A YOUNG man born in Taree has graduated from a world-renowned dance academy in Russia.
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Lawrence Lambert was born in Taree and moved to Newcastle at age five, where he attended the National College of Dance in New Lambton.
It continued an infatuation with dance that began at the age of 15 when he first started ballet.
The next major step began when Lawrence became the first male Australian dancer to be accepted to the ultra-prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy's International Trainee Program in St Petersburg, Russia, in 2012.
Founded in 1738 as the Imperial Ballet School, the Vaganova Academy has graduated a host of of classical dance and choreography stars including Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, as well as many of the leading names in dance today.
He described the school as "very Russian," with the language another part of the terrifying culture shock.
The training regime of the school is not for the faint-hearted, with Lawrence waking up at 5.30am six days a week for class, which includes dance, language lessons and rehearsals, before finally going to bed at 11pm.
However, Lawrence's persistence paid off and he graduated from the school at the beginning of this month.
He will return home to Australia for a few months before embarking on new adventures at the end of August.
Lawrence still has extended family in the Manning area and his parents plan on moving back here shortly after retirement.