Nikki Webster Press Archive

Drew Sheldrick

You can’t call starlet Nikki Webster and brother Scott’s new project anything but ambitious. Teaming up with your 20-something sibling to manage and develop a totally new dance school in the Inner-West was always going to be fraught with risk, if only in the sense that mixing business with family is always a fragile frontier.

But the lesser known of the two, Scott Webster, says it’s a risk they were willing to take for an initiative they’ve been keen to get off the ground for some time. “We understand there is going to be a lot of trial and error, but you just have to accept what is to come,” he says.”We’re just hoping that as people start to see how good the classes are we will start and build on numbers from there.”

Strathfield-based Webster has had an equally extensive background as his famous sister. The WAPPA graduate performed in musicals such as Les Miserables, Witches of Eastwick and Little Shop of Horrors as well as working behind the scenes on events like the Brewhaha Inner West Youth Week Festival and Strathfield Carols by Candlelight. After launching an entertainment contracting agency in 2006, specialising in child care with theatrical facilities across Australia, he thought himself ready to take on his ideal project.

“Nikki has a huge amount of experience in the industry, she’s been a child-star and we’re hoping that people will be keen to learn from her. But it will be a big effort on both our parts, I’ll be teaching half the classes till it gets off the ground,” he said.

Dance @ Nikki Webster will be located at Parramatta Road, Stanmore, and housed in a converted loft space currently under construction. Webster said it will focus on breeding young stars in singing, dance, drama and acrobatics but won’t neglect adult and more advanced students either.

“We’ll have classes for two-and-a-half year olds to adults and also advanced dancers. There aren’t a lot of places you can go these days that aren’t aimed at beginners. We want professional dancers to be able to come down and have a great class as well. We’re also hoping to appeal to Inner West residents who don’t want to travel a long way to take their kids to dance class,” he said.

One of Webster’s main aims is to get more boys into classes, especially as they are in heavy demand in the industry.

“Thanks to shows like So You Think You Can Dance and new styles like crumping and hip-hop, it’s far more acceptable for boys to dance these days. The hard part is just getting them in here to teach them the technique behind it all. Hopefully with the surge in popularity of these shows the stigma will start and disappear,” he said.

For information on classes and the launch date of Dance @ Nikki Webster visit www.dancenikkiwebster.com.au

Source: Inner West Courier

Sarah McInerney

A 20-year-old opening a dance studio might seem premature, but Nikki Webster has the experience to back it up.

Catapulted to stardom at age 13 when she performed at the opening ceremony of the Olympic games, Ms Webster will share her experience with a new generation of performers at Dance @ Nikki Webster in Stanmore. She is opening the studio with her brother Scott, a Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts graduate and experienced teacher.

It will offer subjects ranging from tap and jazz to musical theatre, salsa and acrobatics. These will be for children and adults and held after school hours and all day on Saturdays.

Ms Webster won’t take the weekly classes but will run weekend workshops in areas such as performing on stage and audition techniques.

“Everything I have grown up and learnt by doing the right and wrong thing I will pass on,” she said.

The siblings will also tap into their network of industry professional friends to host special one-off work shops. Ms Webster said she hoped to be a fun and approachable teacher.

“As much as it is fun I hope we challenge the kids,” she said.

The studio is at 2/25 Parramatta Rd, Stanmore.
Details: www.dancenikkiwebster.com.au

Source: The Glebe

AT only 20, Nikki Webster has had many career directions, something she says has just made her stronger.

Webster and her brother Scott, 23, are to open a performing arts school in Sydney, a new direction for the girl who first caught the eye at the Sydney Olympics.

She told Confidential she had had some "incredibly tough times" in the past few years after coping with constant backbiting.

"I’ve been scrutinised for doing nothing, basically being pure," she said yesterday.

"Just because I wasn’t on drugs and not in rehab, people didn’t want to know me or give me a chance."

After doing Dancing with the Stars, her career was at crossroads.

She sat down and weighed the pros and cons of staying in the industry.

"The cons far outweighed the pros, but I didn’t want to go and do a nine-to-five job," she said.

This was despite some of her family advising her to go to university or get a normal job.

"My family couldn’t understand why people were so mean," Webster said.

"When they saw me cry, it hurt."

But she’s upbeat about the future.

"I can remember watching Cathy Freeman light the flame and thinking, ‘I’ll be 21 when the Beijing Olympics come around’."

Source: The Herald Sun

NIKKI WEBSTER was criticised for having too much dance ability while competing on Dancing With The Stars. Now she will use those skills to help others.

The singer revealed to The Sun-Herald yesterday that she is opening a performing arts school with brother Scott next month, in a bid to help young people get a leg-up in the industry.

Dance @ Nikki Webster will offer classes in everything from singing to dancing to acrobatics, accepting tots up to adults.

Webster – a household name since she starred in the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games – said she would harness her extensive contacts in the industry, sourcing the best performers in the various disciplines, as well as leading classes at the Stanmore studio.

“I’ve been dancing since I was five and have been in dance schools growing up and I know what I liked about them,” she said yesterday from the Central Coast, where she is holidaying with her family.

“I can tell students what the industry is about. I just want to see people following their dreams and having fun.

“It’s also giving back to the community and Sydney, where I grew up. It’s a chance for me to be creative in a different sense as well.”

The 20-year-old said her new teaching career did not mean her recording career was over. “I’m still writing my music, trying to find direction, still performing,” she said. “Whatever comes up, I’ll take.”

Older brother Scott, 23, is a qualified teacher with a degree from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Webster’s school will have an open day on February 2.

Source: SMH