Studio News - August 2025
Hi Dancers,
Another huge month, calls for another huge studio news!
Congratulations!
Firstly, a big WELL DONE goes out to our Royal Academy of Dance examinees. These students have done two classes a week of a set syllabus for at least 12 months! While we are yet to receive their results, we have no doubt at all that they absolutely nailed it.
Ami, Mariette, Tara and Trish completed Intermediate.
Abby, Amelie, Amy, Caitlin and Gino completed Advanced 1 (only one more level to go!)
Sarah, Susan, Tina, Yi and Zoey completed Discovering Repertoire Level 2.
A big thank you to Carys, Leah and Jess, for their guidance and ongoing encouragement to get these students into an exam as an adult, a first time for some! If you would like to work towards an examination, or just work on the same set of exercises each week, details on our current courses are below.
But first…
2025 Concert Information!
Group Dances
As most of you would have seen by now, the information for our 2025 concert is now live, and you can enrol right now! You can learn about what’s involved and how to sign up here! If you would like to peruse all of our concert pieces to help decide which ones you would like to be a part of, you can check out our first ever Dance Menu!
Extra Performance Opportunities
All of our usual styles and levels have performance opportunities, and if that isn’t enough for you, you can also apply to perform a solo or small group performance with your dance bestie!
Or perhaps you have an idea for a dance that has been twirling around in your brain (mind the pun), that you would like to see up on the stage, then you can also enquire about our Choreographic Mentor Program (CMP), where you can work with one of our wonderful teachers and a group of volunteer dancers to make your vision come to life.
If these sound interesting to you, you can read about them here!
Deadlines
Concert enrolments must close on 8th September and expressions of interest for the CMP or solo/duo opportunities must close on 6th September. This is to allow us enough time to organise the schedule, costume orders and our available teachers. As you can appreciate, this takes quite a long time and for some costumes, they take minimum 8 weeks to make! Enrolments and EOIS after these dates may not be able to perform or will attract late fees.
Concert Schedule Update
We have had a few small schedule updates that will occur during the 10-week Concert Term:
The Lyrical class will move to Wednesday nights for concert enrolment, to allow those who wish to participate in this, as well as other styles, to limit how many nights they need to be out dancing!
KLT will take a break during concert period to allow for this change. If you’re really sad about this, send us an email and we can find somewhere for it to go.
Neo-Classical (Intermediate +) is a new addition to the schedule just for the concert! This piece will be taught by Abby (you may recall her beautiful dance to The Cranberries as part of the CMP last year). This class will take place at Studio 1, Mitchell on Sunday afternoons.
Heels drop-in class will take a little break. If you’re really sad about this, send us an email and we can find somewhere for it to go.
Costume Hire!
We’ve got quite the costume wardrobe these days and we’re proud of it contributing towards keeping dance performances affordable for everyone. If anyone would like to hire a costume for their CMP piece or a solo costume for their dance - then please email us to have a peruse though our Costume Booklet.
Hire is available anytime of year - not just for concert. So if you’d love a costume for Book Week because you’re a teacher who’s sick of being imaginative - or you want to win the office Xmas party’s best dressed, or maybe you just want a photoshoot in something pretty - our cupboard is available to you!
Drop-In Classes During Concert Term
Just because you might not intend to participate in our concert (although you really should consider it!), doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to dance at all!
We have done our best to make sure we have at least one drop-in option for all our major dance styles over the 10-week Concert Term, even if it does mean some are open level. A big thank you to those teachers who take on additional hours when we run these:
All Ballet Conditioning and PBT classes, including Pilates for Dance, will continue to run as drop-in.
Daytime classes including Ballet & Conditioning on Wednesdays, Lunchtime Ballet on Thursdays, Express Lunchtime Ballet & Conditioning on Fridays and Silver Swans on Tuesdays and Fridays will continue as drop-in.
Pre-Pointe on Wednesday evenings at Studio 1, Mitchell will continue to run as drop-in.
