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HARBOUR PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE |
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PRINCIPAL Francesca (ARAD RAD RTS) Miss Francesca completed her training at the Rambert
School of Ballet and Contemporary Danceand the Central School of Ballet
in London, graduating withmajors in Contemporary and Classical
ballet. She then heldpositions as
a professional classical dancer inGermany for 14 years, dancing
as a soloist in major classicalballets such as "Graduation Ball', Don
Quixote" and Romeo and Juliet.She also choreographed for musical
theatre productions such as 'My FairLady'. Her last dancing appointment
for five years until 1999 was at the Theater Vorpommern. She was also appointed ashead
of dance for the Conservatorium of Music in Stralsund in 1997. In1999
the opportunity arose as a sponsored teacher at La ViveStudios in
Port Macquarie and she moved to Australia.Francesca has been the
Principal of the Harbour PerformingArts Centre since 2007. |
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Miss
Merryn was
born in Sydney,Australia. She beganstudying classical ballet (RAD) at
the age of six, under the guidanceof JaneceGraham and Tanya Pearson.
She participated in many competitionsincluding theprestigious Prix De
Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1988, she was offered atraineeship in Banff,
Canada where she was fortunate to study withVictoriaSimon (Balanchine
Répétiteur), Brydon Paige and Brian McDonald. At thecompletion of the
program Merryn was to be awarded two scholarships, 1stto
San Francisco Ballet School, USA and the 2ndto
École Supérieurede Danse du Québec, Montréal Canada, - Merryn accepted
Canada anddevelopedunder the watchful eye of Master teacher Daniel
Seillier (Paris OperaBallet). Merryn
went on todance professionally with Les Grande Ballet Canadiens,
BostonBallet, Ballet Theatre of Boston and upon return to Australia;
OperaAustralia.Whilst at Opera Australia, Merryn worked with a diverse
range ofchoreographersthat included Stephen Page, Gideon Obarzanek and
Barry Moreland. Merryn
has successfully taught abroad andin Australia,serving as both company
member and dance educator and believes she is adanceartist who loves to
create a supportive, inclusive and performanceready dancecommunity.
Merryn is nurturing and encouraging but firmly demanding ofherstudents.
She is able to develop in them an appreciation for
bothartisticexpression and technical details. |
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Miss Pia
trained as a ballet teacher at the RoyalAcademy of Dancing, London.
After graduating she took up a teachingpost inTurin, Italy and then in
Milan as production assistant to thechoreographerLouis Falco. Moving to
Verona, she opened her own school and in 2005formed theCMT Musical
Theatre Company, which she ran and directed until 2018. Thecompanyhas
won many awards in Italy for excellence in the Performing Arts.
InAugust2016, the CMT Musical School was nominated a “Matilda the
MusicalItalianAcademy” preparing children for the Italian version of
theaward-winningmusical in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare
Company, London. Piahas beenin Australia since 2018 and hopes to remain
in this beautiful countrypermanently. |
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Miss Nina career spans performance, choreography, direction and teaching in bothdance and film. An Australian Ballet School graduate she was a founding memberof the Sydney Dance Company under Graeme Murphy’s direction touring extensivelyin seminal Murphy works both nationally and internationally. Throughout her 13years with the company Nina performed works by Australian and Internationalchoreographers (Leigh Warren, Graeme Watson, Don Asker, Barry Moreland, Kai TaiChan, Garth Welch, Paul Mercurio/Kim Walker, Louis Falco, Ralph Lemon and OhadNaharin) and developed her own choreographic work – Late Show, Radar, (Risks 2Workshop) Annie Lennox for Murphy’s Sirens, and a sequence for the film ofNearly Beloved. She was nominated for Green Room Awards for Best Female Dancerin Principal and Supporting Roles for After Venice and Afterworlds. Nina holdsa BA degree in Film and Television from The Australian Film, Television andRadio School (AFTRS) specialising in Direction. Credits include Tales from aSuitcase produced for SBS. Nina has held teaching positions with AboriginalIslander Dance Theatre, NAISDA and was Rehearsal Director for Bangarra DanceTheatre for Stephen Page’s productions of Skin, The Dreaming, Corroboree andinternational tours to New York, Washington DC, Hawaii and Noumea. A certifiedteacher in Conditioning with Imagery Training, Gyrotonic® and Gyrokinesis® Ninahas been an Academic Staff member at the Victorian College of the Arts,University of Melbourne from 2002 - 2020 teaching, classical ballet and a rangeof somatic practices. She maintained an interest in filmmaking, recording andediting Dance productions for their archives. Nina has twice been nominated forLecturer of the Year Awards. In 2019 Nina was one of 10 SDC alumni invited toperform in US50 choreographed by Gideon Orbarzanek to celebrate the company’s50th Anniversary. |
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Steve
has been tapping since his early teens and
has now been working with us for more than five years. Tap classes are
steadily growing from his expert teaching techniques
and we always look forward to Eisteddfod and
other tap performances where our children
perform. |
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Nicole grew up in Grafton, NSW before moving to the
Central Coast to complete 3 years of full time dance training at Lee Academy.
During this time, she completed her Certificate IV in Dance, Certificate IV in
Dance Teaching and Management and Diploma of Dance. She is also currently
studying her Pilates Matwork course. |
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Miss
Molly danced at HPAC from the age of 5 until the completion of her HSC when her
further studies saw her move to Melbourne. Molly is undertaking a teaching degree majoring in Dance and Student Welfare. Whilst in Melbourne she has had the opportunity to take classes and work alongside many choreographers. We are so happy that Molly has returned to Coffs Harbour ready to join us again in 2023 having previously taught at HPAC in 2017 and 2018, her favourite genres are hip hop, jazz, contemporary and ballet. Miss Molly is excited to bring everything she's learnt back home to HPAC. |
