Local dancer set for the big stage | Photos

A Kempsey local, Amber has been dancing for as long as she can remember and at age 16 began attending St Columba Anglican School in Port Macquarie where she learnt technique and was able to further her skills in dance.

“I studied dance for my HSC as well which really pushed me towards turning dancing into a career,” Ms Jenkins said. 

After Year 12 Amber took a gap year and attended Extreme Dance Studios in Port Macquarie, which is where she decided dancing is what she wanted to do. 

“It was the best stepping stone for me, I realised I wanted to continue to dance and that I was going to fully commit to it,” she said. 

From there, Amber moved to Sydney in 2017 where she attended Village Nation Performing Arts and received her certificate in dance. 

“I improved so much, being able to work with such amazing people in the industry and furthering my skills really challenged me.”

“I knew I wanted to continue with dance, so I went to absolutely every audition that I could. Some were really big with around 200 people there and some were small. I never heard anything back from the auditions though,” she said. 

As well as pursuing a career in dance, Amber has also appeared in two music videos, she has done some modeling and has also featured in an Australian film titled The School.

One of Amber’s goals since moving to Sydney was to perform on a cruise ship and in September of this year she attended the Australian Dance Festival where she auditioned for Royal Caribbean.  

“It was a really hard audition, I loved every second of it though. I didn’t really think much of it because I’d auditioned for things before and never heard back, but three weeks later I woke up to the email saying I’d been successful and couldn’t believe it,” she said. 

“I feel that during 2018 I’ve become more comfortable in myself to get a career in dance.”

“I decided that I was just going to put myself forward for every opportunity.”

Amber will fly out of Australia on Sunday and head to Miami to the Royal Caribbean headquarters where she will learn all of the routines for the shows. 

“In January I’ll fly to Shanghai where I’ll rehearse for a month before going on the cruise. Dancing on a ship is going to be very different to dancing on land.”

For this young girl from Kempsey, big things are coming her way. 

“I just want to keep pushing myself and further my career in dance.”

“It’s so important for kids in Kempsey to realise there’s so much more out there. And before you settle down, you need to go out there and search and find experiences,” she said. 

Amber will perform on the Quantum of the Seas cruise ship from February to August next year.