All weekend Ballet, Pre-Pointe, and RAD classes will continue to run as drop-in at all studios.
Leah will teach an Open-level Tap class on Wednesday evenings at Studio 2, Mitchell.
Maddi and Astrid will teach an Open-level Jazz class on Thursday evenings at the Northbourne Studio.
More Merch!
It’s been so lovely to see people rocking their love for 6P on their sleeves, drink bottles, and more. And now, thanks to MDM we have a few new options for you:
The AVA jackets are nice and professional-looking whilst keeping you warm. Plus the zip-up fronts mean you don’t have ruin your stage hair and make-up on concert days!
The warm-up booties are a ballet-core staple - though they’re also perfect for jazz, lyrical, and contemporary dancers. Wear your dance shoes inside and feel your feet and ankles get extra toasty and supple during warm-up! Also great to put on in between dance numbers though I may have to ban the Nutcracker cast lest they accidentally wear them onstage (again!).
And now we even have dance bags! These bags have heaps of compartments (including a shoe compartment to contain smells!). Spacious and organised, they’re a great way to keep all your dance gear in one place.
Unlike the rest of the merch on the store which is shipped directly to your door, these products will be delivered to your usual studio and can be picked up from there. And for only an extra $1 per item, they can be customised with your name!
Repertoire Courses
Hot off the success of Tatiana’s three-week repertoire course, we’re keeping them rolling on Friday nights:
From next Friday, 5th of September for 2 weeks, I’ll be hosting a National Character workshop, learning the Hungarian Czardas from Swan Lake Act III. This will be open to Elementary+ dancers, and you can sign up for the first week here.
After that, commencing on Friday, 19th of September for 2 weeks, the wonderful Astrid will be teaching the Kitri Act III variation from Don Q! This will be suitable for Elementary+ dancers too, and you can sign up for the first week here.
Leah will host a beginner-friendly repertoire course in the upcoming October school holidays - keep an eye out for further details.
Discounts are offered when you sign up for the full course (in this case two weeks).
New RAD Levels
As mentioned earlier, new RAD levels are now being offered for Term 3 and 4 AND we are allowing drop-ins! These are going to be at the single pass rate to still make it fair for those students who enrol in a whole term. This is a great way to see if the RAD ballet classes are something you’d like to enrol in - exams are absolutely not compulsory! The exercises stay the same each week, being a set syllabus, so it’s a great way to improve your technique.
For Adv. Beginners to Elementary level dancers we recommend Discovering Repertoire Level 3! There are two classes/exams to sign ups for: Either the Class Unit which involves barre & centre work. And/or the Variation Unit which involves developmental exercises to prepare for the variation (dance), and then the variation itself which is from The Sleeping Beauty! Starting on Thursday nights, from 21st August.
For confident Elementary dancers and Intermediate level dancers, we recommend Grade 7. Known for its dynamic combinations and of course, national character work, the graded syllabi of RAD are a lot of fun! Starting on Saturdays, from 30th August.
For our advanced dancers, we recommend Advanced 2. The highest vocational grade offered by the RAD, this syllabi will really put you through your paces! Already started - on Saturdays at 2:30pm. Please note, in Term 4 this will move to Sundays at 11am.
If you’re a total beginner and interested in a RAD level/exam for yourself, please express your interest via email!
Floriade!
Our wonderful Floriade dancers have been having an absolute ball learning their pieces to perform. If you aren’t performing yourself, we hope that you’ll come down to cheer them on! The performance will take place at Stage 88 on Saturday 20th September at 4pm - bring a picnic and enjoy the show!
Staffing Announcements
Sadly for us, we are losing two of our beloved teachers and I am devastated to say, my two Nutcrackers!
