north east regional extra | September 8 - 14, 2021
nemedia.com.au
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September 8 - 14, 2021
Dancing on world stages By BELINDA HARRISON WHEN seven year old Ash-Leigh Cunningham attended her first dance lesson in the stadium at Wangaratta High School back in 2002, she couldn’t have imagined her new-found interest would take her around the world. “I started at Pulsate under (then owner and director) Tanya Singh when she opened up her dance school,” Ash-Leigh said. “Dance was literally my number one commitment during school and I can’t even begin to imagine how I would have coped without being able to attend classes or go to comps like the kids are dealing with now (because of COVID).” For 10 years Ash-Leigh danced under Tanya’s direction, achieving success in solo and group competition levels and deepening her love of dance. “I love how physically demanding dance is but I also love that it’s musical, artistic and expressive,” she said. “I love that through dance I’ve learnt that your body is so adaptive, you can train it to do literally anything if you work hard enough.” At the age of 17, Ash-Leigh moved to Melbourne to study full time at The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet under the direction of Christine Walsh AM. “I was at the Conservatoire for two years, training and learning six days a week plus workshops and rehearsals during school holidays,” Ash-Leigh said. “I graduated with an Advanced Diploma of Dance in Elite Performance and the highlight was being a cygnet in their production of Swan Lake at Hamer Hall. “Being in that production meant I got to learn the iconic variation of the four swans that do the entire dance with linked arms which is extremely tough, yet extremely rewarding.”
◆ SWANNING AROUND: Ash-Leigh was fortunate enough to perform in Swan Lake at Hamer Hall during her time at The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet.
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