Dance Matters Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Deirdre Barnes is a dancer and choreographer from Ottawa Canada. From a young age she showed incredible talent and dedication to dance. Deirdre booked her first job at 18 at cirque du soleil in Las Vegas as part of the Criss Angel believe show and never looked back. She then went on to take the stage with a range of artists including; Nicki Minaj, Nick Jonas, Gwen Stefani, Backstr...

Send us Fan Mail Joshua Arkey is a Dancer, Singer, Actor, Acrobat and Aerialist from Sydney, Australia. He is a graduate from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) where he has received his Bachelor of Arts (Dance) and Certificate IV in Music Theatre. Since the age of 3 years old, Josh has trained in many styles and genres including music theatre, classical ballet, singing, cha...

Send us Fan Mail Lilly Jackson (Lilly Jay) is a young dancer who is making her mark in the performing arts industry. ​ Lilly trained at Newtown Performing Arts High School and Brent Street. She also completed her full-time dance training at Brent Street.   Lilly experienced her first breakthrough role in Stephen Tannos’ We are Dance Project.  You can also find Lilly in Guy Sebastian’s ‘Choir’ and...

Send us Fan Mail Lilly Jackson (Lilly Jay) is a young dancer who is making her mark in the performing arts industry. ​ Lilly trained at Newtown Performing Arts High School and Brent Street. She also completed her full-time dance training at Brent Street.   Lilly experienced her first breakthrough role in Stephen Tannos’ We are Dance Project.  You can also find Lilly in Guy Sebastian’s ‘Choir’ and...

Send us Fan Mail Leslie was born in Tennessee, into a musical family. She moved to Sydney from New York City in 2000 leaving behind an extensive Broadway career spanning nine Broadway musicals, and five National touring Broadway productions.  She was last seen on Broadway in the Tony award winning musical “Chicago” where she played “Mona” featured in the show stopping Cell Block Tango. She has had...

Send us Fan Mail Join Charlie as she asks the hard questions in this performer profile. Find out all the things you have always wanted to know about your favorite performers, but never had the chance to ask. Leslie was born in Tennessee, into a musical family. She moved to Sydney from New York City in 2000 leaving behind an extensive Broadway career spanning nine Broadway musicals, and five Nation...

Send us Fan Mail Daniel Wijngaarden is an incredible young dancer who is definitely making his mark on the professional dancing world. He began his training at 6 with all styles of dance. Daniel attended Newtown Performing Arts High School before heading to TNSPA to complete his full time training. Upon graduating he was cast in the international touring production of West Side Story. Daniel then...

Send us Fan Mail Join Charlie as she asks the hard questions in this performer profile. Find out all the things you have always wanted to know about your favorite performers, but never had the chance to ask. Daniel Wijngaarden is an incredible young dancer who is definitely making his mark on the professional dancing world. He began his training at 6 with all styles of dance. Daniel attended Newto...

Send us Fan Mail Kim Gingras is a  professional dancer, public speaker and passionate educator. Her dancing training may not have started until she was 15, but once she entered a studio she never looked back. Winning a gold medal at the world hip hop championships was just the beginning. Being selected for SYTYCD Canada Season 2 led to her creating some lifelong connections within the industry and...

Send us Fan Mail Kim Gingras is a  professional dancer, public speaker and passionate educator.  Throughout her time in LA Kim danced for a range of incredible music artists including; Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Lopez, Meghan Trainor, Ariana Grande, Gwen Stefani, The Backstreet Boys, N Sync, Madonna, Nicole Scherzinger, Pharrell Williams, Nick Jonas, Pitbull, Xtina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj,...

Send us Fan Mail Claudia Dean is a former dancer of The Royal Ballet. She trained at The Royal Ballet School and graduated into the Royal Ballet Company in 2010, as one of only 6 Australian dancers to achieve this honour. During her time with the Royal Ballet she performed in a number of productions. Claudia made her Principal role debut with the Royal Ballet Company in 2013.  After 4 years she de...

Send us Fan Mail Chatting with Charlie is back this season and has a fabulous new format. In this episode Charlie shares what you can expect to hear in her short and sharp interviews.  Charlie delivers a quick, quirky and funny performer profile of some of your favourite people in the dance and performing arts industry. Charlie will ask those questions you’ve always wanted to know about your favou...

