DIRECTOR
Maree White
ARAD, SOLO SEAL
Maree White began her role as Director of Danceworks Sydney in April 2026. Having taught at the school for the year prior, she was offered the exciting opportunity to lead Danceworks Sydney into its next phase of growth and artistic development.
A former principal ballerina and leading soloist, Maree performed with companies across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, gracing stages in many of the world’s great cultural centres including London, New York, Beijing, and Vienna. She brings close to 20 years of experience as a professional ballerina, more than 35 years within the dance industry, and is recognised as a highly respected and sought-after teacher throughout Australia.
Throughout her distinguished performing career, Maree danced many of the great classical works while also collaborating on contemporary creations with internationally renowned choreographers including John Neumeier, Christopher Bruce, Benjamin Millepied, David Dawson, Renato Zanella, Youri Vámos, Uwe Scholz, George Balanchine, Hans van Manen, Jorma Elo, Stefan Thoss, Javier de Frutos, Ethan Stiefel, Greg Horsman, Johan Kobborg, Cameron McMillan and Loughlan Prior, among many others.
Maree began her ballet training in North Queensland before continuing her studies on the Gold Coast. At just 14 years of age, she became a finalist in the RAD Bursary, and one year later achieved her RAD Solo Seal Award.
She was subsequently awarded a full scholarship to the Vienna State Opera Ballet School and later became a semi-finalist at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, placing amongst the top 25 young dancers internationally. Maree went on to perform professionally with the Vienna State Opera Ballet, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Queensland Ballet, and the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
Over the course of her career, Maree was coached and mentored by many of the world’s leading ballet educators and artists, including Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner (ABT), Martin Vedel (Royal Danish Ballet & Béjart Ballet), Nancy Euverink and Jorma Elo (Netherlands Dance Theatre), Rowena Jackson and Philip Chatfield (The Royal Ballet), Joyce Cuoco (Stuttgart Ballet), Fiona Tonkin (The Australian Ballet), Kathryn Bennetts, and Greg Horsman, amongst many others.
A master teacher of classical ballet, Maree is known for her dynamic, positive, and highly detailed teaching style. She has a remarkable ability to identify and cultivate each dancer’s individual strengths, guiding students towards both technical excellence and artistic confidence. Her passion lies in passing on her wealth of professional experience to the next generation of dancers while fostering a lifelong love of dance for students of all ages.
Following her performing career, Maree also built a successful career outside the arts as a Producer and Senior Project Manager. Prior to stepping into the Director role at Danceworks Sydney, she worked as a Senior Account Director for an international marketing agency, managing major global clients. This unique combination of professional artistic and corporate experience allows Maree to bring strong leadership, strategic vision, and real-world knowledge to Danceworks Sydney.
Above all, Maree is deeply passionate about creating an inspiring, nurturing, and ambitious environment where every student can thrive — whether dancing for enjoyment, personal growth, or pursuing a professional career.
Danceworks Sydney offers three core training streams:
Elite Full-Time Dance Training
Part-Time Training (Preschool to Senior Levels)
Adult Ballet Training
TEACHERS
Amy bale
Ballet
Amy spent over ten years working abroad as a Classical Ballet Dancer with different theatres. Most recently with Staatsballett Berlin (under the direction of Nacho Duato) and The Royal Danish Ballet. Prior to this, she danced with The Romanian National Ballet under the direction of and closely with Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru. Over these years she also gained experience teaching a range of age groups and levels from children to adults.
Having accumulated a variety of experiences in the ballet world on and off stage with different directors, ballet staff and choreographers she is very passionate about the role and responsibility of a teacher at all stages of a dancers schooling/career.
With her own career still fresh, there is a lot that she can pass on to students from technical knowledge to artistic, and even mentorial advice in regards to moving overseas or approaching auditions for example.
Elliot Bourke
Ballet
Elliot Bourke was RAD and Cecchetti trained in Australia. He then went on to study at the Akademie des Tanzes Mannheim under the directorship of Birgit Keil where he received a Master of Arts Degree. After his studies he received an apprenticeship with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, where he performed in choreographies such as Christopher Wheeldons Swan Lake, Frederick Ashtons Giselle and Youri Vamos The Nutcracker.
