Faculty
MEET OUR TEAM
KRISTY TANCRED
Co-Principal
Classical Ballet - Pointe / Full Time Program
Kristy started dancing at age 6 and trained in Classical Ballet (RAD & BBO syllabus), Contemporary, Jazz & Tap. Kristy commenced her full time training at Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy, training with Julie Wells, Garth Welch, Kim Traynor, Mark Reilly, Julie Kerr, Shane Carroll & Rita Dubrovsky. Here she had the opportunity to Dance with the Sydney Youth Ballet at the Sydney Opera House & Town Hall and work with emerging Choreographer Tanja Liedtke. During her time at TPCCA, Kristy successfully completed her RAD student teachers certificate under the guidance of Hilary Kaplan & Archibald McKenzie. She then went on to study at Ballet Theatre of Victoria (now Ballet Theatre Australia) under the direction of Leanne Rutherford.
In 2000, Kristy travelled to the US to take part in Artisan Dance Theatre’s summer program and went on to a 10 year professional career as a Principal Dancer with Charleston Ballet Theatre, Augusta Ballet and Idaho/Eugene Ballet as a freelance artist with both Ballet & Contemporary companies.
During this time she has performed many soloist and principal roles. Most notably, The Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Odette in Swan Lake, Mina Murray in Dracula, The Queen in The Three Musketeers, Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, Balanchine’s Serenade, and Lar Lubovitch’s My Funny Valentine.
Kristy is also a certified Teacher with the Ballet Conservatoire Syllabus and a Certified Progressing Ballet Technique Instructor.
RIDER D. VIERLING
Co-Principal
Classical Ballet - Boys Program / Full Time Program
From Winter Park, Florida in the U.S., Rider began his training at a young age with the School of Southern Ballet Theatre (now Orlando Ballet), training under Russell Sultzbach, Eliza Harwood, Barbara Riggins and Cynthia Roses-Thema.
At 15, he left Orlando to train full time at the Virginia School of the Arts studying with former Royal Ballet soloist Petrus Bosman and David Keener. During that time, he also trained at the Boston Ballet summer programs, working with Devon Carney, Bruce Marks, and Yacov Sharir among many others.
Beginning his professional career with Charleston Ballet Theatre, and later moving on to the Augusta Ballet, Eugene Ballet/Ballet Idaho and as a freelance artist, Rider danced in numerous ballets including the title roles in Romeo and Juliet and Dracula, Prince Seigfried in Swan Lake, Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Pas de Deux and Pas de Trois from Paquita, Grand pas Classique, Lar Lubovitch’s My Funny Valentine, and principal roles in Balanchine’s Serenade, Tarantella, Allegro Brilliante, and Who Cares?
Since moving to Australia, Rider has appeared as a guest performer with Melbourne Dance Theatre, Gold Coast City Ballet, & the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet.
Rider has been a guest teacher with the Canberra Dance Development Centre and Melbourne Dance Theatre, and faculty with Queensland National Ballet, Ransley Dance Centre, Amanda Bollinger Dance Academy, Anne Kingsford Academy of Dance, Sheridan’s Studio 1, and Fiona Munroe Ballet and Dance Studio.
AMELIA HAYNE
Amelia started ballet at the age of three on the NSW Central Coast. She has trained in both the RAD Syllabus, from Pre-primary to Advanced 1, completing all examinations successfully, and the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet (ACB) Syllabus while completing 3 years of Full Time ballet training at Newcastle Ballet Theatre. Amelia has also trained in Jazz, Tap and Contemporary. She has competed in the Isobelle Anderson awards, Alana Haines Awards, Sydney Eisteddfod (both solo and troup) and numerous other eisteddfods.
In 2018 Amelia joined the Elephant in the Black Box, a junior contemporary company in Madrid, Spain where she had the amazing opportunity to work with many different choreographers and teachers. In addition, she was part of the Central Dance Company Australia for 3 years.
Amelia has been student teaching since she was 12 and at the age of 15 started running classes. She has taught students in both the ACB & RAD Syllabus, Contemporary and Jazz work, Stretch and Conditioning, as well as Choreography for eisteddfods.
