HUNTER-raised dancer Tara Jade Samaya has had a whirlwind week, celebrating two career milestone within hours of each other.
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Ms Samaya said it was "incredibly humbling" to be named on Monday night as winner of a prestigious Helpmann Award, in the Best Female Dancer in a Ballet, Dance or Physical Theatre Production category. She moved the next day to Berlin, to take up a two-year role with Staatsballett Berlin as a soloist dancer.
"It feels surreal to win such a huge arts industry award in Australia and then move abroad in the same week," Ms Samaya told the Newcastle Herald from Germany.
"I feel a great sense of adventure, pride and ambition.
"I am stepping into a large unknown with the European dance scene and I have come from a world that knows me well. A small fish in a big pond again!
"I look forward to soaking up as much as I can learn... and seeing where it takes me."
Ms Samaya, previously known by her maiden name Soh, grew up in Rankin Park and attended New Lambton Public and Lambton High.
She started dancing at three and with the Marie Walton Mahon Dance Academy from eight until she received a scholarship to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
She worked with Australian Dance Theatre in Adelaide for five years and Chunky Move in Melbourne for seven years.
She won the Helpmann Award - the third time she had been nominated in the category - for her role in Common Ground.
"This work was a career changer for me, apart from being the most physically demanding show I've done to date," she said.
"The exposure and intimacy of performing my first main stage duet was an unforgettable performance challenge. The role required me to utilise all the various dance training I've had over my career."
Ms Samaya has also formed a film collective with her wife, Pippa Samaya, called the Samaya Wives.
Their films celebrate dance.
"We enjoy the medium because it supports our adventurous nature of collecting footage from many diverse landscapes and ...using dance to communicate to all ages, cultures and languages."
Their film with the Foong sisters will screen at Newcastle Art Gallery on September 27, as part of Catapult's Propel program.