With the 27-year-old former Taree resident landing a place with the prestigious Sydney Dance Company, it looks like it will remain that way for some time yet to come.

"It's pretty amazing, both personally and professionally. Sydney Dance Company is a world renowned dance company and it's a pretty amazing place to be," Ryan said.

The appointment is the result of years of hard work and dedication from the one-time Chatham High School student - a school best known for its sporting progeny, such as NRL stars Danny Buderus and Latrell Mitchell.

Unlike many of his peers, Ryan didn't begin his formal dance training until the relatively advanced age of 16. The pivotal moment for him being when a high school teacher mentioned a dancing opportunity they thought he should apply for, an intensive workshop with Bangarra Dance Theatre.

This led to an audition and ultimately set the wheels of Ryan's career in motion.

But even before this, dancing had already been an integral part of his life.

Ryan is the grandson of Australia's first Aboriginal ballerina, Mary Pearson.

With four older sisters who loved to dance, the young Ryan naturally fell in with them, staging impromptu performances in front of the family on weekends.

After completing training at the NAISDA Dance College, Ryan joined the Bangarra Dance Theatre in 2017 as part of the Russell Page Graduate Program.

While there he was nominated in the 2020 Australian Dance Awards for Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer for his performance in Jiri Kylian's Stamping Ground.

Bangarra provided a fertile environment for not only developing Ryan's technical abilities, but also his artistic expression of identity and culture.

His experience there was of an environment that interconnects dance with theatre to tell in-depth stories about Australia's history through an Indigenous lens.

While he describes joining Sydney Dance Company as "another stepping stone in a creative process", Ryan maintains a deep love of his time with Bangarra Dance Theatre.

"I love Bangarra and Bangarra is where I sourced not only my contemporary dance, but also my cultural fusion, and that will always stay with me because being an Indigenous person," Ryan said.

Throughout his career Ryan has "dabbled" in choreography.

In 2023 while at Bangarra Dance Theatre, Ryan choreographed an original work titled, 5 Minute Call which was presented as part of the Dance Clan production, a performance showcasing emerging artists.

"That was my very first professional work as a choreographer and it was really lovely."

Whatever the future holds for Ryan, dance is sure to be a part of that future.

"Dance is my lifeline of expression, so without it this person that I am today will cease to exist."