Destined to Soar: Carys Stoneman, Perfoming Arts star

 Destined to SOAR.

This interview series is aimed at celebrating, recognising and promoting the incredible talent and ferocious courage of our young women of tomorrow.

Let's recognise the magnificent effort of teens' in sport across all codes!

 Soar Active had the privilege to catch up with Carys Stoneman and chat about her love of dance and performing arts.

1. Carys, tell us about your early life?

  Carys:  I am from Perth, Western Australia and am 13 years old.  I may be an only child but have a massive family and friend support crew who are with me every step of my journey.  I am fortunate that I have been able to travel a lot during my life and seeing the world has also helped me appreciate what we can learn from others, especially in the Arts.  But I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t dancing or singing and began classes when I was just over two years old and competing since 3 years old.  We tried sports such as tennis and soccer, even swimming for a while but I kept coming back what was to become such a massive part of my life, dance.  I have been lucky to be able to dance both nationally and internationally, plus take classes with the best choreographers and creatives that Australia has to offer.  I am pretty lucky!

2. So how did you all discover dance?

 Carys:  When my Mum went back to work my Dad was looking for something to do together and Mum found a class which enrolled from 2 years old and the rest was history.  I have never looked back. 

3. What was your next step?

Carys:  My aim is eventually to move to Sydney when I finish school and to train at Brent Street in either Musical Theatre or the Performing Arts; if I could go tomorrow I would!  But at the moment I am focussing on my training at my studio Vanguard Performing Arts and taking every opportunity to develop my skills as a triple threat performer (singing, dancing and acting) and learn from everyone I can.  I am so lucky that my studio has incredible role models who I can train with every day.  Plus hopefully I will be able to hit the stage again soon in another musical, as these opportunities have really helped me to begin to learn about the industry.  The creatives who I have worked with have been amazing!  I really am lucky.

4. How do you balance dance and managing school?

Carys:  A good question.  Mum is pretty organised and we seem to make it all work.  School work often happens before school as I arrive quite early and on the weekend.  If you want it to happen you can do it.  Also the best advice I was given was ‘work hard during class and you have less out of class to do’.  It has worked for me.  I don’t have classes on a Sunday so that is a ‘me day’ so I can catch up if needed.  If you want to do something you can make it work.  But I guess it also means sometimes I have to say no to things to, which is okay too.

5. What do you all do in your downtime?

Carys:  Dance always places part of my down time, as when I am not in the studio I am at a dance workshop, hanging out with my dance friends or even watching my dance BFFs perform.  But I do like to shop, in summer go to the beach or even wake boarding.  I will give anything a go.  In the holidays we travel with friends and I love seeing new places.

6. What makes you feel happy, brave, and strong?

Carys:  I am absolutely the happiest when I am in the Vanguard studio, it is just where I am meant to be, I feel calm, focussed, inspired and energised.  I feel brave and strong (and dig deep) that spilt second before stepping on stage as the adrenaline kicks in and I can hear my name called (or that little bell ring).  I then breathe deep and I know all of my training has me ready for this and I know I am ready to give my best.

7. Tell us about a special moment in the last year?

Carys:  Last year the absolute highlight was being cast in my first lead role in a musical ‘Strictly Ballroom’ in Perth, produced by Drew Anthony Creative.  It really was the most amazing time for me.  I remember the day when Drew Anthony called me to offer me the role and to be honest, thank goodness Mum was in the car as I think I went into a little bit of shock as the excitement took over and didn’t realise I actually got the role. 

I became part of an inspiring Perth cast, was trained by the most amazing team of Creatives and then performed in 28 sold out shows.  I took ballroom lessons, learnt my lines, went to school every day, headed off to rehearsals at night, watched the other actors who had some much experience bring this to life, took direction and then became Kylie Hastings (plus gained a whole stage family who really are still my family now).  I was overwhelmed by how this was really going to change my life. 

But this was all possible because I had been trained by amazing teachers who truly believed in me (and walked with this whole journey with me from audition to the last show) at my studio plus the previous shows I was cast in by HAMA productions, those casts, creatives and production team are second to none!  I knew when I was first cast as a little fish in ‘The Little Mermaid’ this was where I wanted to be.

8. What is your ultimate goal?

Carys:  That’s easy … I want to be a professional performer and be able to be cast in a touring production around Australia or even head to London to the West End.

9. What's your favourite attribute about yourself?

Carys:  I am one of a kind!   I have a quirky sense of humour and I love that I can always make people smile.

10. Favourite song on repeat right now?

Carys:  Anything by Tate McCrae or Sabrina Carpenter.

11. What has dance taught you about life?

 Carys:  You need to work hard.  Learn from as many people in life that you can.  Forge your own path, as it is okay to be you.  Be kind to everyone.

12. Who inspires you right now?

Carys:  There are so many honestly.  But In would say Lauren Elton, Cassie Bartho and Stephan Tannos.  I would also say Porscha Reed, who has headed to Brent Street this year and she is killing it, I can’t wait to watch her career.

13. What would you say to other young teens about following their dreams?

Carys:  Just do it.  Don’t delay or make excused.  Follow your dreams.  Surround yourself with the right people, those who will build you up, inspire you to be the best you can be in your chosen field.  Work hard, train hard and play hard, no matter what, you need to commit to a dream.  Make it your dream, and think about why you want to do something and how it makes you feel.  I love love love my journey so know I am on the right path!

Follow Carys journey on on Instagram

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