Sakura Shimizu

Born in Yokohama, Japan, Sakura started training at Suzuki Classic Ballet Academy. In 1990 and 1991 she won 2nd prize in the Saitama All Japan Dance Competition. In 1992 she was a semi-finalist in the Prix de Lausanne and entered the Hamburg Ballet School, graduating in 1994.

Upon graduation Sakura joined the Hamburg Ballet, under the direction of John Neumeier, where she danced all the repertoire as well as new ballets Nijinsky, Messiah and Odyssey by John Neumeier, Sleeping Beauty by Mats Ek and 8 by Christopher Wheeldon.

In 2002 Sakura was a guest artist with the Singapore Dance Theatre and had a leading role acting and dancing for Tanz Theater in Klingt Meine Linde by Tina Seeland In Kampnagel Hamburg. In June 2002 Sakura joined Singapore Dance Theatre, under the direction of Goh Soo Khim, and danced a large variety of works by choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Stanton Welch, Ohad Naharin, Thierry Malandin, David Dawson, Jorma Elo, Boi Sakti, Sakiko Oshima, Marie-Claude Pietragalla and Graham Lustig. She also danced many classical roles and choreographed a ballet for the company.

Since arriving in Melbourne Sakura has performed with Redspan Contemporary Dance Company, Australian Conservatoire of Ballet and Melbourne Ballet Company.

Sakura started teaching adult 'Absolute Beginner' classes in 2009 in Singapore. Since become director of City Dance Centre in 2011, she has expanded her passion for teaching ballet to adults, from absolute beginners to professionals.

Sakura also taught both classical and contemporary ballet at Australian Conservatoire of Ballet, Gay Wightman School of Ballet from 2010 to 2012.

As well as being Director for the City Dance Centre, Sakura also teaches Melbourne audition class for the Queensland Ballet under the direction of Li Cunxin since 2017.

Jessica Thompson

Holding an Advanced Diploma of Dance, Jessica has been awarded an Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant to continue artistic development in Europe and India.

Jessica trained at the Australian Ballet School and holds an Advanced Diploma of Dance (2003). She has danced as a company artist with The Australian Ballet and Sydney Dance Company, touring extensively throughout Australia, Europe, the UK, the USA, South America and New Zealand. In 2011 she was awarded an Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant to undertake artistic development in Europe and India. Her performance repertoire is vast and includes works by George Balanchine, Rudolph Nureyev, Krzysztof Pastor, Kenneth McMillan, Stanton Welsh, Rafael Bonachela, Graeme Murphy, Stephanie Lake, Alexander Ekman, Gideon Obarzanek, Lee Serle, Gabrielle Nankivell, Alice Topp and Jacopo Godani.

In 2023 she performed as a guest artist with The Australian Ballet as part of their 60th birthday celebration seasons in Melbourne and Sydney. She also collaborated Yuiko Masukawa in creation and performance of her work “Yugen” for Frame festival in Melbourne. She is committed to honesty and sustainability in her relationship to environment, community and history through the expressive capacity the body and approaches dancing as medium for embodied presence offering endless possibilities for intimacy, freedom and human connection.

Adrian Dimitrievitch

Adrian began his training in Buenos Aires at Teatro Colon under the tutelage of Yura Dimitrievitch, Roberto Dimitrievitch and Vakhtang Chaboukiani.

Adrian Dimitrievitch attended the Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires in Argentina, before completing his training at the New York City Ballet School.

As a dancer, he was a member of the Corp de Ballet at the Teatro Colon, afterwards performing as a soloist with companies throughout Europe including the Munich Ballet.

As a teacher, guest artist and ballet master, he has worked with Deutsche Oper Berlin, Australian Dance Theatre under Meryl Tankard, Sydney Dance Company, Chunky Move and The Australian Ballet.

Schools include the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet, Victorian College of the Arts, Paris Dance Centre, Ecole Superieure de Dance de Cannes Rosella Hightower, Tanya Person Academy, NICA, Melbourne Academy of the Arts, Glen Iris School of Dance and the Kelly Aykers School of Dance.

Carol Green

Carol’s love of dance started at the age of 5, where she first appeared on TV.

Under the teaching of Kathleen Gorham, one of Australia’s first prima ballerinas, Carol started her formal ballet training. Kathleen encouraged Carol to present in TV appearances and enter competitions, winning first prize on Young Talent Time at the age of 14. Her training continued, completing every level up to solo seal of the RAD syllabus.

Carol entered the Australia Ballet School receiving multiple scholarships from Sir Robert Helpmann and Dame Peggy Van Praagh. After graduating with Honours from the Australian Ballet School, she entered the Australian Ballet Company and danced there for several years before joining an independent ballet company in Paris.

Carol’s ballet training continued in London where she studied the Vaganova method for 16 years. During her time in London, Carol started teaching for Sylvia Young Theatre School and Arts Education.

Carol continues to teach ballet in Melbourne, sharing her wisdom to the younger generation of ballet dancers and to adults which have taken up dance later in life. Carol also actively pursues modelling undertakings throughout Melbourne.

Jonathan Janolo

Beginning his ballet career in Manila, Jonathan has performed many lead roles. Appointed as the Ballet Master for the Manila Ballet School .

