Traffic Stopper

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What was your first car? The first car I ever drove was a Kia, which was my family’s car. But the first car I actually purchased was only a couple of months ago and that’s a little Mercedes A160, which is what I’m driving around at the moment. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision. I went to look at cars and came home with one. I didn’t think I’d buy one on the first day. I just thought it was really cute. It’s black, it’s got a sunroof and it’s got a good stereo too, which is good.

What’s your ideal car? I think maybe the next car I’d want to get is a BMW X5. I like being up. Because I’m so short I like a four-wheel-drivey kind of feel. But it’s not going to happen any time soon.

How long have you been driving now? I’m on my green P’s, so I’m just about to go and get my full licence.

Have you been driving long enough to develop a pet road peeve? My problem is that I kind of learnt to drive in LA. I spent the first six months of my driving life living there, so I learned to drive on the other side of the road. Also, everyone moves so quickly there. I guess my pet peeve here is when people ride the brakes and also stop right up the back of you.

Isn’t driving in LA like a near-death experience? I guess most people think it is. But I love driving over there. I find I’m more comfortable driving on the other side of the road than I am here.

In a traffic jam: patient or impatient? Very impatient. The traffic just seems to be getting worse in Sydney, so it’s quite frustrating. It takes up a lot of your time in the day that could be productive.

Do you have a favourite driving song? At the moment I’m loving Don’t Stop The Music [by Rhianna].

Do you have a favourite drive? I find I go on automatic pilot quite a bit, especially driving to my new dance studio. I spend so much time driving from home to the studio, sometimes three or four times a day, so that’s my time to be by myself and listen to music and escape.

Are you sponsored by a car company? I’m not. Can you hook me up?

Owen Thompson

Source: SMH – Drive Life
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It pays to have a great accountant

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Performer Nikki Webster is about to open her own dance studio.

What was your first job?
Being in the pantomime Cinderella in Sydney when I was five.

What did you get paid?
Probably about $200 for the whole season.

Are you a saver or a spender?
I’m a huge spender on friends and family, for myself I’m a saver.

What do you spend your money on?
Other than bills and clothes, most of my money goes on investing in my music and setting up the new dance studio.

How do you save?
I try to set aside a certain amount from each job and put it into a saving account that earns good interest.

What was your worst purchase?
My last laptop. I got rid of it because it had to be reformatted so many times.

Credit cards are: a) great; b) helpful; c) a poor investment; d) work of the devil
B) Helpful

Why?
You don’t have to carry around cash to make big purchases.

Does budgeting work for you?
I think it depends – if I’m budgeting for something I want then yes, but if I’m budgeting just to get by until the next thing comes up then it doesn’t work too well for me.

What’s the best piece of investment advice you have heard?
To believe in what you’re investing into. Also, always have a great accountant.

What’s the best piece of investment advice you have acted on?
To put away a lump sum of money that you don’t need to touch for a period of 6-12 months, into a term deposit that has a good return.

If I was given $20, 000 I would…
Probably deposit on a property for a dance studio so I wouldn’t have to rent.

If I was given $20, 000 I would invest in…
My new album.

Source: The Sun-Herald

Harness the moment

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WHEN 13-year-old Nikki Webster left the stadium as the “Hero Girl” of the now famous ‘flying’ sequence of the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, she had no idea what impact this choreographed moment would play in her life. Although she had already begun her training as a singer and dancer and performed in Les Miserables, The Sound of Music, television commercials and a duet with Michael Jackson, it was the Olympics that threw her into the limelight.

Presumably Webster, like most wannabe young performers, dreamt of one day being a star, but to be handed an opportunity like the Olympics, with its stadium audience of 110, 000 and 3.7 billion global viewers, is good fortune beyond anyone’s wildest imaginings. The trick however, once the dust had settle and everybody moved on to the next Big Thing, was to harness the celebrity and use it, and not become yesterday’s news. As the old adage states: you are only as good as your last job.

