Meet Our Teachers
Meet our team of talented, professional and dedicated teachers
Melissa Prentice
Melissa is supported by her wonderful husband Mark and is mother to Edith and Patrick.
Melissa established The Dance House in 2002 as a respected reputable Dance School on the Northern Beaches. Melissa believes she is 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
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 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
Jacqui Harvey
Ellie Copping
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
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
Shelley McShane
Shelley is teaching jazz, tap & contemporary. She comes to us with over a decade of teaching and performing experience, some of her performance highlights include the Australian productions of The Boy From Oz with Hugh Jackman, Disney’s High School Musical Live on Stage, 42nd Street and Dirty Dancing which she also performed on the West End. Television performances; X Factor, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars and stage shows The Logie Awards, Mo Awards, Carols in the Domain … the list is long! Not only is she an amazing dancer and singer she is also an incredible teacher with a great eye for detail.
Shelley McShane