Balancing Excellence
While academic excellence is central to our ethos, Wenona is filled with talented students pursuing their dreams outside of the classroom. Year 6 student, Reyna, exemplifies the balance between academic progress and co-curricular success and has already cultivated an impressive dance career, including international recognition.
Reyna’s passion for dance began at just three years of age and has led her to win multiple national championship titles in some of the most prestigious and competitive dance events in the country. She is the reigning DanceLife Unite Petite National Champion and has won two separate trips to the United States to represent Australia in some fiercely competitive contests.
“The most challenging parts of competing in America were the jet lag, and my nerves … it was a completely different venue in a very different environment, the stage format was interesting and I felt really scared. In Australia, I just represent myself and my studio, but in America I was representing my country, which was a much bigger step from before,” she says.
Reyna’s dance success is providing a wealth of intercultural experiences. “When I compete in Australia, I am used to the relaxed vibe. It is generally an Aussie thing for there to be a lot of cheering and encouragement, even if you don't know the dancer,” she says. “But when I was competing in Singapore, it was extremely quiet after somebody performed − almost silent with only a bit of clapping, like we were at a formal event. When I won a scholarship to attend a dance convention in New Zealand, it was another chance to learn from new and talented teachers, make new friends, and meet new people.”
Reyna’s favourite dance style is hip hop, which she learned at age six and loves for its "relaxing and stress-free" nature. She says her most notable performance is her Japanese contemporary fan dance ‘Geisha’, in which she dances throughout holding an origami fan, throwing and catching it one-handed. Learning this technique demanded enormous persistence and resulted in Reyna breaking more than five fans!
Her training schedule is rigorous, consisting of four-and-a-half hours practise most evenings. Still, Reyna approaches her academic responsibilities with commitment, working to complete her homework no matter how tired she feels on a Sunday night. Her advice to younger dance students is to "work hard and stay humble" and understand that success requires effort and you cannot expect things to "magically happen".