Agnes Huang started her ballet training when she was seven. She obtained her Advanced Certificate from the Royal Academy of Dance and Advanced Certificate from the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in 1978 and 1983 respectively. Ms. Huang furthered her ballet studies in London and Cannes. She was highly commended in the Teacher’s Diploma Examination of the Royal Academy of Dance in 1985.
Since 2003, Ms. Huang has been appointed the Grades Examiner for the Royal Academy of Dance. She has examined in Thailand, Mexico, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, China, and Greece.
In 2007, Ms. Huang became a Tutor for the Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies with the Royal Academy of Dance. In 2012, Ms. Huang is appointed as a tutor for the new Continuous Professional Development (CPD) courses by RAD.
Ms. Huang believes in nurturing children. In her 44 years of teaching ballet, her students have performed with eminent arts organizations in Hong Kong. Ms. Huang’s many-faceted artistic talent is not confined to teaching alone. She choreographed ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in 1992 and 1996 for the Hong Kong Ballet Group to wide acclaim.
Gareth Belling is a choreographer, teacher and workshop facilitator. He danced with Queensland Ballet from 2002 to 2012, and performed as a freelance artist until 2019, most recently with Collusion in his ballets DESIRELINES in Guangzhou, and Turbine at Shanghai Dance Festival.
He is Resident Choreographer of Collusion Music and Dance Ensemble, having collaborated with this exciting group of chamber musicians on three evening-length works, and many shorter ballets since 2005. He has also created works for Queensland Ballet, Expressions Dance Company (now ADC), Ochre Contemporary Dance Company, Dancebourne Arts, Queensland University of Technology and WAAPA, and restaged his ballets on Queensland Ballet Academy. Along with Collusion, he was shortlisted for a 2016 Australian Dance Award for their chamber ballet DESIRELINES.
Gareth has received fellowships and grants from the Australia Council, Arts Queensland, Australia-China Council, was mentored by Nils Christe (JUMP Mentorship) and selected for the Swiss International Coaching Project for Choreographers (SiWiC).
He holds a Master of Fine Arts (Dance) from Queensland University of Technology, and is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Queensland, researching arts funding and Australian dance history.
Gareth has taught ballet and contemporary dance at vocational studios and tertiary institutions since 2010. He is currently a faculty member at Melbourne Academy of the Arts specialising in contemporary dance.
Kristen Hockley has loved to dance ever since she put on her first pair of ballet shoes at the age of four. During her final years of high school, she discovered a strong passion for musical theatre, teaching and choreography and has since turned that passion into her career.
Throughout her training, she performed in representative troupes, underwent RAD Ballet and Glen Wood Tap exams, and performed in the USA and Gold Coast, Australia.
Kristen’s performance credits include featured dancer roles in Priscilla to Moulin Rouge, Folies Bergere and Grease Fever with Davin Griffith-Jones Productions, roles in Beauty and the Beast, High School Musical, Aladdin and Lion King with City Kids Theatre, Footloose with Loud Theatre Company and Wizard of Oz with Spot On Productions.
Currently, Kristen is the Dance Development Officer for Sports Tots, a program she has developed, providing dance education to early learning centres. She also teaches multiple classes in a variety of genres at The McDonald College and The McDonald College After Hours program. Along with this, she is the assistant choreographer for City Kids Theatre and has worked on productions of Legally Blonde, Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast and Frozen. Kristen co-choreographed Miranda Musical Society’s production of Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, and was the choreographer of Jersey Boys and Shrek for Engadine Musical Society.
In January, she was honoured to be on the faculty for International Summer School 2023, where she taught workshops in Jazz, Musical Theatre and Lyrical to aspiring dancers from across the globe.
Kristen is thrilled to be a part of this amazing dance event and is very grateful to have travelled from Sydney, Australia to be involved in this experience.
Jane Devine was born in Zimbabwe and was accepted into The Royal ballet School in 1972. In 1973 she won the Adeline Genée Gold Medal and in 1974 was offered a place in The Royal Ballet Company, Covent Garden. Whilst there, she worked with some of the great choreographers of the time including Sir Kenneth Macmillan, Sir Frederick Aston and Glen Tetley. In 1981, Jane left The Royal Ballet Company to join English National Ballet where she was a soloist and danced many leading roles including Odile in Swan Lake, Zebiode in Scheherazade, Red Lady in Sanguine Fan.
Following her dance career, Jane spent a period of time as the Administrator to the Professional Dancer’s Teachers Course at the Royal Academy of Dancing in London. Jane later went on to direct and run her own fitness company in Berkshire in the UK and became one of the country’s validated organisations for Fitness Teacher Training. Jane was a leader in the fitness industry for 15 years. She is also a qualified Yoga instructor having studied at the Sivananda Vedanta Yoga Centre. Jane returned to the Royal Ballet School as the Public Relations Officer in 1996 and was responsible for the marketing and media representation of the school.
