Director and Principal
Miss Alison
Alison Louise Bailey | Managing Director
Alison began dancing at age 3. She started her training in Goulburn with Irene Gelfius School of Dance, as she lived in small town Braidwood. Many years later her family re-located to Canberra and she began dancing with the RSDA. Alison is trained in Classical Ballet, Broadway/Jazz, Modern Contemporary and Hip Hop, Tap and Musical Theatre. Alison began assistant teaching at the age of 15 and spent many days of the week helping at the dance studio. Alison completed her Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies through the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) in 2006. As a student she was involved in many Competitions, Festivals, Gala's and achieved great results in all her Examinations and Competitions.
Some of Alison's qualifications include;
R.A.D RTS (Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teachers Status)
R.A.D Certified Mentor
P.B.T Certified (Progressing Ballet Technique)
Acrobatic Arts Certified
In 2008 Dare to Dance Canberra Opened and as Principal, Director and Teacher Alison along with D2D has gone from strength to strength. Alison is incredibly passionate about teaching her love and loves all her students like they are her own children. She is nurturing and treats all students with love and respect. Some of Alison's students have even returned as Adults. Her ethos is about providing all children the opportunity to dance no matter what their skill level is. It's not just about "Winning" all of the time.
Alison runs D2D completely on her own and has since the age of 21. Alison is in charge of Administration, Staff, Advertising, Costuming, Planning as well as Teaching most of the timetable. Alison continues to develop skills and knowledge through many studies and courses, keeping up Continuing Professional Development. This ensures she is able to keep up with demanding industry. Alison tries to ensure she teaches all the students at some stage through their dance journey as she likes to know all of the students by name.
Alison was a finalist for the 2021 Local Business Awards.
Dare to Dance Canberra was the Local Business Awards Winner for Outstanding Performing Arts 2021!
Dare to Dance Canberra was a finalist at the National Women's Business Champion Awards in 2022 and WON out of 29 National Dance Studios for Outstanding Performing Arts.
Alison was a Telstra Business Woman of the Year Awards finalist for 2014 and shortlisted under two categories. Young Business Woman and Entrepreneur.
Frances
Frances Junakovic
Frances came in to the dance world later than most. Starting on the football field you would find her doing cartwheels instead of touch downs.
As she grew older, the love for dance came out even more, and at the age of 15 she joined PLAY the dance agency and excelled straight away. Soon after she was in a Hip Hop Crew and competing. By the age of 18 she started assisting her teacher with classes at Primary schools during lunch breaks, and not long after she started teaching herself.
After graduating college with an Outstanding Achievement in Dance she took a gap year and assisted in teaching dance whilst working hard with multiple jobs.
Later on Frances realized dance was such a passion and she loved watching others grow and wanted to help them by teaching at more schools. She is now partnered with Active Attitudes, and teaching at multiple Primary Schools, at PLAY and now D2D.
Frances joined D2D in 2020! Frances teaches Hip Hop, Contemporary and Jazz along with many of our teen competition solos pieces.
Lauren
Lauren Stevens
We are welcoming Lauren to our D2D team for 2022.
Lauren started her dance journey 26 years ago in Newcastle. She found she had such passion for Dance that she went on to study a degree in Dance Education at University.
Lauren now teaches dance, amongst other subjects at a local High School.
Lauren enjoys teaching all genres to children and adults of all ages.
Lauren is trained in RAD Classical Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Acro and Contemporary. She has also started her Acrobatic Arts Module 1 Certification.
Paige
Paige Lindeque
We are welcoming Paige to our D2D team for 2023.
Paige studied at the Manhattan Youth Ballet in their Junior Company in New York City at 14, and then moved on to have a professional career in the American Ballet Theatre and studied at the Jacquline Kennedy Onassis School.
After several years Paige moved on to the Broadway Dance Theatre before making the big move to Australia.
Paige has a huge passion for teaching and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge and soft positive approach with our dancers at D2D.
We cant wait to see what Paige brings to the Dare to Dance Family!