He then Joined Teatrul de Balet Sibiu, Romania and was promoted to Soloist after only one year in the company. He stayed there for 4 years dancing various classical and contemporary soloist roles, some of his favourites were Espada in Don Quixote, Hilarion in Giselle, Lankedem In Le Corsaire and the main role in the contemporary piece Nu mai sunt eu.
Afterwards he joined Theater Plauen-Zwickau, Germany under Annett Göhre where he worked personally with many choreographers including Cayatano Soto, Phillip Taylor and Ishan Rustem. He had many roles created on and for him.
Elliot has now returned to Australia and wants to continue his passion for dance by teaching and passing on his knowledge and experience.
Veronica Mahon
Ballet
Veronica Mahon was awarded Gold at the Genée International Ballet Competition at just 16 years of age. She went on to train at the The Australian Ballet School, graduating as Dux in 1998 before joining The Australian Ballet in 1999. In her second year with the Company, Veronica performed the principal role of Swanhilda in Coppélia with the Dancers Company.
During her time with The Australian Ballet, Veronica performed numerous principal and soloist roles in productions including Divergence, Beyond Bach, Don Quixote, and Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker and Swan Lake. In 2003, she moved to the USA to join The Atlantic Southeast Ballet Company in South Carolina, performing featured roles in Giselle, Paquita and Nutcracker. She later performed with the Sydney Dance Company under the direction of Brett Morgan.
Alongside her performing career, Veronica developed an extensive teaching and coaching background, working closely with the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus in both Australia and London. She taught and coached students from Grade 1 through to Solo Seal level, staged productions including Elite Syncopations, Western Symphony and Paquita, and contributed to the piloting of RAD syllabuses in Australia.
In 2013, Veronica moved to London to complete her Professional Dancers Teaching Diploma with distinction at the RAD. During this time, she taught ballet and contemporary repertoire at leading institutions including Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, London Studio Centre and Sylvia Young Theatre School. Since returning to Australia, Veronica has continued to work as a freelance teacher, choreographer and mentor, collaborating on independent productions and teaching under the direction of Brett Morgan at the National College of Dance in Newcastle.
Tess Sturmann
Ballet
Tess trained at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in the Netherlands and has over
10 years professional experience dancing with the Dutch National Ballet.
Her professional career extensively covered repertoire from the Classical
Ballet and Balanchine canon, while also facilitating collaboration in new
contemporary and neoclassical works with internationally esteemed
choreographers. Throughout her career she also engaged in projects as an
independent dance artist, often collaborating with Amsterdam based
interdisciplinary arts collective House of Makers.
Since returning to Australia she has found a passion in sharing her knowledge
and experience in this discipline, through teaching students of all levels.
Jess Wood (Kenway)
Ballet
Trained at one of the world most prestigious ballet schools,The Royal Ballet School in London, Jess began her professional career performing with both The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet. She went on to enjoy a remarkable 12-year career with The Australian Ballet (2009–2021), performing extensively across Australia and internationally.
Throughout her career, Jess appeared in approximately 2,600 performances, dancing a wide range of soloist and corps de ballet roles and working with some of the world’s most renowned choreographers.
A Registered RAD teacher, Jess is deeply passionate about child wellbeing, adult ballet, and creating nurturing, positive environments for dancers of all ages and levels. With her background as a professional dancer both nationally and internationally, Jess brings a unique, real-world understanding of the industry and knows what it takes to help dancers reach their full potential.
Jess has taught across Melbourne, Byron Bay, and Sydney, and is passionate about passing on her wealth of knowledge with warmth, clarity, and genuine care.
PATRON
Marie Walton-Mahon OAM
RAD RTS
Marie is internationally regarded as one of Australia’s best ballet teachers, training numerous professional dancers working in famous companies throughout the world. Marie is now internationally renowned since developing Progressing Ballet Technique - a unique method to help dancers reach their potential, taught at prestigious institutions such as Teatro La Scala, English National Ballet School, Washington Ballet School.
Marie trained Director Olivia Jenkins in her formative teenage years giving her the tools that took her to a professional level.
In 2021 Marie was given an Order of Australia Medal from the Governor-General.