Whilst attending a development program, Amelia obtained her Certificate III in Dance and during her Full Time training at NBT, received her Certificate IV in Dance. Amelia is a qualified Ballet Conservatoire Teacher and has recently completed her Mat Pilates certification with Studio Pilates.
Classical Ballet - Contemporary - Jazz
STEPHANIE HANCOX
Classical Ballet - Pointe - Full Time & Part Time Programs - Gyrotonics
Stephanie started dancing at an early age, with Julie Wells, Tanya Pearson, Kim Traynor and Rita Dubovsky. In 2000 Stephanie was awarded her RAD Solo Seal Award and outright winner of the City of Sydney Performing Arts Challenge Ballet Scholarship in 2000. Stephanie moved to Munich, Germany, where she continued studying dance and classical ballet at the then Heinz Bosl Stiftung Ballett Akademie München under the direction of Professor Konstanze Vernon. It was in the first week of her studies in Munich she was chosen to perform with the ballet company, The Bavarian State Ballet, in the productions of La Bayadere, Swan Lake, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Porträit John Neumeier. Studying at the school in the day time and working with the company most evenings and weekends. Stephanie graduated with her Diploma in August 2003 with a full employment contract with the Bavarian State Ballet. Stephanie danced 16 years under contract with the Bavarian State Ballet and was promoted to Soloist in 2014. She performed prinicpal and solo roles in all major classical repertoire from Petipa through to Balanchine and has an extensive résumé with many of the major modern choreographers, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Hans Van Manen, Pina Bausch, José Límon, John Neumeier, Russell Maliphant and Graeme Murphy to name a few, most of whom she was fortunate to have worked with personally.
In the years 2010-2012, parallel to her work with the Bavarian State Ballet, Stephanie was invited to study her Diploma Classical Ballet and Dance Pedegogy with the University for Theatre and Music in Munich, under the renowned Professor Alex Ursuliak.
Stephanie has taught and mentored dancers in Munich, Germany, Monte Carlo, Monaco and since 2019 in Sydney, Newcastle and Bowral, NSW.
Stephanie is also a fully certified and licensed GYROTONIC® and Gyrokinesis Trainer.
https://stephaniehancox.com.au/
CADI McCARTHY
Contemporary - Full Time Program
Dance started for Cadi McCarthy at the youthful age of four, having been taken along to a ballet class by her parents. At the age of 17, she was accepted into the Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts (WAAPA). At WAAPA the world of dance was opened up for Cadi, sparking what has become a life-long commitment and investment into the potential and possibility of choreography and movement. Cadi was exposed to different ways of engaging with dance and the practice of dance-making, improvisation, and tasking, “not just the performing aspect of dance”.
Cadi’s interest and dedication in the art of dance-making and its power is found in the body; “every human has a body and bodies tell stories”.
Cadi’s career has taken her all over the world - and spent time working with dance companies in Denmark, UK, Germany, USA, and Canada. The interest was always in meeting new people and seeing the way the different ways of engaging with life and dance, not just about learning new techniques: “It’s about making our world smaller and richer” as well as “connecting with like-minded people”.
Cadi created the independent company Cadi McCarthy & Company in the ACT in 2002, where she created 6 full-length lengths works including Awkward, Shambles, and Grappling for the Edge. With the company, she was the recipient of a 2004 & 2006 Canberra Critics Circle Awards.
Between 2009 - 2013 Cadi was the Artistic Director of Buzz Dance Theatre. WA. With the company, Cadi created over 10 full-length works to critical acclaim. Her work Look the Other Way, received a 2014 Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth and Community Dance.
In 2012, Cadi moved to Newcastle and noticed the lack of engagement with dance-making and practice. She was inspired to create an artistic hub of sorts, providing a space for artists to have the liberty to just play and investigate - to see what they could come up with. In 2014 Catapult Dance Choreographic Hub was born, a space that exists to nurture emerging and professional choreographers and artists and to “strengthen the presence of contemporary dance/art in the Newcastle community”. The Hub provides multiple residencies and support - for people to consolidate practice as well as to take personal and artistic risk.
