Directors
Alesha Calhoun
Director and Choreographer
Competition Team and the Pre-Professional Program.
Alesha has been teaching for many years and has trained in both dance and acting in Australia and the USA. She has performed at the MTV VMA Awards, Sydney Fashion week and Australian Idol, featured in commercials for brands such as Bonds and McDonalds and worked on TV Shows such as Gossip Girl, Law & Order SVU and Blue Bloods. Alesha Loves working with young performers and helping them work towards and achieve their goals!
Nina Calhoun
Director and Choreographer
Ready Set Dance, Ready Set Ballet, Competition Team and Ex Dancer Classes.
Nina has been teaching dance for over 10 years and loves working with dancers of all ages from our preschoolers up to our senior and adult classes. She is the head of our READY SET DANCE department and also runs a lot of our competition team.
After completing fulltime of Performing Arts at Brent Street Studios, she has performed in projects such as Baz Luhrman's film The Great Gatsby, Underbelly, X Factor, Australian Idol, MTV Music Awards, The Australian Film and Television awards as well as singing backup for Jessica Mauboy and working as a dancer for Macklemore, One Republic, Mika and many other international and Australian artists.
Director and Choreographer
Competition Team and the Pre-Professional Program.
Alesha has been teaching for many years and has trained in both dance and acting in Australia and the USA. She has performed at the MTV VMA Awards, Sydney Fashion week and Australian Idol, featured in commercials for brands such as Bonds and McDonalds and worked on TV Shows such as Gossip Girl, Law & Order SVU and Blue Bloods. Alesha Loves working with young performers and helping them work towards and achieve their goals!
Nina Calhoun
Director and Choreographer
Ready Set Dance, Ready Set Ballet, Competition Team and Ex Dancer Classes.
Nina has been teaching dance for over 10 years and loves working with dancers of all ages from our preschoolers up to our senior and adult classes. She is the head of our READY SET DANCE department and also runs a lot of our competition team.
After completing fulltime of Performing Arts at Brent Street Studios, she has performed in projects such as Baz Luhrman's film The Great Gatsby, Underbelly, X Factor, Australian Idol, MTV Music Awards, The Australian Film and Television awards as well as singing backup for Jessica Mauboy and working as a dancer for Macklemore, One Republic, Mika and many other international and Australian artists.
Teachers
Cameron Gaw
Choreographer
Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Competition Team, Solo Choreography.
Cameron Started out as a student at Pure Performance HQ and has as she grew up she blossomed into one of the most incredible teachers and choreographers! Cameron is very active in the Australian entertainment industry, not only as a dancer, but as an actor and model as well. Cameron has worked on projects such as the Film 'The Invisible man' and 'Finally Me', TV Shows such as The Voice, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of here, Multiple Mardi Gras Performances and has performed live with artists such as Katy Perry, Meghan Trainor, Sam Smith, Macklemore, Nicole Scherzinger, Jessica Mauboy, Tones and I and many other incredible performers. Did we mention she is also studying law and working as a paralegal? What can't she do? We are so proud to have Cameron on our team!
Ashley Larsen
RAD Ballet, Pilates.
Ashley started ballet at 3 years old, fell in love with it immediately and trained all the way through until she was 18 years old. After completing her university degree, she lived and travelled around Europe before she came back to her home turf (Manly) and bean teaching ballet to the younger generations, sharing her extensive knowledge and her strong joy of dance. Ashley has since also become a Master Personal trainer, specialising in adult group fitness as well as teaching barre and cycle classes!
Tennealle Johnson-Roll
RAD Ballet, Ready Set Ballet, Pure Power Program.
Tennealle grew up dancing on the Northern Beaches from a very young age and continued her training overseas, gaining her Masters in Dance Performance in London, as well as more recently graduated with a Diploma in Dance Teaching Studies under the Royal Academy of Dance. She has toured with various contemporary dance companies throughout Europe and the UK! Miss Tennealle's students always say the most wonderful things about her and we are so grateful that she is part of the PURE family!
Tahlia Lupton
RAD Ballet, Lyrical, Tap, Competition Team, Solo Choreography.
Miss Tahlia is one of our incredible ballet teachers and heads up the RAD Department at PPHQ. You will see her in class with our Primary, Grade one and Senior Ballet students. Miss Tahlia has been with us since the very beginning and is such a beloved part of our team.
