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 as a guest with Queensland Ballet and  Expressions Dance Company. She also performed 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. Emma was also Learning and Development Coordinator of the MCB classical teaching staff , 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. 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.

Emma returned to Bendigo and opened The Extension Ballet Studio in 2021. She is excited to continue to share her substantial experience of the professional ballet industry to the ballet students in Bendigo, while also raising her two young boys.