An aspiring Tongan ballerina Eliana Vaha’i (13) from Utah, is preparing to perform in Tonga this year for the King’s coronation.

The Salt Lake City based ballerina trains with the prestigious Ballet West Academy. Eliana is a regular performer for the academy’s presentation of Swan Lake and is the only Tongan in the cast.

Adam Sklute, Ballet West Artistic Director said “Our dancers hail from Haiti to Tokyo and that diversity nurtures the whole company. Eliana Vaha’i represents where ballet is naturally progressing: an art form that looks like the rest of the world; after all, it is an art form that belongs to the world.”

Eliana aspires to bring ballet to Tonga and perform for the king. Eliana said “Every day I visualize building my ballet school in Tonga and picture what it will be like to dance for the King. I just know its going to happen. I was born for this.”

“Telling stories through dance is already a part of Tonga. Now I’m bringing part of Tonga to ballet,” she said. Eliana is the daughter of Glory Vaha‘i.

Eliana is not the first Tongan to shine in ballet. During the 1990’s, ballet dancer Joshua Tuifua was the first Tongan to perform and train for the Royal Ballet School in London, England.

Tongan-born Lisia Moala who emigrated to Australia, was a prima ballerina in three countries, with the Perth City Ballet, the Czech Republic State Ballet and as the lead dancer with the Cwmni Ballet in Wales during the 1990s and early 2000s.