Emma Acton
Director
Ballet Conservatoire Registered Teacher
Certified Mat Pilates Teacher
Certified Barre Teacher
Diploma in Dance
CUA40211 Cert IV in Dance Teaching
Current WWCC
Michelle Valenti
Teacher
Diploma in Dance
Cert IV in Dance Teaching
Current WWCC
Michelle started ballet at the age of six commencing her part-time professional training at Gay Wightman’s School of Ballet and The Australian Ballet School. Michelle then progressed to full-time training with The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet for two years and Marie-Walton Mahon’s for one.
After completing all of her RAD exams and achieving her Solo-Seal in Sydney, Michelle competed in the Genee Awards in London landing her a position in The Heinz-Bosl Stiftung Academy in Munich.
After almost two years in Germany, Michelle was contracted for a season of La Bayadere with The Bayerisches Staatsballett. She then flew back to Australia where she completed her Cert IV in performing arts and teaching and has now been a freelance dance teacher for over 20 years.
Lucy Maple Worley
Teacher
Intermediate Coaching Accreditation with Gymnastics Australia
Current WWCC
Lucy began training in classical ballet in Darwin at the age of 3 at Leisa's School of Dancing, where she danced for many years before becoming a part of the Duprada Dance Company in 2018. Lucy moved to Bendigo and joined The Extension Ballet Studio in 2022 where she has successfully completed her Level 5 and Senior Level Ballet Conservatoire examinations.
Lucy has performed in many productions including ballets like ‘The Nutcracker’ and ‘Don Quixote’ as well as ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Coppélia’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as The Wicked Witch of the West with The Extension Ballet Studio. She has also participated in many musicals including Bendigo Theatre Company’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and most recently, Guys and Dolls.
Lucy holds an Intermediate Coaching Accreditation with Gymnastics Australia and has coached gym for over 4 years. She began teaching ballet in 2023 under the guidance of Emma Acton and is very passionate to continue both her dance and teaching career.
Summer Brady
Teacher
Summer began training in classical ballet at the age of 3 and has completed her Cecchetti ballet examinations from Grade 1 to Intermediate. She began training with The Extension Ballet Studio under the direction of Emma Acton in 2021, and has since successfully completed her Ballet Conservatoire examinations in Level 4, Level 5 and Senior Level.
In 2023, Summer successfully auditioned to perform in Melbourne Youth Ballet Company’s season of ‘La Fille Mal Gardee’ and Western Ballet Project’s regional season of ‘Chang’e Goddess of the Moon’. In The Extension Ballet Studio’s end of year productions, Summer has been fortunate enough to perform soloist and principal roles such as the Snow Queen in ‘The Nutcracker’, the Lilac Fairy in ‘Sleeping Beauty’, Swanilda in ‘Coppelia’ and Glinda in 'The Wizard of Oz'.
Summer has been assistant teaching younger students’ classes alongside Ms Emma since 2021 and is passionate about furthering her dance teaching career.
Emma began dance in Bendigo, Victoria training in all styles. At a young age, Emma was accepted into the Australian Ballet School where she trained under the guidance of Leigh Rowles, Irina and Sergey Konstantinova, Marilyn Rowe and Christine Howard, among others. During this time she was fortunate enough to perform alongside the Australian Ballet company in their opening night of ‘Ballet Blokes’.
At age sixteen, Emma began training full-time at The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet where she gained her Diploma in Classical Dance and Performing Arts under the tuition of Christine Walsh and Valmai Roberts, among others. Emma then moved to Brisbane to pursue her training with the Queensland Ballet’s Professional Year, overseen by Francois and Robyn Klaus.
While in Brisbane, Emma gained professional experience performing with Queensland Ballet and later, Expressions Dance Company and in the cabaret group Candy Shop Show. During this time, Emma also began teaching dance and completed her Cert IV in Dance Teaching and Management.
In 2014, Emma accepted a professional contract with Melbourne City Ballet where she was eventually promoted to Soloist, performing solo and principal roles for 5 years, including yearly national tours, under the direction of Michael Pappalardo. Emma's performance repertoire with MCB includes; Coppelia (Prayer soloist), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hippolyta), Madame Butterfly (Kate), Don Quixote (Queen of the Dryads), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Wicked Witch of the West), The Nutcracker (Snow Queen), and Alice in Wonderland (Alice) among others. Emma also performed in Melbourne City Dance Collective's debut performance of 'Rebelde' as a contemporary Soloist.
Alongside dancing during her time at MCB, Emma also undertook the role of Ballet Mistress for the Melbourne City Youth Ballet's seasons of 'Beauty and the Beast' - 2016, and 'Peter Pan' - 2017, and was an important member of the MCB classical teaching staff as Learning and Development Coordinator, working with the Finishing Year, full-time, and half-day students, as well as teaching multiple Company classes. Teaching at MCB included many responsibilities such as; repertoire and variation coaching, choreographing full-length classical ballet productions, regular technique, pointe and conditioning classes, syllabus development, assessing and report writing and overseeing Certificate and Diploma students in both their practical and theory work.
Emma created ‘Elite Youth Classical Coaching’ in 2016 and ran frequent masterclasses, holiday workshops and private lessons which began to really spark her love for teaching. In June 2019, Emma decided to end her time as a full-time performer to allow further focus on teaching classical ballet and Pilates. Emma has 14 years of dance teaching experience, she is a certified dance teacher, certified Pilates & Barre teacher and a registered member of the Ballet Conservatoire training syllabus. Above all, Emma strives to impart her love and knowledge of classical dance and vocation of safe dance practice to aspiring young artists. She opened The Extension Ballet Studio in 2021 and is excited to continue to share her substantial experience of the professional ballet industry to the ballet students in Bendigo.
