MICHELLE BUCKLEY
Principal/Director
Founder and Director of Noosa Professional Dance Academy est. 1993, and Founder Director of Elite Classical Coaching est. 2009. Michelle has made it her life long goal to bring classical coaching excellence to the Sunshine Coast.
She has built an amazing creative team that encompasses the technical excellence students would have had to travel to Brisbane and beyond to receive.
Michelle chose the highly acclaimed Australian Conservatoire of Ballet as the syllabus for NPDA. Fully qualified in the Russian based ‘Vaganova’ Syllabus Michelle leads her team educating her students, nurturing them to be happy mentally, strong physically and confident within themselves.
Through her training Michelle has guided many of her students from company schools to companies and professional careers in dance.
Michelle started her training as a ‘Cecchetti’ ballet student. Throughout her development as a student she was one of the first Cecchetti Scholars in Victoria and continued to be a scholar for 6 years. She later became a professional dancer and model in Victoria and QLD before she opened up her dance school here in Noosa.
Michelle is an International and National Adjudicator, Award Winning Choreographer who has helped numerous students successfully enter into Company Schools and companies world wide. She was chosen to be a Guest Performer with the Bolshoi Ballet Company season in 2013 Brisbane QPAC -Elite Private Coach.
RENEE DEKUYPER
Supreme Team Director
Commercial Coaching
Renee began her dancing at the tender age of 3. She began her ballet training in Victoria with the Cecchetti method and later on BBO. She completed all her ballet exams here in Noosa. Her Choreography began at an early age and it was evident that her talent as a choreographer was well sort which lead her to be commissioned to choreograph for students in Manila in the Phillipines. Renee also choreographed for a commercial for Noosa Biosphere which was shown in Paris. She has also been dancer in music videos which went to India. She was a professional dancer and many operate events and was also a dancer in the Sydney Olympics. Hundreds of students have greatly benefited from Renee’s exceptional coaching over the years with successful students in, Bursary Finalists, Bursary Winners, Top 5 Regional Winners, National Winners, National and International Winners. Her Performance Teams winning many major awards in numerous dance competitions locally, nationally and internationally and students she has taught have moved onto professional work at Moulin Rouge and Crazy Horse Paris, numerous cruise lines, Cabaret shows, Harvest Rain Theatre Company, and numerous of her trained dancers now in dance agency’s world wide. Renee is the founder of Supreme Team Australia Dance Company which she has taken overseas to dance in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore all of which were champions. Renee’s Supreme Team won the World Championships in 2019. Renee continues to create and train elite students.
Wim Broeckx
Elite Classical Coaching Ballet Master
Wim Broeckx was born in Antwerp in 1961 and began his ballet studies in his native town, Antwerp, Belgium, at the age of 10.
After enjoying a long and successful career with three international ballet companies, most notably the Dutch National Ballet, where he rose to Principal Dancer, he became Assistant Artistic Director to this company.
During his extensive career, he performed major leading roles of the classical repertoire and danced many contemporary repertoire works by renowned choreographers. He regularly appeared on international stages, as a guest artist or during gala performances.
In 2002, he was appointed Director of the Dance Department of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Netherlands. During this period, he often taught at international ballet school’s, staged classical ballet repertoire and assisted several choreographers with repertoire ofNetherlands Dance Theater.
In 2008, Wim took over the position of Artistic President of the Prix de Lausanne. On several previous occasions, he served as jury member for International Competitions.
From 2011 onwards, he became a freelance guest ballet teacher, repetiteur, coach and artistic advisor.
Since 2012, he has been working with the Queensland Ballet in several positions, such as Associated teacher and Head of the Pre-Professional Program.
Whilst dancing and teaching, he has choreographed several short award-winning ballet solo’s and group works and has on several occasions functioned as adjudicator for ballet competitions as well as assessment and exam committees.
During his long spanning career, Wim has assisted many young aspiring dancers to find their path within the dance industry, helping them with Career Preparation and Planning. He also is the author of the book “Preparing for Ballet Auditions”.
We are very honoured to have Wim at NPDA as our Ballet Master.
MIWAKO KUBOTA
Elite Classical Coaching Teacher
After graduating from the Australian Ballet School in 1998 Miwako joined the Australian Ballet Company in 1999 progressing through the ranks to the role of Senior Artist in 2010 and retiring at that rank at the end of 2016.
Her extensive career on the stage, led her to coaching, a natural evolution in which she has excelled. After teaching in both Sydney and Melbourne Miwako has finally settled in the beautiful Sunshine Coast.
Miwako is one of our Elite Classical Coaching team, specialising in Repertoire, technique and performance skills.
