New Zealander Tasman Davids is currently in Russia at the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg and his experiences epitomise classical ballet ‘without borders.’
Tasman’s English mother and grandparents settled in Christchurch, New Zealand 25 years ago, five years before Tasman was born. Tasman’s adventure in dance began with Irish dancing and he enjoyed it so much he also began classical training at Southern Ballet in Christchurch.
One of Tasman’s teachers in Christchurch was Louidmilla Solovieva from Perm. Tasman says: “I always admired Russian training after experiencing a small taste of the technique from Louidmilla Solovieva who had trained in Russia.”
After completing his year 12 in a specialist music, theatre and dance program at Burnside High School in Christchurch, Tasman continued his dance training at Ecole Ballet and Dance Theatre in Sydney. While there, Ecole prepared an audition DVD for Tasman showing barre, centre work and a short variation.
Tasman’s plans were dampened somewhat after nine months off with a serious foot injury and a lack of opportunities for the next stage, but with his family and Russian teacher’s support, he re-grouped “and it was the discovery of the international trainee course that sparked my interest in the possibility of going to Russia.”
He then set his sights on the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg. Firstly he sent photos via email to the head of the international department who passed them on to the artistic faculty and he then sent his DVD. He was over the moon to be accepted and believes he is the first New Zealand student to attend. . . .
Read the full article by Margaret Mercer in the current (June/July) issue of Dance Australia. OUT NOW!