VIVIEN MANICA

Committee member | wa

Specialising in Hip Hop/Breaking,Acro and Choreography:

Viv began gymnastics age 2 in the family owned Manica’s Gymnastics and Dance School. Competing internationally from the age of 6, Viv's passion for coaching others saw her begin teaching at the tender age of 8 years old. Becoming also the youngest accredited gymnastics judge at the age of 13.

Viv at the age of 13 along with her sister Laura choreographed Manica's performance for the National Gymnaestrada in 1993 (Gymnaestrada is similar to todays cheerleading combining dance/acrobatics/gymnastics in a team event) This winning performance saw the team selected to be the first team ever to represent Australia at the World Gymnaestrada in Berlin Germany 1995 televised Nationally in Europe.

Upon selling the business and moving to Bali Indonesia, Viv established the first ever Dance and Gymnastics School in Bali at the age of 15. Whilst in Bali she had the opportunity to choreograph and perform for touring music acts at the time.

Moving back to Perth at age 19 Viv has shared her knowledge teaching workshops in and around the metro area, and conducted workshops in regional WA along with her husband Raz Laver to engage our indigenous youth. Their youth engagement work continues to this day facilitating weekly Hip Hop youth workshops on behalf of City of Joondalup.

Initially specialising in choreography and acrobatics upon meeting Raz in 2004 Viv started breaking and became a pivotal community member in the important evolution of female breakers (b-girls). Viv trained,competed and performed with Systematic Crew for various events and tv broadcasts. In the early 2000’s she became one of the founders of one of Australia’s prominent all female breaking crews, Form1Lane. She achieved the same level of success of performing and competing locally and nationally on tv and for major touring recording artists.

Most recently she’s known as MamaV of The Lavers. The family act won the Channel 7 Dancing Together challenge in 2020. The Laver’s went on to win Australian Families Got Talent hand selected by Simon Cowell. They have since appeared in print and on tv. The Lavers are now signed with renown agents AMI/BreakThrough(USA) and whilst they continue performing/acting, they continue to engage/mentor and support the local dance community as this sits high on the priority list.