Ballet and Dance
Academy Staff
We are delighted to welcome three new dance teachers to the Academy this term:
Texas Nixon Kain – Contemporary Teacher
Texas had previously undertaken a Bachelor degree in Contemporary dance at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Whilst in London, she participated in the Tate Exchange program, which included a self choreographed performance at Tate Modern. She was part of a series of contemporary pop-up dance performances at the festival ‘Our City Dances’ in Brighton, England. She also worked within ‘COLAB’ which is Trinity Laban’s ‘eccentric two week festival of creativity and innovation’, where she was involved in a collaborative project with both dancers and musicians, working together to culminate in a live performance, including dance and film, inspired by stimulus of 1950s musicals and the adaptation to contemporary dance and music. Upon her return to Australia, she continued her training and graduated from Sydney Dance Company’s pre-professional year. Within the last year, Texas has performed a series of improvisational works, those being in relation to Lindy Lee’s artwork last year at Art Month, and also had the opportunity to perform a similar score at an opening at the Opera House. Texas has most recently just finished up a season at Carriageworks, performing 3 new debut works by Gabrielle Nankivell, Omer Backley-Astrachan and James Vu Anh Pham.
Alex Frost – Contemporary Teacher
Alex Frost commenced her dance training at the age of three. She has trained in a variety of dance styles including Classical Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop and Musical Theatre. She achieved up to Advanced 1 Level from the Royal Academy of Dance while training with the Teresa Johnson Ballet School in Sydney. Alex has completed a Diploma of Elite Performing Arts at Brent Street Performing Arts and is currently undetaking a Bachelor of Dance Practice at the Australain College of Physical Education.
Alex has a strong passion for choreogrpahy and dance production, appreciating the strength of performing arts in both the dance and commercial world. Her teaching focuses on raising the dance skills and capabilities of each student whilst helping them to build their uniqueness in the world of dance.
Mari Ohanes – Tap & Broadway Jazz Teacher
Mari has been dancing for 17 years. As a student of Macquarie Performing Arts (MPA), she is trained in Ballet, Jazz and Tap at vocational Advanced 2 level as well as Contemporary, Character, Musical Theatre and Acrobatics. For the past four years she has held a teaching and choreographer role at MPA and JDance Performance Studios, teaching British Ballet Organisation (BBO) Exam syllabus classes as well as open classes. Mari’s first national level achievement was at the 2009 Showcase National Dance Championships. She was awarded the title of National Champion in Jazz and Tap for her age group, as well as her own student choreography. Multiple BBO Dance Theatre awards as well as BBO Dance Scholarships have allowed Mari to train with the BBO in both the UK and New Zealand. As the Principal Dancer for the Nairi Dance Group and Soloist for the Hamazkaine Sevan Dance Group, Mari has toured Sydney, Melbourne and Armenia with cultural Armenian folk dance. Aside from her teaching career, Mari studies a double degree in a Bachelor of Speech, Hearing and Language Sciences and a Bachelor of Human Sciences majoring in Brain and Cognitive Science. She aims to complete her masters within the field in coming years.
We also say farewell to tap teacher Ms. Mikalah who leaves us to move into a full time position in Events/Sales Coordination. We wish Mikalah every success in her new career.
Classes This Week
Above are our Kindergarten Ballet students practising their First Position with Ms Debbie.
Our Yr 7/8/9 Ballet Program Class (above) working on Écarté Derrière with Ms Traynor.
Activities Fair
Our Dance captain Kyle Banfield kindly manned the Ballet and Dance Academy stall at the Redlands Activies Fair last Friday. Despite the wet, blustery weather our stall looked resplendent, thanks to our incredible collection of costumes on display. Thank you to all those secondary students who came over for a chat and signed up for Dance, we will be in touch soon. And if you are interested in any of our classes for Term1 please email us dance@redlands.nsw.edu.au
Friends of Ballet and Dance (FoBD)
Dear Parents/Carers,
Friends of Ballet and Dance (FOBD) would like to invite interested parents to a morning tea (details below):
Thursday 24 Feb @ 10:30am | La Baguette, Shop 2 / 202-212 Military Road, Neutral Bay
This is a great opportunity to meet other parents across different age groups and to catch up on all things “Dance”.
Ms Revie will come along to say a quick “Hello”.
Can’t Come to Class?
Please do not forget to let us know if sickness, injury or change of circumstance has occurred. Please send an email to dance@redlands.nsw.edu.au
Any Questions?
Please contact us at dance@redlands.nsw.edu.au. The start of term is a very busy time for our team but rest assured we are here to help and we thank you for your patience at this time.
Ms G Revie
Head of Ballet and Dance
grevie@redlands.nsw.edu.au
02 9908 6488