Meet our teachers

Meet Our Teachers

Meet our team of talented, professional and dedicated teachers

Melissa Prentice

PRINCIPAL/Dance Teacher (ARAD RTS)

Melissa is supported by her husband Mark and is mother to Edith and Patrick. Inspired by her ballet teachers and older sister, Melissa was quick to develop a love for dance and a desire to learn more and try different styles of dance. Having completed all Royal Academy of Dance Examinations with the amazing Jane Stanley and completing her HSC with marks in the top 10% of the state Melissa went on to achieve her Certificate IV in Performing Arts as a full time student at Brent Street Performing Arts school where she worked with renown teachers and choreographers, such as Jason Coloman, Jackie Howard, Roy Dudley, Kim Traynor, Jane Beckett, Cameron Mittchell, Daren Disney.On Completion of her Certificate Melissa danced professionally in Sydney with the Detour Performance Agency, whilst teaching the dance program for Manly Council and at Brigidine College at St Ives.

Melissa completed her Teachers Certificate with the Royal Academy of Dance London and became a registered teacher with the RAD and Glenn Wood Tap. After teaching baby ballet for Manly Council from 1999, Melissa established The Dance House in 2002 as a respected reputable Dance School on the Northern Beaches. Melissa believes she blessed with the ‘best job in the world’. She takes great pride in her school and her students and devotes her life to seeing the joy of dance in the eyes of others no matter their age. Melissa believes that dance is an expression of who we are and that there is a freedom within every form of dance.

Melissa Prentice

Carolina De Mattos Rocha

Dance Instructor

Carolina is originally from Brazil where she was taught by the fabulous Claudia Araujo before moving on to dance with the Municipal Theatre of Rio De Janeiro performing great ballets such at Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Le Corsaire. She then went on to teach Ballet at the WM dance School in and Julia Moreira Dance Centre, both in Rio. Since moving to Australia with her Husband, Carolina has taught ballet on Sydney ’s Northern beaches for a number of year as well as worked at a local child care centre. With Bachelor Degree in Physiotherapy and Certificate in Children’s Services Carolina brings with her a wealth of knowledge. Carolina ’s love for children and the wonderful experience she brings with her, gives the Dance House students a wonderfully caring and passionate ballet teacher.

Carolina De Mattos Rocha

Ashley Larsen

At age 2 and a half Ashley started ballet and fell in love with it immediately and danced all the way through till she was 18 gaining all the way to Advanced 2 RAD.

After completing her University Degree, she lived and travelled around Europe before she came back to her home turf (Manly) and began teaching ballet for The Dance House, sharing her joy of ballet and extensive knowledge to the students.

Ashley is also a qualified Pilates Mat Instructor, Xtend Barre Instructor and Personal Trainer specialising in Group Fitness.

Ashley Larsen

Emily Walker

Hailing from Scotland, Emily is an energetic and versatile teacher and choreographer who started dancing at the age of four. She trained in jazz, tap, ballet, and contemporary through her teenage years, gaining a place at Scotland’s only venue to offer a BA(Hons) in Dance. She then furthered her professional training at ‘London Contemporary Dance School’, Europe’s leading dance centre.
Emily has taught and travelled extensively, gaining over 12 years of teaching experience over a multitude of dance styles and cultures.

She has been bringing her boundless energy to The Dance House for the past six years working with our Eisteddfod Teams and Jazz classes. Emily is also a senior Xtend Barre instructor, and studying to become an Teacher Trainer/Assessor.

As a teacher, Emily creates a safe and nurturing environment for our dancers to discover their potential. Her love and passion for dance fills the studio and you can’t help but leave her classes smiling!

Emily Walker

Sascha Macdonald

Sascha has been dancing since the young age of 4, beginning with Irish dancing and ballet. She then began styles in Jazz, Modern/Lyrical and Contemporary at Dance North Academy, competing with their performance teams. In 2012 she moved to Evolution Performance Centre, dancing 15 hours plus per week. Sascha competed on a weekly basis, coming away with high results at majority of eisteddfods. She has competed at national levels, and has achieved national championships numerous times over the years. She also trained at Tanya Pearson’s Classical Coaching Academy for 3 years and completed her RAD exams up to Intermediate. She did an accelerated HSC dance course in 2017 and got into Callbacks. In 2018 Sascha was elected Dance Captain of Oxford Falls Grammar School. She has also had the honour of performing at the Easter Show numerous times, performing at the Colour Run (on stage) and being apart of the Great Euro Circus (whilst they resided in Rose Bay), she has also performed at charity events such as Don’t Dis Disabilities. Sascha has taught and coached many younger students and can’t wait to pass on her passion of Dance to the students of Dance House.

