Serena Cundari
Serena trained at The National Theatre Ballet School in Melbourne, Australia under the direction of Gailene Stock CBE.
Her 13 year career as a ballet dancer started with The Australian Ballet Company in 1985 under the direction of Maina Gielgud where she had the honour of working with some of the 20th century’s Ballet Greats including Erik Bruhn in La Sylphide, Sir Robert Helpmann in Checkmate and Irina Baronova in Les Sylphides with the opportunity to dance soloist roles in a number of ballets including Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Les Sylphides and Aureole.
Moving to Europe, she danced for Ballet companies in Italy, Germany and the UK, performing the principal roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, The Nutcracker, Giselle and A Midsummer Night’s Dream throughout Europe, Britain and the USA.
She was Ballet Mistress for Vienna Festival Ballet between 1992 and 1994 teaching daily class, rehearsing and staging ballets for the company. In 1993 she was commissioned to choreograph and stage Coppelia also playing a key role in designing the sets, costumes and props.
In between tours, Serena was a guest teacher at The Urdang Academy for upper school musical theatre and ballet students.
She danced for the Royal Opera at Covent Garden and in Edinburgh, and for English National Opera at The London Coliseum. Operas included Don Carlos, Rusalka, Don Quixote, Carmen, Rigoletto.
On retiring from the stage in 1998, Serena retrained in technical theatre and toured England and Ireland as a lighting technician for both dance and theatre companies including Ballet Ireland and National Character Dance Company (formerly Romanska).
She then moved into corporate life, working in different sectors and industries as a Personal Assistant, Manager and Consultant Analyst. Freelance consultancy work has included projects for the Department of Health, Sadler’s Wells and The Place.
Returning to the Dance world saw her gain a place at the Royal Academy of Dance’s Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma Course from which she qualified with Distinction in 2008.
Serena founded Ballet for You in February 2009 teaching adults from beginners to ex-professionals.
She has developed her own adult syllabus and there are 10 levels to choose from: Adult Beginners (4 levels), Improvers (4 levels) and Advanced (2 levels) as well as her own Ballet Floor-barre. Ballet for You provides Pointe for 4 levels of skill, Variations en Pointe, Repertoire, Men’s class and Pas de Deux. Serena holds a Level 3 Certificate to teach Progressing Ballet Technique and has attended all 6 Royal Ballet School Inspire Seminars.
Holiday Intensive Programmes are offered, covering excerpts from real ballets as well as new choreography. These feed into the performances which are professionally presented every 2 years in London theatres.