MELISSA TATTAM
Elite Classical Coaching Teacher
Melissa’s background is in professional dance, a ballet career lasting 15 years dancing Soloist and Principal roles with the Queensland Ballet Company, Principal with the Tasmanian Ballet Company and various leading roles for Collusion, Lucid, Majestic Aerial Artists, and HugoFernandez Tango. Melissa’s dance career gave the opportunity to perform overseas throughout Europe, Japan, Singapore and China, as well as regional and coastal Queensland and interstate. Melissa’s career highlights include; ‘Alexandra’ (Black Swan) in Francois Klaus’s swan lake and ‘Stella’ in Klaus’s Street Car Names Desire.
Melissa graduated in 2015 with Distinction in a Bachelor of Physiotherapy. She has a special interest in dance physiotherapy, which includes pointe and turnout assessments, body conditioning, injury prevention and management.
In 2018 Melissa opened her unique physio service for dancers Danzenpointe Physiotherapy. Melissa is trained in pilates, includingDMA clinical pilates and has completed the SEAS level 1 training for Scoliosis therapy and APA Sports Levels 1-2.
In 2015, Melissa was invited to speak on Dance injuries at the Ceccehti Society ballet conference and the Royal Academy of Dance summer workshops. Melissa has treated touring companies such as Le Ballet Preljocaj in 2015, as well as being the primary physio for the Brisbane Contemporary Prix, 2018 and 2019. Melissa has also been a physio for the Queensland Ballet Company and Academy since 2019. She has taught body conditioning to the students since 2012 and continues to teach Senior Ballet and Dance for Parkinson’s as part of QB’s community dance program. Melissa also helped develop the Ballet for Seniors and Community Ballet Syllabus’ for Queensland Ballet’s community program and recently developed and delivered a workshop for dance teachers on turnout.
Furthermore, she has a certificate 4 in Fitness, Personal Training and Pilates and personally trained many clients within local gyms and outdoor settings, as well as taught a variety of fitness classes that include pilates, power bar, circuit, step and fit ball to name a few.
Jessica Dick
Jazz & Contemporary Teacher
Sunshine Coast local, Jessica, commenced her training at Noosa Professional Dance Academy. She then attended her studies at QUT (Queensland University of Technology) under the Vice Chancellor Scholarship. Graduating in 2018, she completed her tertiary dance studies with a Bachelor of fine Arts in Dance Performance.
During her time at QUT Jess has performed and worked with some established Australian dance companies including Sydney Dance Company, Expressions Dance Company, BRINK Productions, Force Majeure. Also including a few established Australian choreographers such as Adam Blanch, Daniel Riley and Larissa McGowan, Csaba Buday, Courtney Scheu, and Joesph Simmons.
In 2018, Jessica competed in the Brisbane International Contemporary Grand Prix placing in the Top 10 as a finalist in her section.
Jess now focuses her time as a contemporary teacher, choreographer and mentor. She creates an engaging and exciting space for training at any level. Drawing from her past experiences, Jess focus’s on the all round development and understandings of contemporary dance. Her coaching and choreography focuses on physical conditioning, safe dance practice, performer versatility, current industry knowledge especially in the contemporary dance industry.
TianAh Gesell
Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical & Contemporary Coaching
Performance Team Coaching
We are so proud to have our very own Tianah Gesell step into the role of Pre Junior, Junior & Intermediate - Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary & Under 8’s Performance Team coach. As an NPDA alumni (16 years) with a Cert IV in Dance, Tianah has trained and performed nationally and internationally with some of the best choreographers in the world and has spent years perfecting her craft. Her first love and forever language is Dance and coaching was an obvious choice for her to share her passion. Tianah can’t wait to share her extensive experience as a Performing Artist and Coach with her students.
Jessica Taylor
Acro Coaching
An NPDA Alumni, Jessica Taylor is an award winning dancer and choreographer. Her creativity and showcasing each dancers unique strengths, personalities and talents is one of her strongest skills. With a Cert III in dance and a Cert IIII in Pilates teaching & training she is also qualified at Advanced Coaching from Gymnastics Australia.
Jess is our Acro level 1-3 Coach.
Lily Taylor
Performance Team Coaching
Lily began her dancing at the young age of 4 at the leading dance academy in Noosa. Having been classically trained in Russian Vaganova ballet method in all levels, she also competed and trained in all dance genres until the age of 16, when she moved to the Goldcoast. There, she trained Full-Time and was taught by Australian and International dance icons and mentors which enabled her to further her dance career. 2 years later she graduated with a Diploma in Dance Teaching and Performance.
Lily has represented Australia for Hip Hop competing at the largest hip hop competition in the world ‘Hip Hop International’. She travelled to the USA in 2016 and 2017 with Dance Force, in an all girls crew called ‘FEMINIST’ placing top 15 of the world in the Varsity Division.
