ABOUT OUR TEACHERS
MICHELLE SMITH
Michelle started dancing at the tender age of 5yrs attending the Gloria Seaton Dance School, studying Ballet (RAD exams primary to majors), Tap and Jazz. Michelle spent many years doing eisteddfods under the guidance of her mother Noeline Brown (Miss Noeline, choreographer of eisteddfods only), while joining the Janice Breen School of Dancing. Michelle was a member of the Breen Machine (Performance Group) and participated in many shopping centre shows while herself competing and winning many talent Quests. The Sydney Junior Talent Company then become a big part of Michelle's life constantly dancing as the lead role and singing in many shows, telethons, shopping centres and clubs.
Michelle's first professional job came when she auditioned and was accepted into various cabaret shows throughout Asia (mainly Korea and Japan) touring for up to 6 months at a time. Once the opportunity came up to audition and join "Copacabana Theatre Restaurant" here in Sydney she was a cast member for 5 years.
In 1998, Michelle saw the opportunity to open up a dance school in the Hills District. Today it is one of the Hill's most respected dance schools. Since then, Michelle has choreographed and performed in the "Impossible Princess the Kylie Show", and has run a very successful Show Group within the school. The latest achievement for Michelle and the studio was the Kids 4 Kids Benefit Concert for the "Day of Difference Foundation", raising $10,500. Stars alike joined forces to this much needed cause, from Big Brother 2006 contestants, "Dancing with Stars", Alana and Carmelo and "Australian Idol", Anne Robertson.
Recently, Michelle received an award in recognition for her dedication to dance. The award was presented at the Showcase National Dance Champions held on the Gold Coast, January 2013.
JESSICA SMITHSON
Jessica Smithson is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer from Sydney with 18 years of dance training and experience. Jessica completed her certificate IV in performing arts at Brent Street Studios under the guidance of Cameron Mitchell, Lucas Newland, Darren Mapes, and other industry professionals. She obtained her HSC at Brent Street Academy whilst training intensively in various styles of the performing arts. To further her training, in 2017 Jessica partook in the Show Business Course mentored by Marko Panzic. Jessica made her professional theatre debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008 as ballet girl “Tina Harmer”. In 2008 she performed at the Helpmann awards with the cast of Billy Elliot. She has performed for a number of artists including Jack Vidgen and Cody Simpson at The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, X factor finalist Nathaniel Willemse and Tim Omaji in this video clip “Waterfalls”. In 2016 Jessica performed in Packemin Productions West Side Story as “Susan", a member of the Jets ensemble. Jessica regularly performs in a number of corporate gigs with Studio 101 directed by Maya Martinez and most recently appeared in LOcREaDO's “Nothing” directed by Loredo Malcolm. She has also performed at the Sydney Dance Company for “13 Rooms” and appeared on Everybody Dance Now as a contestant and Young Talent Time as a back up dancer and most recently was chosen to be apart of RICHFAM created by Rob Rich.
EMMA WONG
Emma Wong is a professional commercial dancer and teacher based in Sydney with skills spanning across jazz, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, musical theatre, ballet and technical training. She is from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland and grew up training from the age of 3 at her home studio now known as, Dance 3D.
Post-graduation of high school she moved to Brisbane where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Education (Graduate of 2015) at the Queensland University of Technology. This is where she truly fell in love with the world of teaching in dance. Following this, she pursued pushing her personal training even further and moved to the Gold Coast for full time at Dance Force to complete a Cert IV in Dance Performance. Almost immediately after graduation, she was offered representation by Jeep Management and moved to Sydney in early 2017.
Since then she has worked for Eurovision, Eurovision Asia, The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, The Masked Singer, Ricki Lee, Dami Im, Guy Sebastian, Delta Goodrem, Todd Mckenney, Sloan Peterson, has worked with some of Australia's top choreographers and appeared in various TV commercials and shows. Emma was also part of The Dream Dance Company SHOW | BUSINESS 2018 cast, working closely with Marko Panzic and Katie Sanchez. She is currently also a company member of One Dance Collective and works closely with Lucy Doherty and Rob McLean on a regular basis to bring intention, connection and community to the Australian dance industry.
