Staff

Renee Grinsted - Artistic Director
Renee has dedicated her life since she was a child to the art of Classical Ballet. Her training began at the Australian Conservatoire of Dance and at the age of fifteen she was accepted to train full-time with the Australian Ballet School. Renee completed her academic studies with the Victorian College of the Arts and continued into tertiary education by completing a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts with a major in Dance at Deakin University and a post graduate degree through Melbourne University and the VCA in 'Classical Ballet Teaching'.

Renee has had a vast array of performing experience with companies around Australia including the likes of the Queensland Ballet Company, National Theatre Ballet, and many other prestigious independent choreographers such as Marilyn Rowe, Leigh Rowles, Christine Walsh, Helena Yuk and Beverly Fry. Now embarking on a new adventure Renee has founded the
"En Pointe School of Ballet' and as the director of the school has great hopes and dreams for the future of both the
students and the institution itself.

Tim Harbour - Ballet
Tim graduated from the Australian Ballet School in 1994 and danced with The Australian Ballet for thirteen years, retiring in 2008 as a senior artist. His choreographic debut “Sunken Waltz”, created for the Company’s Bodytorque programme in 2005, was nominated as best new work in the Critic’s choice awards for Dance Australia magazine. 2006 saw him again create for the Australian Ballet with “Eve” – a collaboration with composer Nicole Murphy and a multi-media installation for the National Gallery Victoria, “Abstract Mode”. In 2007 he made “Fielder” and in 2008 “Wa”, both for the Australian Ballet and both premiering in Sydney to critical acclaim. 2008 also included commissions to make works for The Queensland Ballet and The Australian Ballet School, The New York City Ballet, The Melbourne Ballet Company and the Victorian College of the Arts (V.C.A). 2009 choreographic engagements include those for the West Australian Ballet, The Dancers Company, The West Australian Acadamy of Performing Arts (W.A.A.P.A) The Australian Ballet and Morphoses – The Wheeldon Company in New York. Tim is based in Melbourne, Australia and also freelances as a dance teacher lecturing at the Victorian College of the Arts and as a guest teacher for various dance Companies and schools.

Kelly Rackham - Jazz
Kelly has completed both RAD and Cecchetti Syllabus training up to Advanced levels. At the age of 15 she was accepted on scholarship to train fulltime at the Victorian College of the Arts and in 2003 graduated having won the Cecchetti Medal Test Gold Medal. She has tained at The Edge Performing Arts School fulltime.and has enjoyed a sucessful performance carreer including The Good Friday Appea and Melbourne Storm rugby. She was appointed lead dancer on a cruise ship in the Carribean for 9 months and has been an an extra on Neighbours and Thank God You're Here as well as appearing in TV Commercials for Jetstar, Playstation and GE Money. Kelly has also performed for Disney as Cinderella, pluto and various other Disney characters.

Helena Yuk - Contemporary

Helena Yuk is a professional choreographer and dance educator who has been working and teaching dance for over 20 years since she began her training in Seoul. She has trained in Martha Graham technique, Horton, classical ballet, jazz and traditional Korean dance in America, Italy and Korea. Since moving to Melbourne she has worked for several different dance events in Australia and Korea. Helena has completed her Masters at VCA and her PhD in Dance at Deakin University (2008). She continues to perform, choreograph and teach at a national and international level.