Not only the Course Directors and Directors of THE SPACE, Deb & Ariel are hands on in the studio, teaching Le Bop Modern Jive & production. The pair pride themselves on having created a safe environment for dancers & artists to flourish, from beginner dancers to advanced full time professionals; Flexible Intensive Industry Training AT THE SPACE is an extension of this vision... ‘After all, as artists, if we don’t love & enjoy what we’re doing, why do it?’- Deb & Ariel. 

TRENT HARLOW - VENUE MANAGER & PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR

Trent Harlow’s training comprises of Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary and Acrobatics starting back when he was 13 years old when he joined Dawn Ransley’s Performing Arts School on the Gold Coast QLD. By the age of 16 he become the principal Dancer of the Gold Coast City Ballet Company, were he performed as Von Roth Bart in Swan Lake. Trent also went on to performing in the chorus of 42^nd Street Directed by Robert Young and gaining 2^nd place in the Queensland Gymnastic State Championships.

Trent joined and Graduated from Brent Street Performing Arts School’s in 1999 and debuted his professional career in the chorus of Happy Days alongside some incredible talent. His dance credits also include, Dean Perry’s  Bootmen, Chicago Float Mardi Gras 2000, Kylie Minogue 2000 Olympics, Moulin Rouge The Movie, Collaboration - The Project. He also worked for some of Australia’s well known choreographers such as Matt Lee, Leah Howard, William Forsythe, Kelly Abbey, Alana Scanlan and Jason Coleman. He performed alongside Australian artists such as S2S, Jackson Mendoza, Human Nature, and British singer Tina Cousins on stage and on TV shows such as Pepsi Charts, Channel V and Good News Week. In 2002 Trent joined Princess Cruise Lines as a production dancer where over 7 years of travelling the world he worked his way up to Dance Captain.

10 years ago Trent made Melbourne his home city and started his teaching and choreography career. He created his first project in 2013 called Wild Eagles Fly Alone and became choreographer for DNA ideas creating for corporate events with Melbourne based producer Alana Scanlan and Doug Tremlett. Today Trent is the Venue Manager for The Space Dance & Arts Centre, he is excited to be a part of an incredible team within an awesome environment for new up coming artists. 

RACHAEL VAUTIER - ENROLMENTS COORDINATOR

After a childhood of ballet, jazz and gymnastics, Rachael found her true love of dancing as an adult with Le Bop, modern jive.  Rachael competed around Australia, as part of the unstoppable winning Le Bop team, and achieved places in the finals at national competitions in freestyle - where she competed with her partner, following his lead to unknown music.  Rachael became known for her aerial work; being lifted, thrown, flipped and dipped.  

After completing a Bachelor of Economics, a short career in the business world, and a change of direction into the Environmental Industry where she was a team leader and event co-ordinator, Rachael was fortunate to be offered the role of Venue Manager at The Space in 2005 - a place she was very familiar with through her dancing. 
After a 6 week whirlwind intro, Rachael was left to her own devices as owners Deb and Ariel took some time out to have their first child. In 2008 Rachael temporarily said goodbye to The Space to have her own family.  She is now the proud mum of 2 gorgeous children; one passionate dancer and one passionate bookworm. In her current role as Enrolments Co-ordinator, Rachael manages the administration side of our Flexible Intensive Industry Training program as well as our Dance in Schools program sharing her passion for dance with students around Victoria and further afield.  Rachael truly believes that our world would be a better place if everyone experienced the joy of dance, and took the time to be mindful of the impact of our choices in life.

BEN CURE - JAZZ

Ben Curé is the founder and director of the Melbourne based Lion Heart Dance Company. Over his career he has worked to establish himself as one of Melbourne's leading choreographers and a highly sought after teacher. Curé has directed and produced a number of original works including "The Scarlet Trace", "Table of Eight" and "Fabricated" and worked as a dancer for companies like Opera Australia and Vertical Shadows.

Curé has built networks across a broad range of artists and innovators and continuously works to build opportunities for working dancers within the Melbourne industry. As a teacher his passion and determination are infectious, as a choreographer his work is challenging and engaging and as a dancer he is raw and unique.

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TIM BARNES & SCOTT PORKONY - COMMERCIAL BALLET

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CHELSEA BYRNE - CONTEMPORARY

Chelsea is dedicated to mentoring young artists toward understanding the infinite potential of movement, developing individual style and self-direction. She has studied dance extensively, completing a Masters of Dance (VCA), a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance Creation: Choreography (VCA) and a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) / Bachelor of Education (UNSW). She has taught contemporary dance, choreography and improvisation for The Arts Unit NSW, Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts and the SEDA Arts Development Program and developed primary, secondary and pre-tertiary dance programs in Sydney, Melbourne and London (UK).

As a dancer, Chelsea performed in Victoria Hunt’s work Tangi Wai… The Cry of Water for Dance Massive (2017), Hypnagogia choreographed by Amanda Lever (2015) with whom she has an ongoing collaborative relationship, and was a founding member of Austinmer Dance Theatre (2011). Her artistic practice privileges improvisation, multidisciplinary collaboration and relational structures between performer and audience. 

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KYLE DAVEY - BALLET

Kyle's first 8 years of dancing began at the Dubbo Ballet Studio in NSW. He then went on to graduate from the Queensland Dance School of Excellence and The Australian Ballet School where he received an A.D and the Graeme Murphy Award for Excellence in Contemporary Dance. Whilst studying in Australia Kyle has worked with the Queensland Ballet, The Australian Ballet Dancers Company Tour and Australian Ballet. 

He then moved to England and joined New English Contemporary Ballet where he has performed and created Soloist roles in new works by David Fielding, Jamie Thompson, Vanessa Fenton, Patrick Delcroix, Davide Bombana, and existing works by Richard Wherlock.

Kyle has also danced with Tivoli Ballet in Copenhagen, Cork City Ballet in Ireland and Ballet Russes in Wales. Kyle was also fortunate to be one of a handful of dancers employed for a choreographic research project directed by Wayne McGregor at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London in 2008 and asked back again in 2009. 

Kyle then moved to Canada to join Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada and created soloist roles for many new ballets in the company’s repertoire which toured nationally and internationally. Kyle was only the second guest choreographer in Atlantic Ballets 10 year history to create a piece on the company. Kyle has also spent many years as a teacher of ballet and contemporary dance in Australia, England and Canada where his choreographic skills have been sought after. 

His logical approach to ballet and contemporary highlights the different movement qualities and aesthetics required for each discipline. Kyle is currently completing a Graduate Diploma of Elite Dance Instruction with the Australian Ballet School.

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TEGAN OLLETT - CONTEMPORARY

Tegan Ollett is a creative producer, experienced arts manager and artist working in the field of dance and live art; and as the current Company Manager of the Australian dance company, Lucy Guerin Inc. Following the completion of a Bachelor Degree in Dance (QUT), Tegan established a creative focus exploring contemporary dance practice through collaborative performance installations and larger choreographic works. Her work examines our intrinsic connection to one another, and to place, interrogating the frequent disengagement perpetuated by our modern lives; exploring the energetic and aesthetic potential of this concept through choreographic investigations. Her work has featured in festivals and galleries and includes collaborations with Australian visual, sound and projection artists. Tegan has produced several of her own original works and received the Dance Award at the North Queensland Arts Awards (2015). Tegan has also focused her career on producing opportunities for others to engage in creative practice, facilitating workshops for youth, artists and the wider community and as a teacher of contemporary dance practice.

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JORDAN CHARLES HERBERT - COMMERCIAL

Born and raised in Melbourne, Jordan has always had a passion for performing. Since graduating from commercial and musical theatre studies at Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance’s fulltime development course in 2012 – where he now assistant directs the end of year fulltime showcases with Jason Coleman – Jordan has gone on to work closely and assist some of Australia’s best choreographers including Jason Coleman, Marko Panzic, Stephen Tannos & Yvette Lee, whilst having worked closely with others including Robin Antin (Creator of the Pussycat Dolls), Jason Gilkison, Simon Lind, Kelley Abbey and The Squared Division. Jordan’s television credits include Australia’s Got Talent, T.V Week Logie awards, The World Ballroom Championships, Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, as well as performing for artists such as Red Foo, Jessica Mauboy and Delta Goodrem. Jordan was also fortunate enough to co-choreograph the closing ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, led by Jessica Mauboy, held in Glasgow, Scotland. Jordan was also a choreographer for The Greyhound’s ‘Boylesque’, where occasionally you can catch him on stage starring under the alias ‘Aurora’. Recently, Jordan teamed up with Bonds Australia to choreograph a TVC for their 2017 Christmas campaign. Other companies Jordan has gone on to choreograph, dance and work for are Mercedes Benz, Redken, National Australia Bank, Emirates Melbourne Cup, Spiegeltent, Melbourne Comedy Festival, Interflora, Fashion Aid, Fox FM, Gold FM, Kiss FM, La Biosthetique, Mazda & the Australian Open.

As a teacher, Jordan has been a regular teacher since 2014 at various full time courses in Melbourne. He has taught at summer schools, workshops and intensives in dance schools through out Melbourne and Australia. He has assisted Stephen Tannos, Yvette Lee & Jason Coleman at Australian Dance Festival since 2013 as well as teaching his own class at the Victorian Dance Festival in 2016. Whilst training in Los Angeles in 2016, Jordan was also asked to assist Jojo Gomez with her classes at multiple studios. Teaching is a passion to Jordan and he is committed to providing students with creative mentoring, fresh and current choreography and constant exposure to skill and performance development. In 2015, Jordan founded Boss Dance Company, a commercial dance company consisting of some of Australia’s finest dancers, specialising in styles of commercial, hip hop, contemporary and jazz - in order to create and develop opportunities for himself and others to showcase and produce dance work, particularly in the commercial dance scene, in addition to the performance work Jordan does (corporate, commercial etc). Boss has been extremely successful over the years, winning Australian UDO Australian National Street Dance Championships and going on to make the finals at the UDO International Dance Championships in Glasgow (Scotland) in 2016. Additionally, Jordan has produced, directed and choreographed two full-length shows for Boss Dance Company, held at Gasworks Theatre (Alpha, 2015 & Conquest, 2016) to acclaimed reviews. Jordan has proved to have extensive experience in performing, choreographing, mentoring and teaching.

BEA GLENDENNING - FRANKLIN METHOD

Bea is a psychologist and biomechanics educator with a passion for teaching everyone the ability to move with ease and efficiency.  Her approach to teaching combines skills she has gained through her personal sporting pursuits and her study and work in Pilates, Educational Psychology and the Franklin Method.  Bea’s movement classes use educational tools and dynamic imagery to help each participant gain a lasting understanding of their body’s design, function and biomechanics.

VICTORIA RIMINGTON - BROADWAY

Victoria received her Diploma of Dance from Dance World Studios. After graduating she was cast in Disney’s award winning musical ‘Mary Poppins’ produced by Cameron Mackintosh. She toured Australia and then played Auckland, New Zealand.

Most recently she was a guest Tap dancer in Derek Deane’s ‘Strictly Gershwin’ with the Queensland ballet company. She worked with some of the best tappers in Australia and was privileged to take notes from Li Cunxin.

Other professional shows include ‘Westside Story’ with The Production Company and the Australian premiere of ‘Nice work if you can get it’ also with The Production Company.

In 2014 Victoria performed in the premiere dance show ‘Hollywood Honky Tonk,’ choreographed by Michael Ralph, she received standout reviews from the critics.

Victoria has also worked as a children’s entertainer, shows include Disney’s “Rockin’ the house with Mickey Mouse” at the Royal Melbourne show and “Looney tunes classroom capers” which played Malaysia.

In 2016 she appeared in ‘Nine the musical in concert’ for Manilla street productions at the Melbourne Recital centre.

Victoria has also studied film and TV. Her credits include; Sunrise, The Today Show, Studio 10, Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, Work safe, Target, Chemist warehouse and Coles.

DONNIE DIMASE - COMMERCIAL

Donnie Dimase is an established choreographer. Specialising in Commercial Jazz, Urban, Voguing & Waacking, Director of popular Tenacity DC UDO World Championship 1ST PLACE WINNERS Representing Australia in Scotland, Glasgow UK and the Hip Hop International First Place Melbourne Championship Title 2017 Director of Ferocity DC and youth initiative Academy of Sass. Founder of TENACITY ENTERTAINMENT creative directing and choreographing for Nightclub Entertainment including Billboard and Crown Casino. 

Artist for Show \ Business Melbourne 2017 and a graduate of Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance, he has been Nominated for Victoria’s Favourite Dance Teacher by AusDance Australia, he is passionate for teaching, mentoring under various institutes including full time dance institutions and dance studios across Australia, Mentor at Victorian Dance Festival with the choreographer grant as well as mentoring at the ATOD Come Together Dance Convention Queensland and sharing his skills across the globe for Junior Eurovision (Tibilsi, Georgia), Dance Ginnastica (Rome, Italy) . In addition, he has been nominated for the Short Dance Film award with his work, ‘Black Widow’. Resident Choreographer at Masters of Choreography including ‘Nightmare on Dance Street I + II’ and ’Once Upon a Time Chapter II’. Donnie is honoured to have been selected to participate in Short + Sweet Dance Festival and to be awarded both the ‘Choreographic Award’ and the ‘People’s Choice Award’ for his show ‘Own The Throne’ he is also selected Resident Choreographer at Raw: Natural Born Artists.

