About Us
The Sara Anderson School of Dance is a Christchurch based dance school that started in 2011 after Sara was offered the opportunity to start her own school.
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From originally teaching just two days per week Miss Sara now offers classes six days per week in our own dedicated dance studio located at 62 Orbell Street, Sydenham. There are two dance studios with sprung dance floors to maximise our dancers' comfort and minimise the chance of any injuries.
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We teach students a love of dancing from the age of three years through to adults. All classes are taught in a professional, friendly environment at 62 Orbell Street, the home of this Christchurch dance school.
Director
SARA ANDERSON
Sara began dancing at five years of age and started full time training at the National Ballet School at 16 years old. Receiving both her Advanced RAD and Solo Seal BBO examinations Sara also performed in many productions, including Don Quixote and Les Sylphide with Julie Kent, Peter Pan (Canyon Concert Ballet) as well as numerous Operas and local dance productions.
After being taught by Ann Judson, Russell Kerr QSM and the late Sheryl Robinson, Sara graduated with a diploma in Classical Ballet. This lead to her touring and dancing around America.
Upon her return to New Zealand Sara studied the Pilates method where she trained many prominent sporting and business people. During this time Sara became the Pilates tutor at Hagley Dance Company, a position that she held for 10 years, and later also their ballet tutor.
In 2007, Sara married her partner Mark and later that year the first of two children arrived, she then began teaching again. It was then that Sara decided to further her knowledge and begin to learn more about passing on the art.
Sara has received her Level 5 Diploma in dance teaching through Bbodance. Due to this study, Sara is now an examiner for the bbodance organisation where she gets to tutor and examine around the country and in Australia.
Sara believes that improving her own knowledge about dance and the art of teaching benefits her students, helps them to achieve and be the best that they can be.
Guest Tutors
JULIA MCKERROW
Julia Mckerrow BPSA is a Classically and Contemporary trained independent dance artist from ÅŒtautahi who is motivated to help dancers discover enjoyment, versatility and freedom in movement.
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Julia is a graduate from the UNITEC School of Performing and Screen Arts major in Contemporary Dance. She has 20 years of experience working professionally in the Dance sector. Julia has featured in Aotearoa’s leading Dance and Arts festivals and has received National awards for her choreography.
Julia values working with dancers of all ages and levels of experiences and is committed to continuing her own professional development and performance work. She is currently gaining her certification in Hanna Somatics and Barre Body and offering open classes through SOMA Studios. Julia is able to bring her wealth of knowledge to support the movement interests and training needs of a diverse range of dancers.
Julia specialises in Somatic, Contemporary, Choreographic and Improvisational movement practices. She also works independently as a Barre & NCEA tutor and has led students successfully through the NZAMD Contemporary syllabus.
Julia is excited to work as a guest tutor for Sara Anderson School of Dance in 2022.
KASE CRAIG
A highly accomplished ballet dancer with recent international experience, Kase has been performing professionally with Ballet de l’Opera National de Bordeaux in France for eleven years. He grew up in Christchurch learning tap dance and classical ballet from age five. Following ten years of competing throughout New Zealand and Australia on the competition circuit, Kase was offered a one-year scholarship to the Australian Ballet School followed by a three-year scholarship to the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington.
At 18 Kase was awarded a scholarship to New York for advanced classes at the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School where he was scouted by Charles Jude, a former student of Rudolf Nureyev, who offered Kase a full contract to dance professionally with his ballet company in France. Kase performs with Ballet de l’Opera National de Bordeaux regularly throughout France, Italy and Spain including at the Opera Houses of Paris and Venice together with international tours to Russia, China and Hong Kong. His roles with the ballet company include all the classical repertory and leading roles in works by the following choreographers: Charles Jude, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir David Bintley, Serge Lifar, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Wayne McGregor, Ohad Naharin, JiÅ™í Kylián, Carolyn Carlson, Angelin Preljocaj, Nicolas Le Riche, Alexander Ekman and Justin Peck.
Kase is currently completing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the University of Canterbury with core skills in arts leadership. Awards and credentials to date include: Advanced Coaching at The Royal Ballet, an NZQA National Diploma in Dance Performance, National Certificate in Dance Performance, the Royal Academy of Dance Solo Seal Award and Certificate III in Dance. In 2018 Kase was made a Distinguished Graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance.
When not in performances Kase has been fortunate to receive regular professional development from tutors to the Paris Opera Ballet. He has often appeared as a guest contributor on the Good Morning programme for Channel One and Arts on Sunday for Radio New Zealand. In 2009 a documentary on Kase was filmed by Television New Zealand.