Nicole Vytopil
RAD Ballet, Pilates, Competition Team, Private Lessons.
Nicole Trained in RAD Ballet, completing all grades including receiving the Solo Seal Award. She was then offered a contract with the Norwegian National Ballet where she danced professionally with the company until an injury stopped her from performing. Miss Nicole now teaches full time and is also a trained Pilates instructor! She teaches all RAD grades and helps prepare all of our dancers for their RAD exams!
Lauren Mills
READY SET DANCE, READY SET BALLET and READY SET MOVE.
Miss Lauren brings a passion for music, dance and performing, combined with an energy and love for teaching. She has a background in singing, performing and songwriting, with years spend training as a vocalist, she went onto perform throughout Sydney as a jazz, RNB and soul singer. Working as a soloist, in acoustic duets and vocal ensembles. Some of her performing highlights have been working s a backing vocalist on the TV Show Australian Idol and co-hosting Inaugural Manly Carols by Candlelight.
Lauren has been a part of our PPHQ Family since the very beginning, but not always in a teaching capacity. She started her journey here as a dance mum, with 3 out of 5 of her children being students here at Pure Performance HQ, some of which started out in READY SET DANCE program. We are so happy and excited to have Lauren on board teaching our tiniest dancers!
Zoey Black
Jazz, Commercial Jazz, Open class, Pure Power, Pre-professional Program.
Zoey , began dancing at the age of 6 years old. She has been trained in many styles such as ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, contemporary, and musical theatre. From 2009 to 2013, she pursued and established herself a professional career in Sydney working with Australia’s leading choreographers and artists in televised performances, stage and music videos. She was a regular dancer on the X factor and the Voice Aus for many years and Zoey also went on tour as a dancer with One Direction, NKOTB and Ricky Martin during their Australia legs with the supporting artists, Timomatic and Johnny Ruffo.
Zoey then competed on the hit television series “ So you think you can dance “ where she placed top 10. Zoey then moved to LA to further her professional career and has since worked with artists such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Paula Abdul, JLO, Ricky Martin, Janelle Monae, Kendrick Lamar, Nick Jonas, Ava Max, Demi Lovato, Kelly Clarkson, Calvin Harris, Jessie J, Jidenna and many more. Zoey has also made appearances as a dancer on multiple award shows including the American Music Awards, VMA's, MTV Awards, iheartradio Awards, BET Awards and the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.
Zoey went on tour with Paula Abdul in 2017, to then join Katy Perry’s Witness World Tour that same year which completed late 2018. Zoey was then dancing with Britney Spears for her Vegas residency “Domination” which is still currently postponed.. Zoey then went on tour in 2019 with Ava Max.
Kayla Tropiano
Lyrical and Contemporary. Competition team.
Kayla has been involved in the arts for many years.
She trained at Newtown High School Performing Arts, Brent Street Studios, TDHS and is a graduate from Brent Street Fulltime Certificate IV in Performing Arts Course where she trained under industry professionals such as Jacqui Howard, Matt Lee, Cameron Mitchell, Kelley Abbey, Sarah Boulter and Marko Panzic just to name a few. Kayla was the director of a successful studio located in Sydney where she has won several choreography awards both here in Australia and America. She now works as a freelance teacher.
Choreographer
Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Competition Team, Solo Choreography.
Cameron Started out as a student at Pure Performance HQ and has as she grew up she blossomed into one of the most incredible teachers and choreographers! Cameron is very active in the Australian entertainment industry, not only as a dancer, but as an actor and model as well. Cameron has worked on projects such as the Film 'The Invisible man' and 'Finally Me', TV Shows such as The Voice, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of here, Multiple Mardi Gras Performances and has performed live with artists such as Katy Perry, Meghan Trainor, Sam Smith, Macklemore, Nicole Scherzinger, Jessica Mauboy, Tones and I and many other incredible performers. Did we mention she is also studying law and working as a paralegal? What can't she do? We are so proud to have Cameron on our team!
Ashley Larsen
RAD Ballet, Pilates.
