Chinchilla dancer Tia Regusen selected for prestigious Sydney scholarship

A Chinchilla dancer has been awarded a Summer Camp scholarship to one of Australia’s most prestigious dance schools. Find out more.

Chinchilla dancer Tia Regusen has been selected for a prestigous scholarship at a Sydney dance school.

A young Chinchilla dancer will have the opportunity to learn from the best after earning a scholarship to one of Australia’s most prestigious dance schools in Sydney.

Xpression Dance Academy’s Tia Regusen was awarded a bursary scholarship by The Empire Foundation to attend a Dance Summer Camp at Brent Street, Australia’s home of dance.

Ms Regusen, who has been dancing for more than a decade and is currently balancing dance with her year 11 studies, said she was excited to get the opportunity.

“It feels really good, I will be able to improve on all my technical skills at Australia's largest and most technical dance school,” she said.

“It will be a busy week, we are doing five hour classes per day of different styles, working on my technique, picking up choreography and overall just improving and bringing stuff back.

“I have been dancing for 10 years, I started in Newcastle and had a break before starting at Xpression in Chinchilla where I’ve been for six years.

“I love being able to express myself on stage and use my technique, I do lots of different styles tap, hip-hop, jazz, contemporary and cheer.”

Chinchilla dancer Tia Regusen selected for dance scholarship

Ms Regusen currently dedicates most of her week to dancing and was hoping to find a career in it after graduating.

“It is very hard to balance it all with school, I have one day a week where I am free, I dedicate my Wednesday to school work and I go to dance every other day,” she said.

“I’d love to take it away somewhere, whether that be on the stage or even teaching other people.

“I think this will give me a good chance of getting opportunities in the future because they are one of the best studios in Australia.

“I think they selected me because I was a bit different. I wanted to go away and learn but I also wanted to come back and teach my students.”

Xpression Dance Academy owner Maggie Pike said it was amazing that someone from the regions was selected for the opportunity.

“It’s huge, in these areas a lot of high-end performance schools are really quite out of reach for us because we are so many hours from the city,” she said.

“I have been such a huge advocate for people knowing that if their passion and creativity is the drive for their career they should pursue it no matter what their location is, no matter where they come from or no matter their cultural background.”

Ms Pike praised Tia’s dedication and said she was incredibly deserving of the scholarship.

“It goes off how much dedication they have for the field and how much they give back,” she said.

“Tia is in the studio four days a week on top of schooling, on top of having a job and she is always giving her all when it comes to the kids and being a big community member and the foundation really look for people who want to inspire the younger generation.

“Tia has incredible talent as well, she had to submit audition videos to make sure she was up to the standard of the summer camp and she is up there with the best.”