Sascha Macdonald

Bianca Dent

Originally from the UK where Bianca trained in RAD ballet from the age of 4yrs old plus tap (a personal favourite of hers) & modern dance.
At 16 she was accepted into Theatre School in London (Laine Theatre Arts) on a 3yr intensive professional dance course.
In her third year she also completed her teacher training course in classical ballet, tap & modern all of which have proven to be extremely useful throughout her own professional career as a dancer.
The commercial dance world & caberet was the road that opened up for Bianca. This took her literally around the world in a variety of shows, extravagent costumes & genre’s. Highlights would have to be seasons in the south of France – Monte Carlo & Cannes plus performing at 2 Royal Variety performances for the Queen on home soil.
Ballet has always been Biancas foundation however & she confirms there has never been a moment where she hasn’t been thankful for the technique & discipline it taught her as a child. She owe’s everything to the ballet teacher who taught her for the first 12 years & is so excited to be able to pass that on to The Dance House students in her now home town Manly.

Bianca Dent

Jacqui Harvey

An exceptional tap dancer, Jacqui is real asset to the Dance House team. Not only can she move her feet at incredible speed to produce rhythms out of this world, Jacqui’s warm and gentle personality makes her the perfect teacher for our baby classes. The kids all adore her.

Jacqui Harvey

Ellie Copping

Miss Ellie Copping has been dancing her whole life. She has trained in all dance styles but she is most passionate about hip hop. Ellie will be representing Australia when she competes with the Kookies’n’Kreme hip hop crew at the World Hip Hop Titles in Arizona next year. We are super excited for her! Her huge smile and amazing dance ability will have the Dance House students loving hiphop as much as Ellie in no time. Join us in Term 1!

Ellie Copping

Jamie Astley

Jamie started dancing at the age of 3. She graduated from Newtown High School of Performing Arts in 2002 and received a Certificate IV in Dance from Brent Street in 2003. Jamie has over 15 years teaching experience, her credits include Sydney Dance Company, Brent Street, ED5 to name a few. In 2009 Jamie moved to LA to pursue a career in Dance. She worked as a dancer on Princess Cruise Line for 2 years and returned to Australia 2012 where she managed a performing arts school on the Gold Coast. Here Jamie co-wrote a Cert IV and Diploma course in Contemporary Dance and Performing Arts that were certified in 2013. Jamie returned to Sydney 2014 and continued to teach dance while completing a Bachelor of Communication a UTS. Jamie continues to share her passion for dance through teaching and is excited to be a part of The Dance House family.

Jamie Astley

Georgia Blank

At the age of 2 Georgia started baby ballet classes at The Dance House with Melissa as her teacher falling in love with dance straight away. While Georgia has trained in all styles, her personal favourites are, contemporary, ballet and tap.

During her time at The Dance House, Georgia assisted teaching baby ballet and groovers classes alongside Melissa.

Georgia moved on to a performing arts school where she competed successfully in many award winning group and solo performances around Australia.

After completing her HSC Georgia took some time out to travel around Europe and Africa. Upon her return home, she began teaching tap and jazz to some incredibly talented Dance House students.

Georgia Blank

Grace Robinson

Grace trained in Sydney at Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching before moving to London to take a place at The Royal Ballet School in London.

During her time at TRBS Grace was lucky enough and work and perform with choreographers including “Christopher Wheeldon”, “Liam Scarlett”, “Alexander Whitley” and works by “Jiri Kylian” among others.

After graduating, she joined The Northern Ballet as a company artist.. Since returning to Australia, Grace has been working with Opera Australia in Graeme Murphy’s recent production of The Merry Widow.

Grace Robinson