A young man with ties to Kadavu is making waves in the world of performance arts in Australia. 22-year-old Richard Tanumi, whose mother is from Soso, Naceva in Kadavu, is a sought after commodity by top choreographers all over the world.
FijiVillage spoke with Tanumi, who is an accomplished acrobat who held the title of Australian Acrobatics Championship three years in a row.
He took up dancing at the age of 16, which he claims is “pretty late” for a dancer to start.
But discipline and hard work prevailed for this young man – who has done a lot of television work.
“I used to compete in Sports – Acrobatics – and that was a really big part of my life when I was younger and I competed a lot in Australia and I was national champion three times. Then when I was about sixteen became interested in dancing and singing which is pretty late for a dancer to start because people have been dancing their whole lives. It was hard. I studied and performed really hard and I did a full time performing arts course for a year and basically danced everyday and that was very challenging for me but I pushed myself when I got there. At the end of the day I got recognized by an agent and started to work.
And he is working his way to greater heights.
He is wanted by a whole lot of top choreographers in Australia and his resume is impressive.
His MySpace page talks about working with American R&B Singer-Songwriter and Rapper Fergie for the MTV Awards. He’s worked with Australian artist Christine Anu (who you may remember for her shivers down your spine performance of the song “My Island Home” at the 2000 Sydney Olympics), the Young Divas, Marcia and Deni Hines and Hugh Jackman.
I’ve performed quite a lot in Australia and overseas – and I’ve worked with national and international stars and done ads in Australia and Korea so I’ve done a lot of media and television work.
I performed with Fergie on the MTV awards and I performed withHugh Jackman in the musical The Boy From Oz which was based in Sydney and went all over Australia.
I’ve done a few video clips with Marcia and Denni Hines and some other video clips with some other Australian Idol stars as well. Yeah I’ve done quite a bit and I think the most important thing in achieving your goal is just really being focused on what your goal is and if you believe in yourself you can do anything that you put your mind to.”
And it is this attitude that got the attention of top Bollywood actor Akshaye Kumar while he worked on the set of Bollywood blockbuster Heyy Babyy.
The movie, which opened to packed houses in over 650 cinemas in India, shot scenes in Sydney and Tanumi said it was a great experience.
“Well basically I auditioned for a part in the movie and it was over a few days and I got it. It was great – so we started working on it and it was very long hours. Early in the morning from about six in the morning and we’d film all day until about six or seven at night.
It was very challenging but I loved every minute of it. The Bollywood stars were really cool. I’d never actually seen a Bollywood movie before doing this movie but it was a lot of fun – there was a lot of happy dancing and it was great. I enjoyed working with all of them. Hundreds of people, while we were working, were there screaming for these Bollywood stars. It was amazing as I’d never seen this before. I’d have to say that was one of the best jobs that I’ve ever done really. It was lots of fun.”
His hard work was recognized by Heyy Babyy main actor Akshaye Kumar – who played one of three bachelors trying to trace the mother of a baby left on their doorstep – asked Tanumi to help him improve his dance skills.
“He was a really cool guy, he was really very nice. He actually wanted to bring me back to India. And he wanted me to work with him to teach him how to dance a bit more. But I actually couldn’t do it because I was too busy recording my album. That was more important to him at the time, but I was very touched that he wanted to bring me back to India and for me to teach HIM how to dance was kind of cool. And he was a really nice guy and kind of funny.”
Tanumi said he has been lucky that all the stars that he’s met up with so far have been lovable people and speaks warmly of Hugh Jackman, with whom he worked on the musical The Boy From Oz, which incidentally is the first Australian musical to make it to Broadway.
“They’ve all been really good – all of the stars that I’ve worked with have been really lovely people and I’ve been really lucky to have worked with them. And Hugh Jackman was one of the nicest ones that I would have had to have worked with because when I was doing the musical I injured myself and he was the first person to come up to me and give me a hug and make sure that I was alright. He got me a month worth of massages. I was just awestruck because I couldn’t believe that he was so nice and that he was being really nice to me. And I’ve been really lucky with the stars that I’ve met. And Fergie was also really nice when I performed with her on the MTV awards she was very friendly – she wasn’t stuck up at all, no bad qualities at all. They’re all just really nice genuine people.”
Singing is another passion for Tanumi and he is now recording a debut album. He has written and recorded about 5 songs already and will fly to Los Angeles in July to set up a recording contract.
On his MySpace page he writes: Singing would have to be my largest passion of all. If I’m in a bad mood, or had a bad day, had a fight with someone.... anything, singing is the best therapy for me. I sing everywhere and i mean everywhere!”
And with his approach to life and his Midas touch – the album will no doubt turn gold.
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