Emma is now beginning to put more focus into creating and choreographing on top of her usual teaching and performing. She is passionate about personal development and growth both in and outside of dance and can't wait to continue sharing, progressing and inspiring with the future generations.
KARIS FOX
Karis began her training at the age of 3 and has since developed a strong passion for dance and teaching. She trained with Brent Street Studies for 12 years in numerous styles including ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hip, contemporary, lyrical and musical theatre. She completed her Cert IV in Dance at Ettingshausens Pro Fulltime gaining experience in a wider range of dance genres. Karis has performed in musicals including The Sound of Music and The Wiz, as well as various film and television appearances including the motion picture Happy Feet and short film Dysphoria. She has also appeared in the Dance Boss TVC as well as various screenings of The Voice Australia and The X Factor. Most recently, Karis has been living overseas for 9 months working for Tokyo DisneySea as a lead aerialist and dancer. She has 6 years of experience teaching both competition and recreational students of all ages. Her goals are to encourage an exciting, supportive dance environment for her students. Furthermore, she loves to watch the growth in her students as they develop a greater understanding of dance technique, confidence and performance. Her nurturing and energetic personality is what drives her students today.
CHRISTIAN HART
Christian began his dance training at the age of 9 at Constant Groove Dance Studio. His styles include; Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Hip Hop, Acrobatics, Lyrical, Contemporary and Musical Theatre. In 2019 Christian received his Diploma in Performing Arts at Brent Street under the guidance of Lucas Newland, Lisa Callingham, Cameron Mitchell and Cassie Bartho.
Christian's performance credits include; ‘We Are Dance Project Pre-Show’, ‘The Premiers Gala Concert’, ‘The Voice Australia’, ‘Dancing with The Stars’ and ‘Mardi Gras Barcelona’. In 2017 and 2018 Christian had the opportunity to travel to Spain and Italy representing Australia at the ‘World Dance Movement’ as well as performing as a guest act in their annual performance showcase. Furthermore, he performed at Sydney Town Hall for the ‘WaterAid’ Ball, Sydney hair expo as a model, ‘AfterPay’ at the Ivy and Ambassador for ‘PureDynamics. In 2020 Christian danced for Sam Smith at the Mardi Gras 'After Party' event working with The Squared Divison and other incredible performers.
Christian has competed in several competitions throughout his years of dancing both for solos and groups, receiving many outstanding achievements. Back in 2017, he was awarded the National title award winner at Hollywood Bound National Championships receiving pre-senior Dancer of The Year winning a trip to Spain competing internationally, furthering his dance education. In 2018 Christian received runner up at Showcase Nationals and was fortunate enough to have been asked to assist and be captain of the Australian team in Italy at The World Dance Movement.
MEG BIDDLE
Meg started dancing at the age of 3 years old and has been training in several different dance styles over the years.
She has trained under many industry professionals and is currently working as a professional dancer and teacher.
After doing a year of full time at The Next Step Performing Arts Professional, Meg has had several opportunities performing and working for many artists and dancers.
Some performances for artists include Kylie Minogue at Mardi Gras 2019 and Tee Noah’s “Coming to Australia” music video.
Meg is working hard to push her career in the dance industry and her work is being well recognised by many top dancers and choreographers.
JOSH WADLEY
Josh began tap dancing at the young age of 4 in his home town Christchurch, New Zealand. He later began training in other styles such as jazz, JFH, hip hop, ballet, contemporary and musical theatre. Josh was able to learn off one of New Zealand's top tap dancers - Daniel Sintes, before moving to Sydney at age 17 to further his training. In 2016, he gained his Certificate IV in Dance after a year of full time training at the Village Performing Arts. Josh has performed in several corporate jobs around New Zealand, Australia and China, including the Canterbury Business Awards, the farewell ceremony for the Australian Olympic team and the new Honda Avancier car launch in Beijing, China. He has also performed in shows such as A-Live Entertainment's "Machismo - Live Dance Show" directed and choreographed by BJ Rorke and Dayton Tavares. Josh placed 1st at the prestigious PACANZ New Zealand Tap Dance Nationals in 2016 out of 60 of the countries' best tap dancers. He recently finished a 3-month contract as a Dancer at Disneyland Paris as a part of the “Mickey’s Christmas Big Band” show choreographed by Chris Horsey and directed by Matt West. Dance is his number one passion and he hopes to continue learning and growing as a professional dancer, performer and teacher.
