Identical twins Sam and Teagan Rybka have been dancing and performing acrobatics for as long as they can remember.
But when they uploaded a 16 second video, they had no idea how it would change their lives…
Hitting record on the camera, we quickly raced to our places.
‘Hi, I’m Sam.’
‘And I’m Teagan.’
‘And together, we are the Rybka twins,’ we said in complete unison.
Then, while the camera rolled, we performed our well-rehearsed routine, flipping, doing the splits, and spinning, before we jumped upside down into handstands.
It wasn’t just because this was such great fun, it was also our job!
Identical twins from WA, we have been dancing and performing acrobatics for as long as we can remember.
Our mum, Vicki, was an acrobat when she was younger so she enrolled us in lessons as soon as we learnt to walk! By the time we were three, she’d send us off in matching black leotards and there was no telling us apart!
‘Sam… no, Teagan…’ the teachers would say, struggling.
Loving every minute of it, we never wanted the lessons to end.
‘Can we stay please, Mum?’ we begged.
Our home became like one constant acrobatics lesson.
‘Quick, Mum, an ad break, spot us for backflips,’ we’d laugh, before launching into practising our tricks.
Whenever we had a free minute, she would find us backflipping from the lounge room to the backyard.
When we turned five, we both started dance lessons.
Soon, all of our hard work paid off and we were winning trophies in jazz, ballet, tap and acro.
We both seemed to have a natural talent for movement, but most importantly, a love for it!
We’d compete as a duo and in solos, and would design our own beautiful sparkly costumes.
Of course, they always had to be identical! We loved twinning and wouldn’t have had it any other way!
If we were performing alone, we’d always stand on the sideline cheering the other one on.
Crossing all of our fingers and toes, we were each other’s biggest supporters.
Then, in 2007, when we were 12, we were watching Australia’s Got Talent when a friend turned to us.
‘Why don’t you girls try out?’ she said.
‘What, us?’ we laughed nervously.
We didn’t know if we were good enough, but somehow, we were convinced to audition.
Taking the stage, we could barely breathe!
Following a flawless routine, we felt so proud.
We didn’t make it all the way, but six years later we had grown so much, we tried out again.
Holding hands, we walked onto centre stage.
Perfectly synchronised, we showed off our contortionist skills, bending every which way.
Afterwards, we even made the news!
Twin-Sync… Mirror image… Mesmerising, they wrote about us.
Amazingly, we made it all the way to the finals.
Donning a different sparkly outfit, we put on the best show we could.
When we got knocked out, it was really disappointing, but we decided to never give up.
So, in time, we started a YouTube channel and then an Instagram account, @rybkatwinsofficial, to show everyone more of what we could do.
For our first post, we set up the camera in our backyard and filmed a short video of us doing yoga.
Uploading it for fun, we didn’t think much of it.
But the next morning we woke to over two million views!
Watching the numbers tick up and up, our jaws hit the floor.
‘Oh my goodness,’ Mum gasped, just as astounded.
The video was shared all over social media, and within weeks it had more than a 100 million views!
After we received our first pay cheque from YouTube we couldn’t help but wonder…
‘We could make a job out of this,’ we giggled.
So, we started posting videos every week.
We never imagined it would become our full-time job, but that one viral video changed our lives.
By aged 19, we were earning an income from YouTube.
Once we graduated from university, we decided to take a year out to seriously grow our presence on social media.
Travelling to America and Europe, we did handstands on limos in Las Vegas and the splits in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
We balanced upside down on beaches and in famous cities. We even had the opportunity to compete all over the world and dance
at Disneyland!
Now 25, we make content for YouTube on Mondays and film for video sharing site TikTok on Tuesdays.
We teach dancing most days, take photos for Instagram and edit our videos when we have a spare minute!
‘Do you two ever sleep?’ Mum jokes at our jam-packed schedule.
But we wouldn’t have it any other way.
We even still love to dress the same! In matching crop tops and tights, we film at the beach, in our backyard and anywhere we can.
We still pinch ourselves every day as we look at our following from all around the world.
We have more than seven million YouTube subscribers and three million followers on our Instagram pages.
We’ve even written a book, called Twinning It, sharing our journey so far.
We’re lucky that what started out as a love for dancing and acrobatics landed us a full-blown career!
Twinning It, published by Murdoch Books, is available to buy now.
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