PBT presents: The Evolution Series

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Progressing Ballet Technique is excited to launch the first 'dance evolution series' this July school holidays. A 5 day school holiday intensive focusing on Classical Ballet & Contemporary for ages 10+ in the newly built PBTfit premises in Waterloo, Sydney.

Classes in Classical Ballet, Repertoire, Contemporary, Progressing Ballet Technique, Progressing Contemporary Technique, Pointe Work. There will be a performance with an audience on the Friday afternoon. Students will also have classes in Injury Prevention & Safe dance from dance physiotherapist Debra Crookshanks as well as Healthy Mind & Body seminars by Jessica Cove.

We are honoured that Leanne Benjamin, former Principal of the Royal Ballet will be teaching throughout the week and hold a special talk & book signing on the Friday early evening.

Live pianist Grant Kennedy for classical and repertoire.

Monday 4th of July to Friday the 8th of July. 9am to 4:15pm daily.

Strictly limited places for this unique learning experience.

Note:

• This is event is not for recreational students; they should be attending classes more than once a week regularly to attend due to safety.
• 15 years and over should be confident en pointe.

COMPETING IN SYDNEY EISTEDDFOD & CAN'T ATTEND THE WHOLE WEEK?

We don't want you to lose out on this opportunity, please email laurie@pbt.dance and we can discuss a timetable that could work for you and an adjusted price.

Leanne Benjamin OBE AM

Leanne Benjamin was born in Rockhampton, Australia. At 16 she joined The Royal Ballet School winning the Adeline Genée gold medal and the Prix de Lausanne and she performed the role of Giselle at Covent Garden in the Royal Ballet School’s annual performance.

Leanne joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet in 1983, English National Ballet in 1988 and the Deutsche Oper Ballet Berlin in 1990 before joining the Royal Ballet in 1992 at Kenneth MacMillan’s invitation, where she performed as a principal dancer for 21 years.

Her wide repertory included most of the classical and neo-classical repertoire. She created new roles for choreographers including, Wayne McGregor, Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon and Twyla Tharp and was one of the last dancers to work with Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan.

In 2004 and 2009, Leanne was recognized as Best Female Dancer in the Critic’s Circle Dance Awards and in 2013 she was given the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.

In 2005 Leanne received an OBE in recognition of her services to dance, in 2014 an Honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts by Central Queensland University and in 2015 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.

In 2016 Leanne was appointed a Governor of The Royal Ballet Companies and became the Vice- Chair in 2020.

Leanne is the Patron of the Tait Memorial Trust where an annual award is given in her name to support young Australian and New Zealand Dancers to train in the UK. She is now coaching pre-professional students and working with a number of international ballet companies as a coach to their principal dancers.

In October 2021, Leanne released her autobiography, Built for Ballet published by Melbourne Books, written with Sarah Crompton.

Marie Walton-Mahon OAM

Diploma of Dance Teaching and Management 
 | Cert IV in Training and Assessment 
 | Artistic Director of the global business Progressing ballet Technique | Founder & Director of PBT Workshops | Freelance coach and guest teacher

Marie’s former ballet training was in Newcastle Australia passing all RAD examinations including Honours in Advanced and the Solo Seal award in 1970.  In 1971, she continued her studies in France with a scholarship at the Rosella Hightower School in Cannes France before being offered a professional contract to join Les Ballet de Marseille under the artistic direction of Roland Petit. The company toured to Paris with the late great Maya Plisetskaya “I was asked by Maya Plisetskaya to join her while she practiced a particular floor barre before classes. I noticed her setting up her mind and body before class each day and I noticed when doing this myself, my personal best was achieved. This experience instilled in me the hunger to learn more about the importance of the dancers’ body and their preparation to perform at a high standard to maintain a healthy body.”

Marie was the founder of the Marie Walton-Mahon Dance Academy in Newcastle for 38 years and founded the National College of Dance in 2007. Marie was an examiner and tutor for the Royal Academy of dance for 12 years.

Marie’s passion for safe dance led to the creation of Progressing Ballet Technique is an innovative program developed by Marie Walton-Mahon for students to understand the depth of training muscle memory in achieving their personal best in classical ballet.

Marie has been known for her creative teaching skills for almost 4 decades and has trained many professional dancers and teachers’ worldwide. She has experimented with outstanding success the use of muscle memory to improve students understanding of core stability, weight placement and alignment for over 20 years. Each exercise has been developed with care and guidance with a team of physiotherapists.