Amongst his many achievements and choreographic credits, he can include the Australian Open, The Greyhounds ‘Boylesque’, Fox FM, Crown Casino, Scouts Australia (Sydney Myer Music Bowl) ,ABC3,  Miss Crown Asia Beauty Pageant, Dream Industry Party (Sydney) , White Night Melbourne, Underground (Melb / Sydney), Lili Kendall’s ‘Run’, Isabella Clarke ‘Speak Up’  , Grounded : Battle of the Arts  and many more as well as performing for Usain Bolt, Nitro Athletics , Australias Got Talent, DreamWorks, Coca Cola, Special Olympics Opening Ceremony and many more.

JACK MAY - HIP HOP

Jack began dancing at the age of 13 at Fresh Funk studios in Canberra where his interests in freestyling created a number of opportunities for him to represent the ACT at national dance competitions. He moved to Melbourne in 2010 to pursue a career in the performing arts, since then Jack has had a immense career as a dancer that has seen him work on a number of large scale events such as the Footy Show Grand Finale Players Review, Australian Hip Hop Champs, Battlegrounds, Grounded, Short and Sweet Dance Festival, Usain Bolt’s Nitro Athletics and many more.

His choreographic achievements have seen him co-choreograph a number of productions for contemporary company Collaboration the Project. He was hand picked to teach at Victorian Dance Festival in 2016/14, he was assistant to world-renowned choreographer Erica Sobol on her teaching tour in Guam. Jack has been on multiple touring workshops around Australia and in 2016 a number of studios throughout Japan. He has the pleasure of being invited to work at Victorian College of the Arts, a vast majority of the Full Time Studios in Melbourne, and has taken many incursions within schools in and around Melbourne.

Jack believes his capacity to connect with students is his greatest strength, he loves working with all ages and abilities and strives to create a classroom environment where everyone feels comfortable to step outside their box and discover what they are truly capable of. 2015 saw Jack open his first of many studios going by Momentum. His passion for teaching and love for dance have fused to create a place where others can learn and develop their skills alongside him and his team of incredible teachers and educators.

KALMAN WARHAFT - BALLET

Born in Melbourne, Kalman Warhaft's passion for dance unfolded when he was six years old. Kalman had the privilege of being taught for many years by internationally acclaimed Russian teacher Madam Janina Ciunovas (Named as one of “Ten Twentieth Century Master Teachers” in Gretchen Ward Warren’s  “The Art of Teaching Ballet”).  Before continuing his studies at The Australian Ballet School. During this time, Kalman appeared in The Australian Ballet's Coppélia, toured regionally with The Dancers Company (performing in a variety of roles including Mouse King in The Nutcracker) and the English National Ballet's Arena production of Swan Lake.  After graduating with an Advanced Diploma of Dance, Kalman joined Sydney Dance Company (SDC) under the directorship of Graeme Murphy AO and Janet Vernon. The company toured extensively across Australia and internationally. 

Kalman performed in a variety of works whilst at SDC including Graeme Murphy's Grand, Berlin, The Director’s Cut, (and many others); Stephen Petronio’s Underland; Meryl Tankard’s INUK2; Rafael Bonachela’s 360˚ and we unfold; Aszure Barton’s Sid’s Waltzing Masquerade and Kenneth Kvarnström’s Mercury. After leaving SDC, Kalman was invited to be part of the new dance-mad climate, as a founding member of Mod Dance Company. Rejoining distinguished choreographer Graeme Murphy and some of Australia's brightest dancing stars, the world premiere of Suite Synergy "left the audience in awe". Kalman furthered his understanding of the Australian performing arts scene when he worked with Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, and Victorian Opera. He later worked with The Australian Ballet in Graeme Murphy's Romeo and Juliet.   Kalman's final performance was as principal dancer with Opera Australia in Graeme Murphy's "sumptuous production" of Aida. Since retiring from stage, Kalman has enjoyed being a creative assistant to Alice Topp, one of The Australian Ballet's rising choreographers.

Kalman's love of dance has now fuelled his passion for dance education. One of the first in his field to complete a Graduate Diploma in Elite Dance Instruction at The Australian Ballet School, he has amassed a large following, teaching dance in schools, universities and academies across Australia.