Tatjana Reid (Junior)

Tatjana Reid is an accomplished tap dancer, emerging choreographer, and passionate advocate for the performing arts, cultural exchange, and education. She is currently in her fifth year of a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Newcastle, having completed her Bachelor of Arts in 2024. Her career bridges dance, law, and community service, underpinned by a belief in the transformative power of movement and learning.

Tatjana began dancing at the age of six under Kristy Mansfield at HVT Studio of the Performing Arts, where she trained in tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop, and musical theatre. She quickly rose through the competitive dance scene, earning numerous accolades including the Junior Sydney Tap Championship at the McDonald’s Sydney Eisteddfod in 2015.

In 2017, she was selected for the Australian Dance Team, which led her to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Dance Championships in South Africa, where she won two gold medals, and at the World Tap Dance Championships in Germany, placing 7th. That same year, she received the Pullar’s Tap Scholarship, followed by the L.G.T.D.A. Eisteddfod Tap Scholarship in 2018.

Throughout her time at Hunter School of the Performing Arts (HSPA), Tatjana performed in prestigious events including Schools Spectacular, Starstruck, the Hunter Dance Festival, Sharp Short Dance, and various school showcases and dance ensembles. In 2019 and 2020, she served as both choreographer and performer for the HSPA Tap Ensemble, where she began teaching tap dance to high school students from years 7–11. Her ensemble performed at the Sharp Short Dance Festival in Parramatta and the Hunter Dance Festival, reflecting her early leadership and choreographic vision.

Tatjana’s professional development includes training with former Tap Dog Thomas Egan as a member of the Tap Project in 2020, and being selected in 2022 for a secondment with Tap Affect during its premiere season in Sydney.

In 2023, Tatjana was awarded the prestigious New Colombo Plan Scholarship, funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This scholarship enabled her to study, undertake language training, and complete internships across the Indo-Pacific, including:

• Japan, where she collaborated with the Japan Dance School and the Yokohama Theatre Group, performing in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and teaching dance in Kawasaki;

  
  

• Singapore, where she worked as a choreographer and full-time dancer with the Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre. There, she created an original work titled "Lotus Whispers", a six-minute Chinese dance piece exploring the life cycle of the lotus flower, a powerful symbol of resilience, purity, and spiritual growth in Chinese culture;

  
  

• New Caledonia, where she completed a legal internship under Maître Chambarlhac, working entirely in French, gaining valuable experience in international legal practice and cultural immersion.

Tatjana is certified in all 15 levels of the L.G.T.D.A. Tap Syllabus, has completed both Junior and Senior Teaching Exams, and holds R.A.D. Classical Ballet training up to Intermediate level. With a Working with Children Check, she is committed to building safe, inclusive, and inspiring environments for young dancers.

As a 2021 Ma & Morley Scholar, Tatjana is deeply committed to social justice. For the past two years, she has volunteered at Rutherford Public School, her former primary school, as part of her Ma & Morley Action Project—a personal initiative supporting disadvantaged students and families facing financial hardship. Through this project, she uses arts-based learning to empower and uplift students through creativity and connection.

Tatjana brings a rich blend of performance excellence, cultural insight, and social purpose to her work in the arts and education. She looks forward to contributing meaningfully to the dance community through adjudication, mentorship, and advocacy.