After the Olympics Webster was invited to travel all over the world to recreate her role. Then Gordon Frost offered her Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, which ran for 14 months. She also launched a singing career, a clothes range and a make-up line – all before she was eighteen. In 2005, when some might have presumed Webster had fallen into the “former child star” vortex, she came back as a near adult on Channel 7’s Dancing with the Stars, reminding us that she was coming of age and also not afraid to work hard to justify her place in the competition. Her involvement in this show, and some very sassy costume choices, garnered a lot of attention and told us that she was not just multi-skilled but determined to evolve.

This year she can add entrepreneur to her resume. She has opened a peforming arts studio, Dance @ Nikki Webster, with her brother Scott, who is also a music theatre performer. The studio is in Sydney’s Strathfield. Although Webster will not personally be teaching she will oversee the school’s peration with a view to offering young hopefuls the chance to follow their dreams by offering classes with some of the best teachers available in music theatre, ballet, hip hop, tap, singing, drama and acrobatics.

Source: Dance Australia April/May 2008
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Three questions: Nikki Webster

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On a scale of one to 10, how annoying is Rob Mills?
Rob Mills? Annoying? I wouldn’t say he’s annoying. I worked with him quite closely and he’s just a genuine womaniser, really.

Do you ever regret not calling your 2004 release The Best Of Nikki Webster, So Far?
That would have been a much better title to call it, for sure. I don’t think I regret, I don’t really have any regrets, but it kind of would have been good. It kind of summed up the past five years rather than the best of forever.

Most stars wait until they’ve been out of work for 20 years before opening a talent school, how do you explain your efficiency?
I guess it’s a matter of living in the moment and also using the reputation I have with my name to create a performing arts academy. I mean, Johnny Young … wasn’t out of the arts when he opened up his school.

Nikki Webster runs the Dance @ Nikki Webster academy.
For more questions go to http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/stayintouch/

Source: Stay In Touch

Nikki Webster delighted by Big Gay Day role

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ALL-GROWN up Nikki Webster says she’d be happy if she was ever considered a gay icon.

Nikki’s doing a Kylie style gig at The Beat in the Valley on Saturday week where she’ll be joined by professional dancers to launch her first nightclub show.

“I’d be flattered if I was ever a gay icon,” says Nikki.

“They are very dedicated and passionate people.

“Ninety per cent of my male friends are gay so I’d love to be asked to perform at the Mardi Gras.”

Nikki’s show the night before Big Gay Day at The Wickham Hotel, featuring Anthony Callea, raises money for counselling services.

“I’m going to try and get a late flight home on the Sunday so I get to Big Gay Day,” she says.

Nikki will head to Los Angeles later this year to record an album which will launch her adult singing career.

Source: The Courier-Mail

Keeping it in the family

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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

Olympic star stages bright new venture

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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

IN MY OWN WORDS

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NIKKI WEBSTER
She’s only 20 years old, but already this songstress has released four albums and endured the scorn of the media. So how has the little girl who stole the show at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 survived her formative years?

By GEORGIA CASSIMATIS

I’m a Sydney girl. I was brought up in an ordinary suburb called Croydon Park, in a typical house – nothing extravagant. My upbringing was very down-to-earth. My mum’s a childcare worker and Dad’s an electrician. We took each day as it came.

Dance classes were my life as a child. I wasn’t sporty or athletic, so I went to dance classes and I felt really comfortable there. There was also an agency at the dance school, so I started going for auditions. My parents weren’t pushy. I never went to an audition thinking, I’m going to get in trouble if I don’t get this. I just loved what I did.

I had the gift of the gab. I’d walk into an audition and start talking my mouth off. My grandad took me to auditions and would wait in the car outside. He’d always ask me why I was in there so long and I’d say, “Oh, we were just yapping away.”

At school, the principal told my mum that I was the littlest one there with the biggest mouth. I was a small kid, yet I was confident. My brother tried to be the protective older sibling at lunchtime, but I would tell him to go away. My independence comes from Mum. She came to Australia by herself from London, on a working visa, at 18. Continue reading IN MY OWN WORDS

Webster opens her own school

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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

Singer gives dance a chance

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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