ASA WALLER (19)

19 year old Ballet Dancer and former Westlake Girls student Asa Waller is currently attending the Dutch National Ballet Academy through the Amsterdam University of the Arts.

Asa is a high achieving all-rounder. She’s extremely active, having played various sports and musical instruments – including basketball, netball, swimming, tennis, classical and acoustic guitar, piano, classical voice and saxophone to name a few. Music also included involvement in the Big Sing Finale and performing solos with Westlake’s celebrated Choralation Choir. She was also heavily invested in academics, in accelerated classes for all of her subjects at intermediate and high school.

Ballet started at age 4. Growing up Asa had access to beautiful CDs with music from Petipa and Tchaikovsky. She says… “From a very young age I may not have enjoyed ballet class, but I recognised that this sensation when I danced, was unlike anything else. I loved it”.

Year 12 in 2020 was Asa’s missed year – when Covid hit. It turned out to be wonderful for her. “Most dancers hated it, but lockdown changed my life. I did full-time dancing. I caught up on my schoolwork in the weekends and evenings, and I spent all day every day, training and taking classes”.

At the end of the year she achieved excellence endorsed, attaining a place to study at the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington. Asa won the biannual Royal Academy of Dance competition – you can only enter if you have received a distinction score in your Royal Academy of Dance Advanced Examination.

She then left school and trained full time – ‘putting her all’ into ballet.

Asa now sees her late start to serious ballet dancing as both a weakness and her greatest strength. She believes her life experiences –including living in Egypt for a year with her family – helped to enrich her dancing. She believes her musical background helps her to feel the music.

During 2021, Asa returned to Auckland and continued her training with mentor and coach, Nicci Theis McEwan. In mid-2022 she made a two month trip to Europe, gaining a full time offer in Amsterdam.

Despite being only 19, Asa’s achievements in ballet are numerous –achieving excellence in competition, receiving scholarships and being accepted to attend famous ballet institutions all over the world.

Asa’s goal is a professional career in classical ballet and teaching ballet in the future. She says funds received from this AIMES Award will make a big difference to her realising these goals.

Asa Waller receives the North Harbour Club AIMES Arts Award for 2023, sponsored by ASB, and a cash grant of $15,000.