This month we had the pleasure of interviewing Artistic Director of Australian Institute of Classical Dance, Kathleen Hamilton who are also one of our latest partners to support the work that we do. In 3 words what does ballet mean to you? Emotion, being, giving. What would be your favourite ballet to dance? A pas de deux choreographed to a favourite adagio piece of music. I think it is the music which compels one to dance. I had the good fortune of dancing a pas de deux to Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise”. It was like stepping into heaven each time we performed it. Do you believe that ballet is a re ..read more

Franziska Rosenzweig, founder of Holistic Ballet® and creator of the Holistic Ballet DVD series, was born in Berlin, East Germany. After graduating from the State Ballet School in Berlin, she danced with the German State Opera Berlin (now Staatsballet Berlin) and the Peter Schaufuss Ballet in Denmark. In 1998, Franziska relocated to London, transitioning from a freelance artist to a ballet teacher, concurrently adding Gyrotonic®, Pilates, and yoga to her skill set. Her teaching engagements spanned locations like India, and included professional dance companies like Random Dance, Richard Alston ..read more

Shane’s dance journey began at The Kirov Academy of Ballet, where he graduated top of his class in 2004! His exceptional skill and artistry were recognised by several prestigious companies, including San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, and Vienna State Ballet. Wuerthner accepted the offer from Vienna State Ballet and joined as a corps de ballet memberin 2005. In 2012, he made a significant move to The San Francisco Ballet as a soloist. In 2014, Wuerthner joined Queensland Ballet as a Soloist, and his unwavering commitment and consistent perfor ..read more

Jess Spinner is a former professional dancer and now a multi-certified holistic health, nutrition, and lifestyle coach for dancers through her company The Whole Dancer. She supports dancers to find a balanced approach to food, their bodies, dance, and life. Through coaching, dancers are able to prioritize their well-being and at the same time achieve their highest dance goals–paid jobs, professional school enrollment, exciting dance roles, and so much more. 1. In 3 words what does ballet mean to you? Joy, freedom, pain. These days it’s mostly got positive associations however, it used to bring ..read more

We had the pleasure of interviewing Vito, current soloist with The Queensland Ballet. 1. In 3 words what does ballet mean to you? Passion, Courage, Creativity 2. What would be your favourite ballet to dance? Sir Kenneth Macmillan’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. While I’ve performed Tybalt, Mercutio, Lord Capulet and Lead Mandolin, I’ve never performed Romeo and hopefully one day I can experience the role. 3. Do you believe that ballet is a readily accessible art-form? I believe that ballet is a readily accessible art-form to watch and perform in metropolitan areas, and the more outreach we can undertak ..read more

We had the pleasure of speaking with Renata, owner of local business Ballet Trove on all things ballet (naturally) and to of course find out what she would do with that elephant… In 3 words what does ballet mean to you? Discovery. Connection. Expression. What would be your favourite ballet to dance? Romeo and Juliet and Manon Do you believe that ballet is a readily accessible art-form? Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that initial exposure to view it and to attend class is more accessible at a basic level, especially with technology and shows for children closing and bridging the gap towards init ..read more

Meet Chloe Angyal, the author of Turning Pointe-How a new generation of dancers is saving ballet from itself. Turning Pointe is a book about the future of ballet, and a reckoning with all the forces – racism, sexism, elitism, and more – that endanger that future. Chloe originally hails from Sydney and is now based in Iowa in the US. In 3 words what does ballet mean to you? Tradition, progress, potential. What would be your favourite ballet to dance? I'd want to be a Wili! The corps work in the second act of Giselle is so intense and beautiful, and who doesn't want to belong to a sorority of v ..read more

This month we interviewed the lovely Jill Ogai, a senior artist at the Australian Ballet. Jill graduated from The Australian Ballet School in 2011 and joined The Australian Ballet in 2012 as a member of the corps de ballet. She earnt her promotion to soloist in 2018, and then to senior artist in 2022. Along the way, Jill earnt herself the Telstra Ballet Dancer Rising Star Award. She has danced to a wide repertoire and has had stunning performances as Princess Florine in David McAllister’s The Sleeping Beauty, Clara in Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker, Countess Nordston in Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Ka ..read more

This month we had the pleasure of speaking with Brodie James. Brodie is a soloist for The Australian Ballet. Brodie was offered a scholarship to attend The Australian Ballet School in 2008. During this time he was able to study at Canada’s National Ballet School as an exchange student. He toured with The Dancers Company in 2011 and joined The Australian Ballet in 2012. Brodie has now spent a decade with the company during which he has been nominated for the ‘Telstra Ballet Dancer of the year award’ both in 2016 and 2018. He also acts as a dancers representative and a mentor to graduating stude ..read more

This month we had the pleasure of interviewing the recently promoted principal artist of The Australian Ballet, Callum Linnane. Callum was accepted into The Australian Ballet School in 2008 and graduated dux with honours. He joined The Australian Ballet in 2015; he was promoted to coryphée in 2017, to soloist in 2018, to senior artist in 2021, and to principal artist in 2022. Callum was recognised as Telstra’s dancer of the year in 2016 and has delivered incredible performances as The Prince in Alexei Ratmansky's Cinderella and Vaslav Nijinsky in John Neumeier's Nijinsky amongst many others. I ..read more