EMILY BYRNE
Emily has always had a passion for Dance and Music. Starting her journey at a
young age she progressed through the RAD classical ballet grades to her
Advance and studied Piano to a high level. During her time as a student, she
competed and was successful in many eisteddfods and festivals with a variety
of dance genres. Emily had the opportunity to perform and participate in
workshops in the USA and danced in the opening ceremony at the Sydney
2000 Olympics. She has also been fortunate to perform with the Independent
Contemporary Dance Company 'Cuneo' and more recently with Cartoon
Network as "Bubbles" from The PowerPuff Girls.
After High School, Emily completed a Bachelor of Arts with Major Studies in
Dance/Music at UWS.
Emily was the owner and Director of La Dance Studios for 15 years where she
taught all levels up to Advance 2 RAD Classical Ballet, Lyrical, Jazz, Tap,
Contemporary, Musical Theatre, Pointe and Conditioning. She was the Dance
Choreographer for Solo, Group Productions and Audition level entries for
Dance Studios and Professional levels. Emily was involved in Musical
Production collaboration with many Dance Choreographers to create themed
music to enhance the atmosphere, for high competition dance routines.
For many years Emily was one of the NSW Touring and Regional Piano
Accompanist for the Royal Academy Graded and Vocational Ballet
Examinations.
Emily loves to teach and enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience of
Dance to others, she feels that “Life wouldn’t be the same without Dance”.
SHELYSE WADLEY
Shelyse began dancing at age 3 at Levings school of dance. In her hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand she trained in jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, and musical theatre. Shelyse was also an associate at the New Zealand School of Dance as a contemporary major.
Shelyse moved to Sydney at the age of 15 to further her training. In 2020, Shelyse studied full time at The Next Step Performing Arts where she received a Diploma of Performing Arts. Here she was able to learn from many of the industries best performers and choreographers.
Performing and teaching are two of Shelyse’s main passions and she can’t wait to share her knowledge and training with more students.
AMBER-JADE SMITH
Amber - Jade Smith (AJ) age 16 started dancing at the tender age of 5. AJ has been trained in all aspects of dance including Ballet Jazz Tap Hip Hop Musical Theatre Acrobatics Hip Hop Lyrical and Contemporary. AJ is part of the CGDS Senior Troupe and Hip Hop Crews KLAWZ and Prodigez AJ is a national soloist and has competed and been successful in many competitions and eisteddfods and is currently part of the Pioneers Mega Crew
Her achievements of recent include;
National Winner Hip Hop Senior Division Hollywood Bound 2020
3rd Place Overall DOTY Senior Division Nationals Hollywood Bound
Dream Creative Member 2020 2019 2018
Get The Beat Runner Up Senior Division 2020
2019 Battlegrounds Hip Hop Competition Nationals Winner and 3rd Place International Winner
1st Place Lewis Shilvock Online Competition 2020
3rd Place Krya Dooley Online Competition 2020
2020 PureDynamics Dance Ambassador
Aj has shown maturity beyond her years with her teaching at CGDS. AJ's creative mind in choreography has won her many competitions and one day herself would love to be a famous choreographer and professional dancer. She credits her teachers Jessica Smithson and Jervis Livelo for their guidance and teaching her over the years. In her spare time has her own photo business ajssphotography capturing dancers around the globe. AJ currently teachers many of the junior age solo kids which have been successful in winning many competitions and eisteddfods. Her passion and hard work never go unnoticed and we wish her all the best with her future endeavors.
CASSIE BURNETT
Cassie has been dancing since the age of 6. Over the past 18 years, Cassie has been part of Kookies N Kream Dance Crew as well as performed alongside artists Dami Im, Justice Crew, Ciara. Additionally, she has been an extra for TV Show Dance Academy Season 2 and Extra for The Voice 2022 and has performed for multiple community events and functions. Moreover, Cassie has taught over Sydney for the past 4 years specialising in HipHop & Commercial dancing.
CONTACT US !
If you would like more information about Constant Groove Dance Studio, we’d be more than happy to help. Please fill out the form below and a member of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.
1/3 Bearing Rd, Seven Hills NSW 2147, Australia
0414 277 677