At 6P we are so proud of the calibre of teachers we have on staff, who have such a broad range of skills, and wonderful personalities and these two will be a great loss:
Gino has taken the plunge and will be moving to Melbourne to be closer to family. Gino has been an absolute joy at the studio (and on stage!) and we will miss his always affable nature, strong work ethic, and of course those calf muscles! All jokes aside, we will miss him greatly, but wish him all the best. Gino started at 6P as a beginner ballet student and finishes a graduate of the Advanced 1 RAD Exam and two years as a Principal Dancer in our Nutcracker production. He is the definition of all we stand for at 6P and our studios won’t be the same without him!
If you’d like to farewell Gino, his last class will be Beginner Ballet this Saturday, 30th of August, or you can come to Verity Lane this Friday night (29th Aug) at 6pm. It’s also his birthday this Sunday so feel free to buy him a drink or two!
Sadly, Noah will also be packing up their dance shoes and circus equipment, and leaving Canberra in October for sunny Queensland! They are going to work on their circus skills and learn Auslan! From their gentle nature in Adv. Beginner Ballet to their hilarious tips for our Ballet Foundations students (brush past your ankle like you’re tapping your MyWay Card!) they will also be greatly missed. Having only just joined us last year as our Uncle Drosselmeyer in the Nutcracker production, they quickly earned their place this year as a Nutcracker with terrific partnering skills. We wish them all the very best.
Their last drop-in class will be Adv. Beginner Ballet and Beginner Pointe on Monday, 8th September before the concert enrolments start. They will stay on to finish the remainder of this Ballet Foundations Course and then I will commence the new one in October. Further details regarding a farewell for Noah will come out later.
Both Gino and Noah will be welcome back any time they are in town and I will try and rope them in to teach a class or two - don’t worry about that!
Adult Dance Competitions
Lately I’ve had some questions regarding students entering in local dance competitions. While 6th Position does not have a troupe team specifically for competitive dance (our fabulous troupe work corporate events, markets and charities) we encourage any student of any level or style the chance to get out there and perform!
The local Brindabella Dance Festival opened up an ‘18+ section’ in recent years for university students to mature age dancers. These sections are offered in multiple dance styles! Also, years ago when I first joined 6P, a visiting competition I was attending had added an adults section. Changes like this are an encouraging sign of the industry’s willingness to accept that dance doesn’t stop when you turn 18 if you’re not on a professional pathway.
Most heartening of all is the Australasia Adult Ballet Competition commencing in Melbourne this Summer. Four days of masterclasses and optional dance competition entry with section for multiple ages and levels! Whilst we wish this was local to Canberra, it’s great to see adult spaces opening up with dedicated levels of dance and age categories. Whether you’ve just started ballet this year or you’re a seasoned dancer; whether you’ve just turned 18 or are a Silver Swan - there’s a section for you in this competition! Hopefully we see more competitions like this with additional dance styles soon!
If this is something you would like to participate in, please email us with an EOI. We will start by supporting solos/duos/trios for competitions before we venture into troupe territory as there is already so much on for our ballet dancers with Nutcracker in the first half of the year, and our existing troupe with their preparation for gig-work. 6th Position will organise you a teacher for some regular private lessons to learn and rehearse a piece to stage-readiness as well as prepare any beginner-level students on what to expect at a competition. You should expect to attend at least six private lessons for a new piece, and three to prepare an existing piece that you already know.
It is important that our 6P dancers are showcasing the very best of our community both in safe technique and sportsman-like etiquette at these competitions. Whilst we are not a studio with a competitive culture, I acknowledge that just like our exam students, having a goal to work towards as well as an industry-professional third party to provide critiques can be a rewarding and educational experience for any dancer. These competitions will not be compulsory or effect our regular schedule of classes offered. Private lessons will be done around drop-in class times and dependant on the availability of our hard-working teachers.
Finally, we have three of our advanced ballet students (two of whom, are your teachers!) representing 6P in the upcoming Brindabella Dance Festival: Amy, Caitlin and Imogen. We wish them the very best of luck and know that no that no matter the result, they will shine onstage and represent our amazing community in the very best way!
Thanks everyone, and as always if anyone has any questions, please get in touch!
Anouska