Me in the living room at East Bentleigh...at 15 yrs.

EVERYONE CAN DANCE.............. LET ME PROOVE IT...
Has anyone ever told you they cant DANCE ?...
Im guessing the answer is yes....If you are one of those people ...I promise you I can teach you to dance....
Or are you inclined to think dance is not useful.....?
If so, consider this....
DANCE, like all high cardio excercise is one of the easiest and quickest ways to reduce high blood pressure, de-stress the nervous system and correct many other health issues...
Given that 1 in 3 Australian adults suffer with high blood pressure , high cardio dance is a very good alternative to running or cycling.

For intersting statistics from VIC WORK COVER regarding our general health in Australia click on 'WHAT WE OFFER' then click on 'STRESS'.
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Lets determine what DANCE means .....

ALL DANCE is MOVEMENT........from clasical ballet to contemporary improvization ( free style) ....

IF U CAN MOVE U CAN DANCE.....


Most of us acknowledge we cant do classcial ballet...but do we acknowledge that we can do contemporary improvisation....?.....probably not....which is a terrible pity as well all CAN do contemporary improvization......the only thing stopping us is
a/...music to inspire you
b/...lack of experience
c/...that we care what other people think........
d/... we have never been given the opportunity....

It is my intention to prove to you that YOU CAN DANCE.....
WE CAN ALL DANCE .

DANCE IS MOVEMENT....MOVEMENT IS DANCE....IF U CAN MOVE U CAN DANCE...

WHAT TO EXPECT IN MY DANCE CLASSES
Each dance class will be one hour long...and taught in 2 parts...


part 1/..WORLD DANCE (OPTIONAL : LIGHT HAND WEIGHTS) Disco...Jazz...Latin..Flamenco..Indian (bollywood)..Street dance (hip hop) ...

part 2/..CONTEMPORARY IMPROVIZATION...aka (free style)
This is the kind of dance you did new years eve after way too much bubbly...with yr eyes closed....not caring if any one was watching...(ok..maybe not this year..but at some point in your life you have danced as though no one was watching)
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My experience in world dance goes back 40 years..it is in my blood....I was learning flamenco and indian dance before I was a teenager...by the time I was 14 I was teaching crowded classes... world dance is easy once broken down....
World dance (latin /bollywood combo)will be taught during the first half of each class...all forms of world dance are all suitable for beginners...


..The second part of the class will incorporate very special music which I will choose....the music will include very specific rythums...very slow...ranging to very fast...with our eyes open or closed we will be oblivious to everyone else in the room.....we will be inspired by the music and draw on the world dance moves to create movement that is born from deep within us.......


Its really important we are clear on our intention....The intention is not to perfect anything...as perfection equals suppression....it is to have fun, get super fit and explore different types of movement......

EVERYONE CAN DANCE .....

LET ME PROOVE IT TO YOU

MY PERSONAL DANCE JOURNEY
When I was 5 my mum decided i might like ballet....that year..1965 I started ballet at ST.PETERS CHURCH...North Rd..East Bentleigh...

I remember falling in love with the music...the music carried me for years...if it werent for the music I wander would i have felt so filled....so in love with dance...

I learnt traditional flamenco..(my dance teachers husband was a gorgeous spaniard)...I learnt traditional mysore indian...mexican...african...tap...u name it ..we did it..

By the time I was 14 I had performed on 'UP TIGHT'...'FRED BEAR SHOW'...'YOUNG TALENT TIME' x 5 TIMES.... and 'KEVIN DENNIS NEW FACES'...most of you are too young to know most of those tv shows...but those of you that do remember them might appreciate the level of committmant and focus I had as a teenager....


Around the same time we formed a group called The 'YOUNG METROPOLITON DANCE GROUP'...we performed a couple of times at the Camberwell Civic Center,...our productions were huge...

It was then that we were fortunate enough to have our very own photographer....the infamous...BILL HENSON......
I have about a dozen un signed pics taken by BILL HENSON...maybe one day ill track him down and ask him to sign them.
Around this time my mother became aware that if I were to get into the AUSSIE BALLET SCHOOL i'd need to focus less on performance and more on my technique. It was then i moved to the NATIONAL THEATER in St.kilda to train with KATHLEEN GORUM.
I was successfull in getting into the Aussie ballet school, but not for long. My height and an inability to jump high prevented me form getting into the AUST BALLET COMPANY.
Devistated , I left classical ballet . My parents were very supportive. They tried to meet my need to dance. They even went so far as to have me audition for the LIDO in PARIS....I was successful, but at 16 I was unwilling to leave home and dance half naked....so I dance regularly at big family cabaret resturants like THE SWAGMAN and THE OVERLANDER, until I was discovered for being too young to have the correct 'actors equity' ticket......

At 16 I stopped dancing and began my hairdressing apprenticeship in Acland St. St.kila.
I spent the next ten years grieving the dance...the only dancing i did was on the disco dance floor....
It wasnt until I was involved with Melb Uni guild theatre that the dance was born for me again.
The director of the melb uni theatre Anastasi was a dear friend. He is now working in new york as a feldenkreis lecturer/practitioner. He created many contemporary dance performances. It was then that I learned that everyone is a dancer...and that contemporary improvised dance was a profound healing tool.....

TO BE CONTINUED......