The teaching staff at Knox Dance are fully qualified and are continually upgrading their skills and seeking further knowledge in all aspects of dance teaching and safety. They also participate regularly in workshops and master classes to keep up to date with current styles.
Teaching Staff
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Katrina Cichowski RAD, SFD, Director:
Katrina has been Director & founder of Knox Dance since 1992. She completed a Diploma in Dance Instruction and Management for classical dance in 1990 on completion of a 2 year full-time course. She attained the Southern Federation of Dance Teaching Certificate for Jazz, Tap and Ballet in 1993. She attained the Royal Academy of Dance teaching certificate in 2003. Katrina has over 20 years dance teaching experience, including Knox Dance, Tracey Academy of Dance, ABC Dance Studio & Ringwood Ballet Group. She also performed in Young Dancers Theatre for 4 years. She achieved Registered Teaching Status for the Royal Academy of Dance in 2004. Katrina completed examiner training with the SFD in the Classical and Jazz syllabus in 2016.
Heather Craig ARAD:
Heather completed a Diploma in Performing Arts at Dance World in 2004. She has taught and performed overseas and has passed all of her RAD exams up to Solo Seal giving her the ARAD Qualification. Heather has been teaching at Knox Dance since 2007 and has been teaching at Careen School of Dance, Dance Struck and numerous other schools for many years. She continues to work in the dance industry performing in numerous shows around the world.
Natalie Blenheim SFD, ISTD:
Natalie attained her Southern Federation of Dance (SFD) teachers certificate in 1991. She owned her own school for 10 years and has considerable dance teaching experience. Natalie has been an examiner for the SFD for since 2000. In 2004 she achieved the Enrico Checceti Diploma “one of only 32 in Australia”. Natalie was the recipient of the SFD Outstanding Achievement Award for 2010. She recently completed a Bachelor of Education and currently teaches full-time at primary level.
Alicia Hastas:
Alicia has been dancing for 18 years and successfully completed her jazz, tap and ballet exams through Australian Teachers of Dancing (ATOD). She completed her Bachelor of Contemporary Arts – Dance in 2007 and her Bachelor of Education in 2009. She has been teaching dancing since 2003 and currently teaches full-time at primary level.
Michelle Vinen SFD:
Michelle was a student at Knox Dance for many years. After running a successful hairdressing salon and starting a family, Michelle has decided to return to the dance world and obtained her teaching diploma with the SFD in 2013
Courtney Stelfox:
Courtney completed all RAD and SFD exams as a long time student of Ringwood Ballet Group and Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance before completing her Certificate 1V in dance at Spectrum Dance followed by a diploma in musical theatre in 2018
Tatiana Walls SFD:
Tatiana has been a student at Knox Dance since 2009. She has been an assistant teacher at Knox Dance for 4 years, and completed her SFD teaching certificate at the beginning of 2016. In addition to teaching at Knox Dance, Tatiana has been teaching at Dance Desires and Michelle Rae School of Dance for several years. She also has musical theatre experience, both as a choreographer and a performer with Stage Masters theatre company.
Shara Kennedy SFD:
Shara has been a student at Knox Dance since 2012, but has been dancing for over 15 years. She has over 5 years teaching experience at Kallista Dance Academy, and began obtained her SFD Classical teaching certificate in 2017. In 2015 she completed her SFD Jazz 10 exam, the highest level achievable within the SFD with Honours.
Rachel Hocking SFD:
Rachel has been a student of Knox Dance for many years and started teaching at Knox Dance in 2017. She attained her SFD Classical teaching certificate in 2017, and is currently studying a Bachelor of Education.