Helen Linkenbagh
Director
Affiliate Teacher of the Royal Ballet School​​
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Masters of Teaching: Dance, University of Surrey (Distinction)
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Postgraduate Diploma in Performance Creation in Choreography, Victorian College of the Arts
BA Dance Education, University of Surrey
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ARAD, Royal Academy of Dance: Registered Teacher Status
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ISTD: Full Teaching Member
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Helen trained in classical ballet at the McDonald College of the Performing Arts in Sydney and has studied contemporary dance, jazz and tap to advanced/professional level. She holds Registered Teacher Status with both the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance (ISTD) and the Royal Academy of Dance, (RAD) and in 2022 became an Affiliate Teacher of the Royal Ballet School. She completed a Graduate Diploma in Choreography in 2008 (VCA, Melbourne) and is a graduate of the RAD’s BA in Dance Education and Masters of Teaching programmes. Helen is the current External Examiner for the RAD's Certificate in Dance Teaching programme.
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Helen lived in the UK from 2009 to 2023, working at RAD Headquarters in London as a Lecturer in Dance Studies in the Faculty of Education and as a Teacher of Ballet at the RAD Dance School. Helen has written and tutored on numerous teacher training programmes and CPD activities, including being part of the team that devised the RAD’s Dance for Lifelong Wellbeing research project and the Silver Swans® teacher training initiative.
Helen’s role as Director of Dance at Brighton College saw her lead a team of ten dance teachers in running dance classes for some 400 pupils, including specialist boys’ programmes, ISTD and RAD Graded and Vocational examination lessons, and competition work. Her pastoral role at the College centred on helping pupils to navigate demanding schedules of academic, co-curricular and sporting commitments whilst maintaining the highest levels of dance training.
Helen has had pupils accepted into prestigious full-time and summer school programmes at the Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School, Balletschule Hamburg, the New Zealand School of Dance, Rambert School, Mountview Theatre Arts, National Youth Ballet of Great Britain and the London Children’s Ballet – not to mention the many dancers who have achieved Vocational level dance exams alongside winning places at LSE, Oxford and Cambridge, and at Ivy League Universities in the USA.
Martin Thomas
Director and Designer
BA (Hons) Theatre Design: Wimbledon College of the Arts
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Martin is a theatre designer (set and costume) who comes to Canberra from his role working in the production department at Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
We are fortunate to have Martin's unparalleled skills and experience to hand in working on our costumes, and of course, in designing the set and running the technical side of the end of year show, as well as working behind the scenes in the administration of the studio.
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Email: admin@balletcanberra.com.au
Our Teachers
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LORRAINE BENNETT
MA in Professional Practice, Dance Technique Pedagogy
FISTD: Fellowship, Imperial Ballet
AISTD: Associate, Modern Theatre Dance
Royal Academy of Dance: RTS
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STEPHANIE BLUMER
New Zealand School of Dance: Diploma of Dance and Dance Performance
Royal Academy of Dance: Solo Seal
Royal Academy of Dance: Professional Dancers’ Postgraduate Teaching Certificate
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MARGARET BRADLEY
AISTD: Associate, Imperial Classical Ballet
Advanced 2: ISTD Classical, Modern and Tap
ZOE ROSS
Cert IV in Dance (Ev and Bow)
Advanced 2: ISTD Classical and Modern
MIA SCOTT
Advanced 2: ISTD Classical, Modern and Tap
MELIA WENGER
AISTD: Associate, Tap Dance