few weeks to DanceLife Unite where our judges were blown away by the ability of dancers as young as 6 years old, with quite a few of these dancers coming from dance studios from the west.
I received the below email yesterday.
“I am dancer from Rooty Hill, NSW and I recently won the major scholarship prize from the ‘Global Dance Convention’. The scholarship consisted of paid flights and classes at the Edge performing arts centre, Hollywood, as well as $1500 spending money. In order for me to win this scholarship I had to impress 5 American, internationally renowned dancers and choreographers, in both the audition process and during classes that consisted of over 150 advanced dancers from all over Australia and NZ. I want to raise dancers awareness of opportunities like this and to encourage them to participate because I never believed that I was capable of winning such a big prize over such amazing dancers. My parents were never great supporters of my dance career [they still supported me] and like many others in the area, I was left to fight to keep dancing. I am from Dance Junction, a small school in Glendenning, surrounded by the suburbs of Plumpton, Doonside, Mount Druitt etc. and I have found that so many people are opting out of taking classes out in the Western suburbs because they believe that to achieve greatness you have to take class within the CBD area (which is not to say that the dancers that take class in the CBD aren’t great). I believe that this is not the case. You can learn so much from being in a small school”.
So at the end of the day it come back o the basics. If you have the right teachers, attitude, determination and passion for dance you can certainly have a career in this industry no matter where you come from.