Jonathan began his dancing career with Ballet Manila in 1998 under the Russian Vaganova Method of training. Over his 11-year career he performed many lead roles including Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Prince in The Nutcracker, and Conrad in Le Corsaire. Jonathan was then appointed assistant to the Ballet Manila school director and assistant Ballet/Rehearsal Master for the Company. He continued to work with the school and company training young and professional dancers for performances and competitions.

One of Jonathan’s most memorable moments was training a scholarship program for the under privileged children in Manila called Project Ballet Futures. These children were chosen from the slums of Manila and Jonathan trained, nurtured and guided them for many years to become members of the company.

Jonathan choreographed many pieces for The Company and School. In 2015 Jonathan was appointed Ballet Master. He restaged many ballets for the Company and guided the Company for both International and local tours.

Jonathan strives to provide a positive environment and give students equal opportunities to succeed. He loves to watch students grow and develop and has a strong passion for teaching young dancers. He wants to share his love for dance and experience with the future of dance in Australia.

Simon Hoy

After graduating from the Australian Ballet School, Simon worked as a soloist dancer in Australia, Europe and America, and undertaking Principal roles with Ballet Graz in Austria, Ballet Mainz in Germany, Schaufuss Ballet in Denmark, and Carolina Ballet (USA). He then joined Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York.

Simon has toured and guested throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, and benefited from working with many outstanding teachers and master choreographers, including Wilhelm Burmann, Adam Luders, Johnny Eliason, Hans Van Manen, Nils Christe, Peter Schaufuss, Darrell Tolone, Peter Brauer, Martin Schlapfer, Donald Mahler, and Robert Weiss.

He also performed works by George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton, and John Cranko. Simon has also performed as a principal artist with the Melbourne Ballet Company and has also worked with the Australian Ballet Opera Australia.

From 2007 until 2017, Simon held the position of Resident Choreographer and then Director of the Melbourne Ballet Company (MBC), where he played a leading role in the renaissance of the Company.

Simon choreographed over 20 original works for MBC and developed a unique and critically acclaimed repertoire. During this period, Simon employed many outstanding professional dancers and commissioned many internationally acclaimed dance-makers, musicians, and designers. Every year MBC toured extensively throughout Australia and beyond.

In 2017, after 10 years at MBC Simon decided to move back to Europe where he continued to produce works and develop tours for companies in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Simon has also completed a Master of Business Administration and is currently completing a Bachelor of Law.

Yuki Ide

Born in Hyogo, Japan , Yuki began ballet at the age of 8. Her tutorage at Sumino Ballet was under Yuka Sumino and Chikahisa Natsuyama, a former principal dancer of the Tokyo Ballet Company.

In 2008 Yuki studied the Russian Vaganova ballet method at the Vaganova Ballet Academy intensive program in Japan and in 2017, first travelled to Australia to study in the winter intensive program at Melbourne City Ballet. She then continued her training in Australia at the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet and achieved an Advanced Diploma of Dance as well as attained Senior level status in Ballet Conservatoire under Christine Walsh in 2019. Yuki joined the Victorian state Ballet company in 2021 and has performed as an artist there for four years. In 2022 she participated in the Brilliant Stars Ballet Competition in Nagoya, Japan. She received an Outstanding Performance Award as well as the Brillant Stars Espoir Award for her performance as Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty Act 3. She has completed a PCA Pilates Mat Pilates instructor course at the Pilates Coordination Academy under Eri Sarashina, a Pilates trainer whose students include dancers from the Tokyo Ballet and Australian Ballet. Yuki’s past teaching experience includes teaching children’s and junior ballet in Sumino Ballet for four years whilst completing her ballet training in Japan. Currently, she is teaching Ballet Conservatoire and Japanese children’s ballet in City Dance Centre.

Yuki’s notable performance roles include the tea dance from the Nutcracker, swans from Swan Lake and solos such as Odette (Act 2) from Swan Lake, Etoile from Paquita and Princess Aurora (Act 3) from Sleeping Beauty. She has also performed various pas de deux dances, including Medora from Le Corsaire (Act 2), Swanilda from Coppelia (Act 3) and Etoile from Etude.

She has experienced her love of ballet for over 20 years and wants to share her passion for ballet with all aspiring future dancers.

Sarah Clisby

Sarah has completed her teacher training in the Ballet Conservatoire syllabus (Vaganova based training) and is a fully qualified Ballet Conservatoire teacher

Sarah was born in Adelaide and grew up dancing at her Mum’s local school from the age of two. After deciding to pursue a career in ballet, she started her professional training at the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet in 2016 under the direction of Christine Walsh, where she graduated with an Advanced Diploma of Dance (Elite Performance). Whilst at the school Sarah performed in several professional full-length ballets, dancing both corps and soloist roles such as Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, Snow Queen and Arabian Soloist in Nutcracker, and a White Swan in Swan Lake. She has also performed with Opera Australia for multiple seasons, and as a guest artist for smaller ballet companies in both Melbourne and Adelaide.

Alongside her training as a dancer, Sarah has completed her teacher training in the Ballet Conservatoire syllabus (Vaganova based training) and is a fully qualified Ballet Conservatoire teacher with teaching experience across all levels at the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet, Australian Academy of Classical Ballet, as well as guest teaching in schools in Adelaide. She is also a qualified International Ballet Conservatoire Lecturer and Examiner, with experience lecturing at seminars and examining schools throughout Australia and overseas.

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