Send us Fan Mail After two epic seasons of Dance Matters Podcast we are back for Season 3. Join us for a preview of what you can expect to hear in what is destined to be an amazing season. In this preview we reveal our first guest for Season Two. Thank you to Crystalized Costumes: https://www.instagram.com/crystalizedcostumes/?hl=en And Adrenaline Dance Competitions https://www.adrenalinedancecomp...

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Boulter is one of Australia’s most highly sought after choreographers. As a dancer Sarah was often employed due to her choreographic talent. She had a very successful career as a dancer working internationally. Sarah spent two years living in Las Vegas, where she had the amazing opportunity of working in the Celine Dion show A New Day. As a choreographer she has worked on  &...

Send us Fan Mail Erin Pompa (Pride) is the host and founder of Dance Boss Podcast as well as the creator of Dancepreneur Academy.  After dancing professionally and then teaching dance at schools for a number of years, she reached a point where her job was not as fulfilling as it used to be. Going in search of ways to monetize her passion Erin created the Dance Boss Podcast and her online coaching...

Send us Fan Mail Dylan and Berkeley Ratzlaff are both amazing dancers from Canada who grew up training in all styles of dance and performing in the competition world. Dylan and Berkeley both appeared on the hit television show The Next Step. They also performed in Disney’s Descendants 3 and most recently Honey Girls. Together they have also created a very popular YouTube channel -Sweet and Salty. ...

Send us Fan Mail Berkeley  Ratzlaff is an amazing dancer from Canada who grew up training in all styles of dance and performing in the competition world. Berkeley appeared on the hit television show The Next Step. She also performed in Disney’s Descendants 3 and most recently Honey Girls. Join Charlie as she asks Berkeley  the hard questions such as which other character in The Next Step she would...

Send us Fan Mail Dylan  Ratzlaff is an amazing dancer from Canada who grew up training in all styles of dance and performing in the competition world. Dylan appeared on the hit television show The Next Step. She also performed in Disney’s Descendants 3 and most recently Honey Girls. Join Charlie as she asks Dylan the hard questions such as which other character in The Next Step she would most like...

Send us Fan Mail Mitchell Fistrovic is an accomplished professional dancer who has graced many stages. He has appeared in many musicals including; Frozen, Chicago, Saturday Night Fever, Aladdin, Strictly Ballroom, Marry Poppins and Wicked just to name a few.  Jackie Scott has 37 years of performance experience and has trained thousands of students. She was the Education and Training Manager at Aus...

Send us Fan Mail Chris Duncan has been involved in the Dance and Performing Arts Industry for a lifetime. From beginning her career as a dancer and studio owner Chris transitioned to the roles of Agent, Manager, Adjudicator and Producer of Dance related media and competitions.  In 2012 Chris took the reigns at DanceLife  and since then has grown the brand phenomenally to now reach 25,000 dancers a...

Send us Fan Mail Mia Van Haarlem is a 15 year old incredible dancer. Her dance journey started at just 3 years old. Mia dances at Joanne Williamson Dance Academy where she trains in all styles of dance and attends Newtown Performing Arts High School. Recently she was awarded both Get The Beat National Champion and Dancelife Unite National Champion. She was also selected as a member of the Dream Da...

Send us Fan Mail Alysha Percy is a young and passionate dancer. She started dancing at 2 training in all styles but was drawn to the world of hip hop. She has  a wealth of experience in the entertainment industry having appeared on productions for the Disney channel, Saturday Disney, Channel V, ABC 3, and much more. Alysha has spent her time training both in Australia and LA. Alysha has experience...

Send us Fan Mail Alysha Percy is a young and passionate dancer. She started dancing at 2 training in all styles but was drawn to the world of hip hop. One of her career highlights was being given the honour to choreograph and perform with Fifty Cent. Alysha has travelled the world with her dancing and has some exciting plans to continue furthering her career. Join Charlie as she finds out more abo...

Send us Fan Mail Kate and Nick Dimakis are dance photography experts. Together they created and own Pointe Shoot Love Photography. Inspired by her own love of dance, Kate’s knowledge as a dancer helps to ensure that they are able to capture incredible stage and studio shots. Nick also has plenty of experience having trained as an acrobatics teacher.  Their mission is to provide dancers with qualit...

Send us Fan Mail O’Shani Cardwell is an ambitious and hardworking dancer. Whilst her dance journey might of started relatively late in the dance world, O’Shani proves that it’s not when you start pursuing a dream but rather the energy and commitment you give to making it happen, that really counts.  Her passion lies in the worlds of street dance, and also excelling in the battle/freestyle scene of...