This video is made with the support of NZ on Air Public Interest Journalism Fund. 

Bella Black is just 14, and already she has the world at her feet.

She is an international social media sensation whose dance has taken her to Vietnam, America, Australia, and Korea where she was the youngest competitor on Korean television survival show Street Dance Girls Fighter.

“I look up to a lot of Kiwis in the dance industry so to win that show as a Kiwi, I felt very proud. Also, I am Rarotongan Cook Island Māori - so it was really cool to carry that with me across the show,” Black enthuses.

The youngster lived away from home for two and a half months during filming and amassed 110,000 followers on Instagram after taking out top honours with her international team of dancers.

“Bella is one of those special dancers, she is technically great and obviously picks up choreography really quickly, but more importantly she really feels the music- that’s her X factor,” explains Auckland mentor Corinne Yee.

For the past six years, Black has dominated the international Asia Pacific Dance syllabus, consistently scoring 100 percent, particularly in hip hop.

“She is going places, we’ve got some pretty good students out there now like Renee Salesa dancing for Parris (Goebel) and doing a lot with Rhianna. One of our boys is a soloist in the Helsinki ballet dancing all over the world- that’s how I know she’s got the talent to get there,” says Yee, founder of the Asia Pacific Dance Association.

The Palmerston North youngster - whose family moved to Auckland to further her passion - started dancing at age two.

“I used to watch my sister dancing, and started with ballet before eventually worked my way up to a few more styles like tap. Then I started hip hop at around four years old and now I just want to do it forever!”

A student at Elim College in Auckland, she juggles schoolwork with a demanding six- day-a-week training schedule.

Mother Helen Black details “She is really good at managing her time and tends to get her schoolwork done at school. She takes it all in her stride.”  

Black has also just started her choreography journey, and now teaches dancers several years her senior.

“I really like adding my own twist to it which is quite cool. I also like exchanging energy so when I teach others, they give me energy and it’s a really cool vibe.”

Yee describes the humble teen as “a ray of sunshine, when she bursts into the room she is full of energy and has the respect of all her tutors.”

By the time she was 13, Bella had already been mentored by international choreographers like Kirsten Dodgen and Latrice Kabamba, Indigo Sagala and Los Angeles-based New Zealander Maddy Barnett, who has danced for Goebel, Justin Bieber and K-Pop sensation PSY.

Yee comments “It’s important to train with as many choreographers as you can, especially when you have that kind of talent so you are exposed to as many people at the top of the industry, and she does that.” 

Black says every time she dances “there is always room for improvement, I love getting feedback that will help me grow as a dancer.”

She adds the adrenalin rush she gets when on stage drives her, and she’s determined to make dancing her career.

“My advice to others out there who have a passion like dancing - I would say just always know what you are passionate about and have fun. 

"Never hold back because you are going to find your best after never holding back, and always have fun. Always.”