Ashley started ballet at 3 years old, fell in love with it immediately and trained all the way through until she was 18 years old. After completing her university degree, she lived and travelled around Europe before she came back to her home turf (Manly) and bean teaching ballet to the younger generations, sharing her extensive knowledge and her strong joy of dance. Ashley has since also become a Master Personal trainer, specialising in adult group fitness as well as teaching barre and cycle classes!
Tennealle Johnson-Roll
RAD Ballet, Ready Set Ballet, Pure Power Program.
Tennealle grew up dancing on the Northern Beaches from a very young age and continued her training overseas, gaining her Masters in Dance Performance in London, as well as more recently graduated with a Diploma in Dance Teaching Studies under the Royal Academy of Dance. She has toured with various contemporary dance companies throughout Europe and the UK! Miss Tennealle's students always say the most wonderful things about her and we are so grateful that she is part of the PURE family!
Tahlia Lupton
RAD Ballet, Lyrical, Tap, Competition Team, Solo Choreography.
Miss Tahlia is one of our incredible ballet teachers and heads up the RAD Department at PPHQ. You will see her in class with our Primary, Grade one and Senior Ballet students. Miss Tahlia has been with us since the very beginning and is such a beloved part of our team.
Nicole Vytopil
RAD Ballet, Pilates, Competition Team, Private Lessons.
Nicole Trained in RAD Ballet, completing all grades including receiving the Solo Seal Award. She was then offered a contract with the Norwegian National Ballet where she danced professionally with the company until an injury stopped her from performing. Miss Nicole now teaches full time and is also a trained Pilates instructor! She teaches all RAD grades and helps prepare all of our dancers for their RAD exams!
Lauren Mills
READY SET DANCE, READY SET BALLET and READY SET MOVE.
Miss Lauren brings a passion for music, dance and performing, combined with an energy and love for teaching. She has a background in singing, performing and songwriting, with years spend training as a vocalist, she went onto perform throughout Sydney as a jazz, RNB and soul singer. Working as a soloist, in acoustic duets and vocal ensembles. Some of her performing highlights have been working s a backing vocalist on the TV Show Australian Idol and co-hosting Inaugural Manly Carols by Candlelight.
Lauren has been a part of our PPHQ Family since the very beginning, but not always in a teaching capacity. She started her journey here as a dance mum, with 3 out of 5 of her children being students here at Pure Performance HQ, some of which started out in READY SET DANCE program. We are so happy and excited to have Lauren on board teaching our tiniest dancers!
Zoey Black
Jazz, Commercial Jazz, Open class, Pure Power, Pre-professional Program.
Zoey , began dancing at the age of 6 years old. She has been trained in many styles such as ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, contemporary, and musical theatre. From 2009 to 2013, she pursued and established herself a professional career in Sydney working with Australia’s leading choreographers and artists in televised performances, stage and music videos. She was a regular dancer on the X factor and the Voice Aus for many years and Zoey also went on tour as a dancer with One Direction, NKOTB and Ricky Martin during their Australia legs with the supporting artists, Timomatic and Johnny Ruffo.
Zoey then competed on the hit television series “ So you think you can dance “ where she placed top 10. Zoey then moved to LA to further her professional career and has since worked with artists such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Paula Abdul, JLO, Ricky Martin, Janelle Monae, Kendrick Lamar, Nick Jonas, Ava Max, Demi Lovato, Kelly Clarkson, Calvin Harris, Jessie J, Jidenna and many more. Zoey has also made appearances as a dancer on multiple award shows including the American Music Awards, VMA's, MTV Awards, iheartradio Awards, BET Awards and the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.
Zoey went on tour with Paula Abdul in 2017, to then join Katy Perry’s Witness World Tour that same year which completed late 2018. Zoey was then dancing with Britney Spears for her Vegas residency “Domination” which is still currently postponed.. Zoey then went on tour in 2019 with Ava Max.
Kayla Tropiano
Lyrical and Contemporary. Competition team.
Kayla has been involved in the arts for many years.
She trained at Newtown High School Performing Arts, Brent Street Studios, TDHS and is a graduate from Brent Street Fulltime Certificate IV in Performing Arts Course where she trained under industry professionals such as Jacqui Howard, Matt Lee, Cameron Mitchell, Kelley Abbey, Sarah Boulter and Marko Panzic just to name a few. Kayla was the director of a successful studio located in Sydney where she has won several choreography awards both here in Australia and America. She now works as a freelance teacher.