Added to her knowledge at its highest level and the anatomical and physiological aspects that underpin the physicality of ballet, Jane is also very interested in the psychological strengths required for the rigours of the dance world and works towards guiding students on a logical, educated, responsible and self-empowered career of their own.
Over many years Jane has developed teaching methodologies which time and again prove effective in the hastened improvement of young dancers.
Currently Jane is a freelance teacher, coach and mentor and runs Jane Devine Ballet Private Coaching online, teaching students from all over the world.
Susan Anderssen began dancing at the age of 3 with Gail Meade Performing Arts Centre, studying a combination of classical ballet, theatrical dance and tap. At 13 she was accepted into the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts program, studying ballet, contemporary and Spanish dance under the ballet great, Lucette Aldous.
Having suffered an injury in her late teens, Susan trained as a Chartered Accountant and in the legal profession. She enjoyed a long career in business before making the life changing decision to take over The Conlan College.
Susan has led The Conlan College for seven years, having been entrusted by the founder of the College, Simone Conlan, to take the College to a new level. Since Susan took over the ownership and leadership of The College, she has been able to boast a 100% placement rate for all full time graduates.
Susan’s dancers work at the highest levels and are internationally competitive when it comes to entry into finishing schools around the world and companies, particularly in Europe and the USA. Recent graduates are currently either studying or performing with The Royal Ballet (London), Zurich Ballet (Switzerland), Ballet Magdeburg (Germany), Bayeriches Staatsballett (Munich), Palucca Hochschule fur Tanz (Dresden), Mannheim Hochschule for Music and Performing Arts, Joffrey Ballet (Chicago), Washington Ballet (USA), The Romanian State Ballet (Sibiu), The Uruguay National Ballet, The Munich International Ballet Academie (Germany), Zurich Ballet Company, Rambert Contemporary Dance Company and many others
Susan has mentored dancers who have won many distinguished international ballet competitions such as Youth America Grand Prix, Prix de Lausanne, Brisbane International Contemporary Prix, Genee, Alanna Haines (NZ) and many others. One of her dancers competed in YAGP New York in 2017 and 2018 and was awarded full scholarships to attend the Princess Grace Academy in Monaco, Palucca Hochschule fur Tanz in Dresden, plus scholarships to Houston Ballet Academy, The Royal Ballet School and Dutch National Ballet Academy. We have also had several students selected for the Prix de Lausanne finals in Switzerland with our students performing with distinction.
Susan is married to Paul and is very excited to be a part of the IYDC this year.
Massimo Solazzo started learning ballet at the age of 5 and been in the industry for nearly 30 years.
In 1993 Massimo got three years full-course scholarship at the prestigious Bird College of Performing Arts in London. Over the years, he worked with famous teachers such as Frank Freeman, Lynn Wallis, Darren Parrish, Antony Croome, Susan Town, Dick O’Swamborn and few others. Beside ballet, he also ventured his studies in character, jazz, modern contemporary, tap, drama, singing, music theory, anatomy and choreography. He graduated in Ballet, Choreography and Musical Theatre in 1996 and became RAD registered teacher.
Massimo has performed numerous numbers of musicals and ballet performances with top notch production houses in the U.K. and Europe. He also has served for many important competitions and recitals as a guest dancer and choreographer.
In 2012 Massimo became RAD CBTS Tutor and Mentor (Teaching Certificate validated by Royal Academy of Dance, London) and since then he had done countless training workshops, intensive training courses and coaching in Italy, China and Switzerland.
In 2014 Massimo attended the Ailey School Certification for Horton Pedagogy and Contemporary Dance Teaching (New York, USA), working with the Ailey Teachers such as Tracy Innman, Bradley Shelver, and Elisabeth Roxas.
In 2014 Massimo became the Director of Education and Curriculum Designer of the Duncan Dance Academy New York – based in China. He trained many students and teachers in several RAD schools in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia.
In 2018 Massimo has been nominated Examiner of the Royal Academy of Dance which added another milestone on his career.
Being a highly passionate dancer and teacher, he always place utmost pleasure in his teachings and positively encourages students to express themselves, improving strong technical skills, self- understanding and personal manner. He believes dance is a beautiful way of communication to express oneself.
Queenie Yam started dancing at Jean M. Wong School of Ballet since she was nine, she has since developed a great interest in dance.
Queenie applied to The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (APA) after her high school graduation and she majored in Ballet & Choreography. APA was impressed with Queenie’s school performance, and she was given the opportunity to attend academic exchange programs in Canada & America.
Queenie is also an active player in the field of drama. She has participated in twenty or more dramas by Red Calf Drama Company & Chung Ying Theatre Company.
After her graduation in APA, Queenie officially joined StarDust Company by Mr. Clarence Hui as a full-time professional dancer.
