OUR TEACHERS
Sarah Quinn started dancing at the age of 3 with her twin sister Ashleigh. Sarah completed all of her exams in RAD Ballet, Tap and Jazz before she knew she really wanted to focus on Ballet and Contemporary. At the age of 15, Sarah commenced full-time training on the Gold Coast. After completing her RAD Ballet exams she was accepted into a Ballet/ Contemporary school in Basel ( Switzerland) at the age of 17.
Two years later Sarah returned to Australia and was accepted into Pulse 8, a youth contemporary company in Sydney. The following year Sarah was accepted into Brent Street. During that time Sarah auditioned for “ So You Think You Can Dance” and was successful in the Top 40. Following Brent Street, Sarah commenced a contract in Macau, China performing at the Hard Rock Casino. Sarah has also been a former Cheerleader for the Broncos and Manly Seaeagles, you may have also seen her in a few TV Shows ( X-Factor) , ( So You Think You Can Dance ) and an international movie - The ln-Betweeners, as well as various commercials. At the age of 22 Sarah wanted to expand her dancing abilities into Ballroom/ Latin, She trained and worked as a teacher in this field at DanceCorp Dance Studios in Brisbane, Sarah gets booked alot now as a Wedding Dance Teacher and also loves teaching social dancing in these styles. One of Sarah’s last overseas positions was working with Princess Cruise Lines as a performer before she returned home to open up the dance school. Sarah now gets booked for a lot of dance gigs around Queensland- Sanctuary Cove Boat Show has been a yearly booked dance show which she loves to do, Sarah’s dance journey is always growing as a dancer and dance teacher she loves to pass on all her training and knowledge to young dancers.
Sarah Quinn - Creative Director Lyons Studio
Ashleigh Hawes - Creative Director Lyons Studio
Ashleigh was born and raised in Lennox Head along with her twin sister, Sarah. Ashleigh fell in love with dance from an early age.
At the age of 15, she moved to the Gold Coast to attend full-time Ballet and Contemporary dance. Only a year later she was accepted into a contemporary Ballet School/company in Switzerland and relocated abroad at the age of 17.
On returning home to Australia Ashleigh qualified as a “So you think you can dance Australia” contestant, before moving to Macau, China - to dance at the Hard Rock Casino for 6 months. Once returned, Ashleigh worked onboard Princess Cruises with four dance contracts (3 years) on the top ships in the fleet. Ashleigh is very passionate about dance and teaching everything she knows to our younger generation
Arna Dess
Arna is a highly experienced professional RAD teacher (ARAD RTS) with 20 years’ experience at several Gold Coast dance studios. Drawing from her professional ballet career in Europe, she is very passionate about training students in the correct classical ballet technique.
Arna studied at Ecole Classique in Sydney under the guidance of Prudence Bowen from the age of 16. She competed in the RAD Adeline Geneé awards in London before procuring a place with the Vienna Opera Ballet School and later received a contract with the Österreiches Ballet Theatre in Vienna. Arna has performed Sleeping Beauty, Die Puppenfie, Raymonda, La Sylphide, Giselle and various contemporary works and a number of performances with the Opera. She also danced in the 1996 film, La Prima Musica, filmed in Vienna. Other European training includes Kommishe Opera in Berlin, Princess Grace Academy in Monte Carlo and the Palucca School in Dresden.
Arna began her teaching career on the Gold Coast in 1999 and established her own ballet school in Burleigh Heads in 2002. The school offered fulltime tuition for students seeking placement at prestigious international ballet schools. Many of her students were successful and went on to professional careers in Europe, the UK and the USA, as well as at the Australia Ballet School.
Over the last 9 years Arna has been a freelance teacher at many major Gold Coast dance studios teaching many styles of dance and striving to deliver a high level of tuition and guidance to the students. She also is qualified as a Level 1 Yoga teacher.
Courtney has been dancing since the age of four and has competed in various dance competitions spanning the last ten years. She has danced professionally at various locations throughout the Gold Coast and Brisbane, including Movie World, Gold Coast 600, Sea FM and Westfield Shopping Centre.
Holding a Certificate IV in Dance and a Certificate III and IV in fitness, Courtney has been teaching Lyrical and Jazz for four years at several dance studios throughout the Gold Coast.
Courtney is very excited to be joining the Lyons Studio
Courtney Damic
Sade Ubaldino
Sade started dancing at a young age and fell in love with dance. Nothing makes her happier than dancing and being able to share her passion through teaching. Sade strives to provide the class environment with support, fun and most of all great technical training. She has recently graduated from Dance Force full time course last year. Sade’s future as a professional dancer is bright
Sade is very excited to join Lyons Studio