Episode 5: Leah Howard
In episode five of season four I chat with Leah Howard, a triple-threat dancer, director and choreographer. While Leah has hit the heights of royalty status in the Australian performing arts industry, having been raised in the studios of Brent Street, her Fijian heritage also sees her lay claim to the title of princess. And whilst these big titles don’t present as big ego in Leah they do reflect the coming together and blessing of two families who have defined her and made her very capable of the big love she advocates. As you sashay, tap and twirl through Leah’s big, bold style and story, feel free to revel in Leah’s joy and I dare you not to smile.
Leah likes to stick to a brief so when she arrived in her pink and yellow matching set, who was I to change her? Instead we both adopted the more is more policy and layered her yellow Perspex with jewellery with a gold bauble nighties necklace from my collection.
“The thing I always know is that my beautiful chocolate skin looks amazing with lots of colours and I absolutely rolled with that since I was a kid.”
“Maybe (my style) is a little bit of a metaphor for the colour of my skin. It could possibly just be about presenting bold and proud constantly because I want to be seen and I want to be visible so that people can understand that this is who we are.”
Photography by Giuseppe Santamaria @ MITT Work