This lack of a youth culture was the catalyst for the Flip-Side project. She sees this as an opportunity to nurture the individual voice that everyone possesses and the way in which dance can build foundational skills that transcend into everyday life. Cadi comments that “youth dance didn’t really exist” when she was younger and that this would have been a formative experience.
TARA CONNORS
Tara trained with NBT through 2019 before moving to Sydney to take up a place with Dargie Entertainment’s Full Time course, earning her Diploma in Elite Performance and Dance. Tara has worked professionally in the Commercial Dance industry, most recently in Taiwan.
Commercial Jazz - Musical Theatre - Adult Jazz
ISABELLA HORNSELL
Anatomy / Strength & Conditioning – Full Time Program
Bio Coming Soon
CASSIDY CLARKE
Contemporary Teacher – Seniors
Cassidy Clarke is a contemporary dancer who recently graduated from The Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts (WAAPA) Bachelor of Arts (Dance) in 2022. Originally from Newcastle NSW, Cassidy first started dancing at age 5 in Contemporary, RAD Ballet & various other styles. In 2020, she commenced training full-time with WAAPA, where she studied for a Bachelor of Arts (Dance). The three years of full-time training at WAAPA have allowed her to develop a multitude of skills incorporated in contemporary dance practice including choreography, improvisation, duo, and mat work.
Whilst training at WAAPA she has had the opportunity to work with and devise new dance works with numerous contemporary choreographers. Since graduating she has performed with Catapult Choreographic Hub on numerous tours, intensives, and developments.
LILLIA GRUBB
Classical Ballet - Stretch & Conditioning
Bio Coming Soon
TORI STOKES
Acro - Lyrical
Tori grew up dancing in Foster before moving to Newcastle where she trained under Jenny Langford and Karen-Ann Thomas at Belmont Dance Centre. Teaching dance since age 14, starting as a student teacher before moving into running her own classes, Tori is now a qualified Education Support Officer, working in schools with children with additional needs.
As an integral member of the staff for the Live to Dance eisteddfods & the prestigious Australian Classical Challenge Competition, Tori brings a wealth of experience to her classes.
EMMA ALEXANDER
Teacher’s Assistant
Emma has been a student of NBT since 2013, performing numerous roles in multiple styles of dance.
While a student in NBT’s Part Time Program in 2022, Emma completed her Certificate III in Dance. In 2023 Emma began her Full Time training at NBT, and in 2024 is undertaking her Certificate IV in Dance Teaching & Management.
MISS MEG AKERMAN
Guest Teacher & Patron - ARAD Solo Seal
Full Time Program
Born in Newcastle, Meg studied with Tessa Maunder. She was awarded her Solo Seal at age 15 before winning a scholarship to finish her studies at London’s Royal Ballet School. While at the School Meg demonstrated the Solo Seal syllabus for the Royal Academy of Dancing and was chosen to perform in ‘Pineapple Poll’ for the annual School Performance at Covent Garden. Shortly afterwards Peggy Van Praagh invited Meg to be a founding member of The Australian Ballet. She initially danced in the corps de ballet, progressing to soloist roles and performing with guest artists including Eric Bruhn, Sonia Arova, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Robert Helpmann before leaving the company to marry and settle in Sydney.
Meg then danced for a few years in a small Sydney based company which is now known as Sydney Dance Company before retiring from the stage and beginning a family.
For the next decade, Meg worked in various wardrobe departments for stage, film, and television programs and was wardrobe mistress at NIDA for 6 years.
SUZANNE TANCRED
Studio Manager
Meet Suzanne, our dedicated Dance Studio Manager at NBT. With a passion for dance and a knack for organisation, Suzanne plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth operation of our studio.
Responsible for a variety of tasks including scheduling classes, managing finances, and maintaining the studio space, Suzanne keeps the studio running efficiently. Whether you have questions about class schedules, financial matters, or anything else, Suzanne is your go-to person for expert guidance and support.
Always striving to provide a supportive and inspiring environment for our dancers, Suzanne is committed to making sure that everyone at NBT can focus on what they love most - dancing. You can trust Suzanne to handle any query or concern with professionalism and care.