SHARON FERNANDEZ

Sharon trained at Gay Wightman School of Ballet where she completed all her major exams with distinction & was awarded a full scholarship. She has been a dedicated teacher of classical ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap and character at Gay Wightman School of Ballet since 1999. Sharon began her professional career at the age of 11 with The Australian Ballet Company on Graham Murphy’s ‘The Nutcracker’. She has a passion for choreography and has choreographed for many corporate functions & events including The Australian Robert Stoltz Society and Opera Australia for the past 3 years. Sharon has studied and performed in the USA and New Zealand and has worked with many inspiring International choreographers. Sharon has won many awards and scholarships in major competitions in Australia and overseas. In 2006 she won the right to represent Australia in the International Dance Organisation (IDO) awards to be held in New York 2007.In 2004 Sharon was commissioned by Australasian Dance Assessment (ADA) to choreograph a 13 level Jazz syllabus. Students Australia wide have been presenting for exams in this exciting new syllabus since 2005. Sharon is also a dedicated committee member of ADA. Sharon choreographed ‘Primere Amore’ for ‘Project One’.

Tim is a graduate of the Australian Ballet School in 1994 prior to his acceptance into the Australian Ballet Company. Tim choreographed ‘Wa’ for The Australian Ballet Company, this premieredin Sydney to wide critical acclaim. He has also choreographed ‘Schattenwelt’ for TheQueensland Ballet and ‘Ignis’ for The Australian Ballet School’s ‘Morning Melodies’. Tim has been commissioned to develop and choreograph performances for The West Australian Ballet, The New YorkChoreographic Institute, The Australian Ballet School, The Dancer’s Company, The West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, The VictorianCollege of the Arts and The Australian Ballet as well as the Melbourne ballet Company for Project Four "Emerge".Tim choreographed ‘Live 08’, a production for thecircus group ‘Cirque Vie’. Tim has conducted workshops and sessional training for dance students and established artists from TheAustralian Ballet, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australian Dance Theatre, Sydney Dance Company, The Queensland Ballet, The West Australian Ballet, West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (W.A.A.P.A), Victorian College of theArts (V.C.A), The National Institute for Circus Arts (N.I.C.A) and Acrobatics Victoria. These programs encompass rehearsal, interpretation and performance as well as daily exercise and conditioning to improve technical standards, fitness and suppleness. Tim was invited to join the dance panel of The Greenroom Awards in 2008 and is also a member of the Victorian branch committee of the Australian Institute of Classical Dance.

Simon graduated from the Australian Ballet School in 1996. Since becoming a professional dancer he has worked as a soloist and principle artist with Ballet Graz in Austria, Ballet Mainz in Germany, Schaufuss Ballet in Denmark and Carolina Ballet before joining Cedar Lake Ensemble in New York City as a principle artist in 2003. He has toured and guested throughout much of the United States, Europe and Asia, and had the benefit of working with many outstanding teachers and choreographers, including Wilhem Burmann, Adam Luders, Jonny Eliason, Hans Van Manen, Nils Christie, Peter Schaufuss, Darrell Tolone, Peter Brauer, Martin Schlapfer, Donald Mahler, Robert Weiss, Natilie Weir and performed works by Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe and George Balanchine. Simon has choreographed several ballets Including; Passacaglia, Mendelssohn concerto, Above Water, Mozart concerto, kaleidoscope, and Autumn leaves. Simon chpreographed “In Paradisum” for Project One and “In One Day”.

Sydney born Justine Miles studied dance with Joan and Monica Halliday prior to her acceptance into the Australian Ballet School. Justine was accepted into the Australian Ballet Company in 1984 and quickly rose to the rank of Leading Soloist. Her principal roles include La Sylphide, Paquita, The merry Widow, Equus, Gala Performance, Four Last Songs, Apollo, La Fille Mal Gardee, Forgotten Land, Sleeping Beauty, Graduation Ball and Onegin.In 1992 Justine was invited to Canada to be a guest artist with the National Ballet of Canada. Since retiring from the Company Justine has had a rewarding career in teaching, choreographing and examining.Justine choreographed “Phases” for Melbourne Ballet Company, Project One.

As a choreographer, movement pedagogue and solo dancer Robert is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of all forms of dance throughout Australia and the world wide arts community.Influenced, formed and developed by great teachers such as Adrian Dimitrievitch, Rosemary Stark and Lucette Aldous, he has formed a deep appreciation for the different styles of ballet and neo-classical dance and showed a particular fascination for the Russian style of ballet.As a soloist working in Europe he was offered contracts in The Salzburg Dance Company(Austria), The Royal Danish Ballet(Copenhagen, Denmark), Ballet Mainz(Germany), Ballet Kiel(Germany), Regensburg State Theatre(Germany), St. Gallen State Theatre Ballet,(Switzerland).In Austria he performed in Peter Breuers' "Fremd bin ich eingezogen", Der Gott geliebte" and also performed for The Salzburg Festival in several productions.In Switzerland, St. Gallen he was leading soloist in many noteable ballets, namely 'Graduation Ball', 'Suenos de Tango' from Gonzalo Galguerra and principal dancer in Norohiko Motchitzuki's 'Pulcinella", he also performed prominent roles in musicals such as 'Kiss Me Kate', 'The Three Musketeers' and 'Evita'.

Simone joined the Australian Ballet Company in January 2006 where he is still currently dancing.Simone also worked with the Stuttgart Ballet in Stuttgart, Germany, fromSeptember 2004 until July 2006 he also performed as a guest artist with Ajkun Ballet Theatre,NYC.Simones repertoire with the Australian Ballet Company includes; “Don Quixotte” cor. R. Nureyev“Valletta” cor. P. Knobloch (world premiere),“Swan Lake” cor. G. Murphy,“Sleeping Beauty” cor. S. Welch,“Les Presàges” cor. L. Massine,“The Nutcracker” cor. P. Wright,“Ballet Imperial” cor. G. BalanchineSimones repertoire with the Stuttgart Ballet includes;“Come Neve al Sole” cor. R. D'Alesi,“Lulu, a monster tragedy” cor. Christian Spuck,“A Streetcar named Desire” cor. J. Neumeier,“Sweet Sweet Sweet” cor. M. Goecke (world premiere),“Strawinsky Violin concert” cor. G. Balanchine,“The Rite of Spring” cor. G. Tetley,“The Taming of the Shrew” cor. J. Cranko,“Giselle” cor. R. Anderson after Petipa,“Onegin” cor. J. Cranko,“Romeo and Juliet” cor. J. Cranko,“The Sleeping Beauty” cor. Marcia Haydée,“The Lady of the Camelias” cor. J. Neumeier,“Seventh Symphony” cor. Uwe Scholtz,“Volountaries” cor. G. Tetley,“Viciouswishes” cor M. Goecke (world premiere) Simone was the Choreographer of "No Consensus" for the Melbourne Ballet Company Project Three "Scarce Resources" in May 2008.