
Sydney born Sandra Breen OAM has been involved with theatre
and dance all her working life, firstly as a professional dancer
in theatrical and television productions throughout Australia
and New Zealand, later moving on to choreography, teaching &
production.
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Sandra
trained in Sydney with Elaine & Shirley Honeybrook and studied under
Ronnee Arnold, Betty Pounder and Jillian Fitzgerald. As a professional
dancer she performed in Musicals and Variety shows throughout Australia
and New Zealand, including The Black and White Minstrel Show
where she was Ballet Mistress and Assistant Choreographer.
After moving to Brisbane in 1965, Sandra became a member of Channel
7's Theatre Royal resident dance group where she performed for
the next few years, and choreographed several shows for the network
... at the same time establishing the Southern Academy of Dance.
The first few years of the Academy saw Sandra create the variety group
'Kids Incorporated'. The Kids featured on Channel 0's [10] Saturday
Show for six years, culminating in their own prime time weekly television
show It's A Small World, which was choreographed and co-produced
by Sandra.
As a choreographer Sandra created the full length piece Refracted
Light for Ballet Theatre of Qld, Twin Towns' Back to the Tivoli,
children's ballet works for the Qld Ballet Teachers Association,
3 Plus 3 and Feet Street for Gold Coast Teachers Association,
and numerous pieces including World Expo '88, various conventions, theatre
restaurants, awards ceremonies, choral societies and dance festivals
... and was awarded the Queensland Choreographer Award in 1983.
Sandra is a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance and an
Examiner for the Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dancing. She spent
five years on the faculty of the Queensland Dance School of Excellence,
and recently tutored tap at Australian Dance Performance Institute.
She was nominated for Queensland Business Achiever of the year in 1998
and gained her Certificate IV in Workplace Training & Assessment
in 2001.
With over 25 years experience as an adjudicator, Sandra is in high demand
for judging dance eisteddfods and choreographic competitions from Darwin
to Adelaide, Cairns to Christchurch, and everywhere in between.
In 2010 Sandra Breen was awarded a medal [OAM] of the Order of Australia for service to the performing arts, particularly dance, as a teacher and choreographer.
Her own dance studio also has many success stories of students going
on to professional engagements both in Australia & overseas, and
many are highly sought after teachers and choreographers for Australia's
top dance projects in film, television and on stage.

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"I
want to say how much of an honour it was to
be asked to come and work for Sandra Breen, how incredibly much I learned
from her, and how proud I am to be able to say that I have taught for
her. I've never met a dance teacher who cares
so much about the kids and teaches purely for them. She is an amazingly
selfless woman, the best teacher there is, and her students should be
proud to say that they are taught by her. She is a legend."
Caroline Donovan - Teacher, PhD Psychologist
