The dance school at the Uniting Church in Northbridge dates back over 40 years. Originally, the school covered a wide range of theatre activities including dancing, acting and singing. In the early 90’s, the school concentrated on the development of dance, becoming Northbridge Performing Arts. With the opening of a second studio on Sailors Bay Rd, the school became Northbridge Dance Studios in 2004.
As the school has grown, it has built a strong reputation as a classical ballet school. The ballet teachers at NDS have a wealth of experience and knowledge having danced with several professional companies. They have all undertaken the RAD Teaching qualifications which ensures an emphasis is placed on developing a solid ballet technique throughout the school.
The traditional ballet tap and jazz classes expanded to include the more contemporary Modern style, street funk and hip hop.
Over the last 30 years, the school has increasingly participated in local eisteddfods and now enters many Solos and Group dances in to Northern Beaches Eisteddfod, Extreme Dance Competition, The Ultimate Dance Challenge and the City of Sydney Eisteddfod.
One of the ever popular features of the school has been the end of year concert. Originally this started at the former Bailley Hall in Chatswood but rapidly outgrew this venue. For almost 20 years, the school performed its end of year show at the Shore School auditorium, a first class professional theatre with full production qualities. Since 2021 the end of year show is held at the spectacular C3 Church Auditorium in Oxford Falls. The show is an exciting culmination of the students’ hard endeavours throughout the year.
The school is an important element in the local Northbridge and surrounding suburbs’ community with many hundred of local families having passed through its studios over the last 40 years.