All these years Queenie has participated in numerous large-scale concerts with different artists including Roman Tam, Andy Lau, Leon Lai, Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Jacky Cheung, Leslie Cheung, Hacken Lee, Alan Tam, Sandy Lam, Sammi Cheng, Nicholas Tse, The Grasshoppers, Kelly Chen, Karen Mok, Joey Yung, Leo Ku, Daniel Chan, Justin Lo, Amanda Lee, Richie Ren, Jordan Chan, Edwin Siu, Sally Yip, Miriam Yeung, Gigi Leung and Jeff Chang etc.
Apart from Queenie’s performances on stage, different people and artists like Leo Ku, Lilian Ho, Mandy Lieu, Gigi Leung, Edwin Siu, Cherrie Ying & Simon Yam had hired her as a private dance instructor. Queenie is especially good in instructing female artists.
Queenie has been choreographing different dance performances as well as dance courses for different clients and students all these years, she also creates dance dramas to promote the performing arts.
Queenie has more than 20 years of performing experience and more than 15 years of teaching experience in the dance industry.
Robert Bruist trained in Sydney before heading to Europe to finish his training at the Heinz Bosl Stiftung in Munich, Germany. He went on to become Soloist in both the Croatian National Ballet Zagreb and the Leipziger Ballett(Germany) dancing both classical and contemporary choreographies by world renowned choreographers including William Forsythe, Uwe Scholz, Nacho Duato, Derek Dean, Hans Van Manen, Mario Schröder, Stanton Welch and Marko Goecke to name a few.
Robert returned to Australia in 2019 joining the West Australian Ballet for Alice(Adventures in Wonderland) and continued with the company into 2020 performing solo roles in both “in Light and Shadow” by Krzysztof Pastor and “Air and other invisible forces” by Graeme Murphy. He also created his own choreography for the Genesis season called “Polarity”
Other highlights of his career include dancing the Principal role in “Rachmaninow” by Uwe Scholz on tour in Bogota with the Leipzig Ballet and Leading roles in “Don Juan” by Thierry Malandain and “Walking Mad” by Johan Inger.
Robert has now turned his hand to teaching the elite student program at The Conlan College in Sydney, Australia and enjoys sharing his passion for performing with his students. He is excited to be adjudicating the IYDC Competition in 2021.
Jasmin Wong was born in Hong Kong, and graduated at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, majoring in Contemporary Dance. Independent Choreographer and dance artist. Previously a dancer for Y-Space (Hong Kong).
During her time on the BFA (Hons) programme, she was awarded a Grantham scholarship and also went on an Shanghai Exchange Tour funded by Hong Kong Foundation for arts and culture. She was selected to perform in various school productions including Savage Symphony、Echoing Woods by Christine Gouzelis and Here & beneath the surface of there by John Utans. Other outside performing experiences include CCDC’s WuDaoQingNian program; Sky of Nepal Arts Project by Bobbie Chen and Hero @ Eb Major by Ong Yong Lock for LCSD Community Cultural Ambassador and Unlock Dancing Plaza.
She received a CCDC scholarship to participate in the Beijing Dance Festival in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Jasmin also has an interest in choreography and her work Among Them was presented in CCDC's My Own Dance program and the series of Are you thinking what I am thinking? was presented in HKAPA and Eside’s Imagination boom 3.
Jasmin has been dedicated to dance teaching in recent years. She has taught Contemporary, Jazz, Creative Dance in primary and secondary, as well as dance schools. Jasmin obtained her Teaching Certificate of Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dancing (CSTD) in 2022.
Liam Berg is an accomplished performer, choreographer and teacher in both contemporary and classical styles, Liam Berg works as a freelance artist based in Sydney.
Liam began his full time classical ballet training at Alegria under Hilary Kaplan and Archibald McKenzie before continuing his training at the highly esteemed John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart, Germany and the Australian Ballet School.
Liam has performed with Stuttgart Ballet as well as worked independently with companies and choreographers in both Europe and Australia.
Choreography is a passion of Liam’s and he has created a number of works that have been showcased at various events by professional dancers and pre-professional students alike.
A giving and dedicated teacher, Liam uses his skills and experiences to impart his love of dance and movement to those under his tutelage. Liam has a Bachelor of Dance (Performance) from the Academy of Music and Performing.
Yu Hang joined The Royal Ballet from the start of the 2018/19 Season and was promoted to First Artist in 2023.
Yu Hang grew up in Shanghai and began her ballet training at age ten. She trained at Shanghai Dance School and The Royal Ballet School.
Her awards include the Classical and Contemporary gold prize in The South Africa International Ballet Competition (2014), first place in The Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition (2015), the gold prize at the Hong Kong Canaan Star International Ballet Competition (2015), Youth America Grand Prix gold Prize (2016) and Shanghai International Ballet Competition gold prize (2016).
Yu Hang was also a Prix de Lausanne prize winner (2016) and she joined the Royal Ballet Upper School on a Prix de Lausanne scholarship in 2016.
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