Since then, Lily has worked hard on her art. After finishing a professional dance contract on a Cruise Ship working with Celebrity Cruises, she has spent 5 years teaching at various schools across south-east Queensland. Lily has taught at all levels, including competition, soloists, pre-professional and adult dance classes.
Lily cannot wait to share the knowledge she has learnt with aspiring young dancers who enjoy and love dance as much as she does.
Nicole Kaminski
Commercial/Musical Theatre Coaching
Nicole grew up in Perth, WA, training in classical ballet, jazz & tap, completing exams in both CSTD and BAL syllabus, beNicole grew up in Perth, WA, training in classical ballet, jazz & tap, completing exams in both CSTD and BAL syllabus, before moving to Victoria to complete studies at FedUni Ballarat. Graduating in 2015 with university credits including Urinetown, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and the Title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie. After graduating, she performed predominantly in educational theatre, touring Australia with Alpha Shows. She was also a part of many workshops of new Australian works of theatre with talented up and coming writers and composers. While living in Melbourne, she appeared in productions of Wicked, Beauty and the Beast, Heathers, Les Misérables, and the 2016 National Tour of The Sound of Music. Most recently she performed for the first time in Queensland, appearing in Mamma Mia! The Musical, and in 2022 will be choreographing Noosa Arts Theatres production of The Boy From Oz.
chloe goudens
Hip Hop Coaching
Chloe Goudens is a dancer, choreographer and teacher and has been teaching for 6 years. She has competed on a national and international level such as World Supremacy Battlegrounds, Get The Beat and World of Dance. She has won 1st place for her solo at Upgrade 2019 and has also competed at HHI in the US in 2013 & 2018. 1st place at Dancers Paradise in 2019 and recently won at Danchella and ADCC 2022. From learning Hip Hop from such a young age she has grown a strong passion for this style and hopes to share her knowledge.
BELLA HOOD
Traditional Contemporary Coaching
Bella Hood is a dynamic artist, seamlessly blending performance, choreography, and teaching across the Australasian dance landscape. As the co-founder of kin, Sunshine Coast’s principal dance company, and former company dancer at Australasian Dance Collective, she's left an indelible mark with works like “Four Seasons”, “Everyday Requiem" and "Matrix." Bella's choreographic prowess shines in pieces like "ECLIPSE" and “Subject to Change," showcasing her Project24 residency at 2nd Space, The Farm on the Gold Coast, and collaborations with RB Corp Instruction.
Beyond dance performance, her artistic journey encompasses film collaborations, including Griffith University’s, "NY Counterpoint,” and Claire Marshall’s, “Permutations” expanding upon her creative skillset and artistic interfaces. With Honours in Fine Arts (Dance Performance) at Queensland University of Technology and diverse training in yoga, Zenthai Shiatsu therapy, and nutrition, Bella's holistic approach reflects in her teaching. As a Teaching Artist at Australasian Dance Collective and various dance institutions across QLD, she imparts her expertise with passion and exuberance. Awarded a Gifted Grant and a 12-month residency at 2nd Space, Bella continues to shape the contemporary dance landscape, a journey marked by choreographic honours, scholarships, and continuous exploration as a contemporary artist.
Bella's teaching style combines technical precision with creative exploration, drawing from her diverse background in dance, yoga, and therapy. She fosters an inclusive and expressive learning environment, encouraging individual creativity while refining skills. Her classes, adaptable for various levels, reflect a commitment to holistic well-being and mindful movement.
HELENA BLACKBERRY
Classical Coaching
Helena was born and grew up dancing in Brisbane, Australia. She began dancing at a local studio at the age of three and transitioned to full-time training at the age of 14. During these years, she was also a member of The Queensland Ballet Associate Program, the Australian Ballet ITP and Melbourne City Youth Ballet’s Junior Elite Artist Program. In addition, she was awarded numerous scholarships to attend Summer Schools and train overseas with prestigious schools including Dutch National Ballet, Royal Ballet (Lower School), Palucca and the Ballett-Akademie Hochschule für Musik und Theater München.
In 2020, Heléna commenced training at the internationally recognised Ballettschule Theater Basel in Switzerland. Her rigorous training was accompanied by academic studies including Anatomy, Nutrition, Dance History and Music. Upon completion of her studies, she was offered contracts to many renowned companies across North America as an apprentice but opted to take up a short-term contract with the Goh Ballet Youth Company in Canada where she performed many different roles in the classic production of The Nutcracker.
Helena has had the opportunity of working and learning from some of the world’s most prestigious ballet masters and directors. She has trained in a vast range of styles and syllabi including CSTD (Comdance), RAD, Vaganova, Cecchetti, Balanchine and Bournonville techniques.
Heléna adopts a holistic approach to her teaching and believes in creating a nurturing and safe environment for her students to express themselves and grow as artists whilst maintaining discipline and a strong work ethic.