In 2012, Marie was tutoring teachers for the Royal Academy of Dance, showing the teachers a couple of exercises to improve the students’ alignment and stability. It was at this course that the teachers requested Marie to film all her work and share her findings. Three DVDs and an online training program later, Progressing Ballet Technique teachers’ courses would sell out around the globe and is being officially taught in thousands of schools across 40 countries.

Marie continues to freelance teach and mentors her many official tutors around the world in the PBT technique to deliver the highest quality of certification courses worldwide.

Adam Blanch

Adam trained with Karen Thomas and Marie Walton Mahon, before entering The Australian Ballet School.

On graduating he joined The Queensland Ballet under the direction of Francois Klaus and was promoted to soloist in 2005. Adam was invited to join Sydney Dance Company in 2006 and during his time there collaborated with a variety of choreographers including Rafael Bonachela, Graeme Murphy, Stephen Petronio, Meryl Tankard, Aszure Barton, Kenneth Kvarnstrom, Craig Bary and Emanuel Gat.

In late 2010 Adam joined Garry Stewart's Australian Dance Theatre and toured Europe with the company's production of Be Yourself. In 2011 Adam was involved a film for Paramount Pictures of WWZ, ROH2’s DanceLine’s with Wayne McGregor and collaborated on developments with such artists as Akram Kahn.

He worked with Terry Guilliem’s Faust in Palermo and performed at Glyndebourne in Melly Stills’ The Cunning Little Vixen. Recently he was part of The Pet Shop Boys World Tour and toured in Australian Dance Theatre's G.

Recently he gained many accolades for creating innovative original choreographies, and his coaching of students who have gone on to receive prizes at such prestigious competitions as the YAGP and Prix de Lausanne.

Adam recently choreographed a dynamic new work, collaborating with the Sydney Youth Orchestra called “The Sky is Falling” which premiered at The Concourse Theatre in September 2017 to great reviews.

Adam has been a guest teacher throughout Europe and Australia for leading companies and schools.

Gilly Revie

Gilly Revie joined Redlands as Head of Ballet and Dance Academy in January 2022. Originally from Northern Ireland, Gilly joined The Royal Ballet School at the age of eleven. She graduated in 1987, joining The Royal Ballet the same year; progressing through the ranks, Gilly performed a vast repertoire of soloist and principal roles.

After completing The Royal Ballet School Teacher Training Course for Professional Dancers in 2007, she continued as Guest Principal Character Artist with The Royal Ballet and joined English National Ballet School as Tutor, Artistic Coordinator and Rehearsal Director.

Gilly relocated to Sydney in 2010, where she established her business Classical Ballet 121 to provide talented dancers with the opportunity to work with her on a one-to-one basis. Classical Ballet 121 was developed into a successful full-time ballet school, preparing students for elite ballet programs and companies worldwide.

Gilly enjoys performing for The Australian Ballet Company as a guest. She is Patron of the BBO dance Australia and a mentor and coach for the Pre-Professional Year at Sydney Dance Company. Gilly also continues her association with The Royal Ballet School as a consultant guest teacher at their International Intensive Programs.

Her position at Redlands gives Gilly the opportunity to continue working towards providing young aspiring dancers with a safe and stable environment in which to thrive.

Jessica Cove

Jessica began her training with Anne Fraser at age 7 and after being awarded her Solo Seal in 1998 was granted a scholarship to the Vienna Opera Ballet School. During her time in Vienna Jessica trained under Nadia Tikhonova, representing the academy in numerous international ballet competitions and touring with the school throughout Europe, ultimately securing a contract with Jeune Ballet de France.

Upon her return to Australia, Jessica completed an Associate Degree in Dance (QUT) and went on to guest teach in the Vaganova method at a selection of schools and institutions. Since 2012, Jessica has privately mentored dancers with a focus on mental health and nutrition and has gone on to become a qualified counsellor (AIPC) and meditation teacher and is in the final stages of completing a Masters in Biomedical Meditation and Lifestyle Medicine (BIYOME).

Debra Crookshanks MACP

Debra is firstly a clinical physiotherapist who enjoys the hands-on aspect of assessment, treatment and exercise prescription along with her other passions of education and research. She has been working in collaboration with Ms Marie Walton-Mahon since 2012 and was certified in PBT in 2017.

Debra is an Australian trained and registered Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist with over 30 years experience working with dancers of all genres. She has worked with dancers from professional companies, touring companies, pre-professional studios and recreational and beginner levels, with the goal of educating each dancer to understand their own body and to work within any constraints that may exist as a means of minimizing injury risk.

She is an invited speaker at both national and international level within her area of expertise, and her contribution to dance medicine has been acknowledged having received awards from the Australian Physiotherapy Association and the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS).