Young Bathurst man Ainsley Melham says he is humbled to become one of the newest members of the musical group Hi-5.
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A former St Stanislaus’ College student, Ainsley, 21, is well-known in Bathurst for his performances in the Bathurst Eisteddfod.
He has been tap dancing since he was three years old.
After a rigorous audition process, he was one of three young people selected to join the popular group – chosen not only for their talent, but also for their natural ability to connect and engage with children.
Ainsley, who is the son of Paul and Gina Melham, graduated from Stannies in 2009 before studying for his BA in Musical Theatre at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
On leaving the academy, he intended to go out and audition for musicals – joining a children’s television program hadn’t crossed his mind.
“This opportunity has opened a whole lot of doors,” Ainsley said yesterday.
“This is a hard industry with many more talented actors, singers and dancers than me, and they might never get a crack at it.
“I was lucky. The stars shone down on me.
“It is hard to comprehend how big Hi-5 are around the world.
“Each day I go to work and, with each new thing I do, realise the scale of what we are doing is absolutely huge.
“It is so exhilarating seeing kids jumping up and down with excitement.”
Ainsley said a lot of the credit must go to Charmeon Jooste, his drama teacher at Stannies.
