~Margaret Suzanne Kokrhelj~
Adv Dip Australian Ballet School Teachers Certificate (Distinction)
RAD Teachers Certificate (Distinction)
A.R.A.D.
My love of dance photography stems from my background in Classical Ballet training.
I commenced my studies with the Stephen R. Racz Ballet Academy aged 5 until the Academy amalgamated with the Geelong Ballet Centre in 1975 vacating our studios to allow for the new development of the Geelong Performing Arts Centre which was to become the Ballet Centre’s new home.
My dance studies were supplemented with training at both The National Theatre Ballet School and Melbourne Dance Academy. Having been trained in the Royal Academy of Dance’s Syllabus I became a certified and registered ballet teacher with the RAD taking up teaching positions with the Geelong Ballet Centre, The National Theatre and Melbourne Dance Academy.
My teacher training was guided by many incredible mentors – Karen Stephens (currently a Children’s Examiner with the RAD), Martin Rubinstein OAM (formerly a dancer with the Borovansky Ballet and former Children’s & Majors Examiner with the RAD), the late Jürgen Schneider (teacher and balletmaster at American Ballet Theater, the Stuttgart Ballet and the Royal Ballet), and the late Janina Cunovas ( former Lithuanian Ballet soloist, one of Australia’s foremost ballet teachers of the Vaganova and RAD methods).
In 1992 I opened my own school, The Geelong Academy of Classical Dance and continued to further my Teacher’s qualifications by auditioning for the Australian Ballet School’s Teacher Training Program under the tutelage of the late Ms Gailene Stock AM (former Director of The Royal Ballet School – London) Studies included Classical Methodology, Psychology & Child Development, Anatomy, Character/Folkloric Dance, Contemporary, Composition, Music, Ballet History, & Conditioning.
I was amongst a select few of my class peers who graduated from The Australian Ballet School’s Advanced Teaching Diploma Course with Distinction in its inaugural year.
I have continued teaching and coaching repertoire at a variety of schools in Geelong and Melbourne.
In 2007 I decided to pick up a camera and begin photographing students in ballet class & performance. This photography venture has continued to expand over the years to include musical theatre photography and glamour photography.