About Us
Aspire Dance Academy was established in 2011. Our dance studio has built a reputation for caring and patient teachers who encourage their students to do their personal best.
Based in Meringandan & Crows Nest, with qualified and experienced teachers, you can feel confident knowing your children will have a safe and enjoyable experience. Aspire Dance Academy offers classes in ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap, acrodance and hip hop. At Aspire Dance Academy we listen to both you AND your children, and our classes are capped to ensure your child receives the attention they deserve.
We offer excellence in dance training from 3 years of age up. Our studio is located at the Church Hall in Meringandan and St George’s Anglican Hall in Crows Nest. Each teacher holds a current Working with Children Blue Card.
Miss Caitlin
RAD RTS | SFD | Diploma of Leadership & Management
Miss Caitlin has been teaching at the studio since its inception in 2011 and has been the owner/director since the end of 2016. She has over 20 years of experience in the dance industry and has danced semi-professionally with performance teams at local and community events for a large portion of those years. Notable events include performing at the Sydney Opera House in 2005 and being one of the lead performers for the Grand Central float in the 2016 Carnival of Flowers parade.
Miss Caitlin is a qualified Royal Academy of Dance (CBTS RAD RTS) and Southern Federation of Dance registered teacher (MSFD). She is also a qualified Progressing Ballet Technique teacher (PBT) and is continuously working to expand her dance knowledge through regular training and workshops. She has completed both Level 1 and Level 2 courses via Lisa Howell of The Ballet Blog, which is rooted in physiotherapy for injury prevention, strength, flexibility and optimising dance performance. She has also completed a Cert IV in Small Business Management. In 2019 Miss Caitlin participated in the SFD Level 10 Jazz exam (after being unable to sit her exam as a teenager) receiving an Honours – being 1 of only 10 dancers in Australia to successfully complete their exam in 2019. In 2025, Miss Caitlin completed her Diploma of Leadership & Management.
Miss Kara
Certificate IV in Dance Teaching and Management – Empowerdance – 2022
Miss Kara’s dance teaching journey began at just 14 years old when she started volunteering as a teacher at Kiyua Performing Arts. With experience teaching all ages and abilities, from tiny dancers as young as 3 to adult classes, Kara brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to every class. While she has mixed experience in Hip Hop and Jazz, Kara’s true love lies in Contemporary dance.
Kara continued her training at Dance Central Toowoomba, developing her skills in the “Jason Winters Contemporary Technique”, the “Southern Federation of Dance” Jazz Syllabus, and the “Royal Academy of Dance” Ballet Syllabus. In 2022, Kara completed her Rambert Grades Contemporary Syllabus Training (Level 1 – Grades 1-3) and later achieved her Rambert Grades Exam (Level 3 – Grade 7) in 2024. From 2023 to 2025, she proudly taught the Rambert syllabus at Dance Central.
Kara’s creativity shines through her choreography work, having created stunning pieces for high school performances and eisteddfods across Toowoomba, including Downlands College and Wilsonton State High School.
In 2023, Kara joined Aspire Dance Academy, where she instantly felt at home. She loves the intimate class environment that allows for one-on-one growth and development. Her teaching philosophy focuses on building strong technique and learning new skills while never losing sight of the most important element – fun!
Kara is passionate about creating beautiful dance pieces that tell a story and inspire her students to express themselves through movement.
Miss Molly
Miss Molly grew up just outside of Allora and began dancing at the age of three. Coming from a rural background, she trained extensively across Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Contemporary, Hip Hop and Acrobatics, and has completed all of her dance examinations to the highest level, achieving honours and high distinctions. She is also a qualified Acrobatics Arts teacher and has over 20 years of experience in the dance industry, with more than 15 years’ experience performing and teaching Acrobatics.
Miss Molly’s training includes Performance Plus Dance Centre in Ipswich, where she competed extensively at regional and state eisteddfods, performed at the Lord Mayor’s Christmas Carols in Brisbane, and was involved in CSTD syllabus filming. She was awarded Dancer of the Year at Fairholme College in 2021 and performed as a lead specialist dancer in major musical productions including Oliver, The Wedding Singer and The Show Must Go On. She has also received multiple adjudicators awards, the Southern Downs Australia Day Award for Cultural Contribution, a BPAC Scholarship, and the Empire Theatre Youth Bursary for Dance.
Alongside performing, Miss Molly has a strong passion for teaching, choreography and mentoring young dancers. She has taught junior and senior dancers across multiple styles, choreographed competitive routines, and supported performance teams at eisteddfods throughout Queensland. I have also assisted with school dance teams and dance troupes, including at Fairholme College and Mary MacKillop Catholic College, helping prepare students for performances, competitions and school events.
In recent years, Miss Molly taught at Dance Expression in Crows Nest, introduced Acrobatics to the studio, and led senior performance teams to competition.
In 2025, Miss Molly joined the Aspire Dance Academy team where she introduced highly popular AcroDance classes.
Miss Molly is particularly passionate about providing country dancers with the same opportunities, encouragement and high-quality training that she experienced growing up.
Miss Charlotte
Miss Charlotte has been with the studio since its inception in 2011 and has been teaching for over half of this time. She is experienced in many styles of dance with her specialities being ballet, contemporary and jazz.
Miss Charlotte has performed in countless eisteddfods and other community performances over the years. She completed the exams for the highest level of SFD jazz, the RAD Ballet levels up to Advanced 1 and the ComDance Contemporary levels up to Level 3.
Notable achievements include:
- Performing with the Queensland Ballet on three different occasions
- Being one of only 10 people in Australia to successfully complete her Level 10 Jazz exam in 2019.
- Dance Captain for her high school dance troupe
- Performed in Creative Generations
- Trained in programs such as The Australian Ballet Vacation School in Melbourne, Queensland Ballet Intensive summer program and the Elite Classique Coaching Program with Benita Whalley.
Miss Ruby
Miss Ruby has been dancing since the age of five and has proudly been part of the Aspire Dance Academy family since 2018. She has a genuine love for the performing arts and enjoys helping students feel confident, happy, and supported when dancing and performing.
She is currently completing a Bachelor of Creative Arts / Bachelor of Education (Secondary), alongside a Certificate IV in Dance Teaching and Management through the Australian Teachers of Dancing (ATOD), reflecting her commitment to ongoing professional development and quality dance education.
Miss Ruby has experience in musical theatre, auditioned ensembles, and a range of school and local productions. Performance highlights include appearing as a featured dance ensemble member in The Boy From Oz at the Empire Theatre, performing in productions such as School of Rock, Spamalot, Romeo & Juliet, Rock of Ages, Little Shop of Horrors, and Baitman, and performing at Creative Generations as a specialist musical theatre dancer, auditioned massed dancer, and featured choir member. She also achieved second place at Shakefest, a Queensland-wide student performing arts festival, in 2022.
Trained in jazz, tap, ballet, contemporary, and hip-hop, Miss Ruby loves creating fun, supportive classes where dancers can build confidence on stage and enjoy expressing themselves in a positive and encouraging environment.
Mrs Goddard
Diploma of Arts (Classical Dance)
Mrs Goddard originally trained in South Australia in the Cecchetti Method, completing her training with honours and winning the Enrico Cecchetti Gold Medal.
She moved to Melbourne after being accepted in to The Victorian College of Arts, where she completed year 10, before moving to the National Theatre Ballet School to complete a 2 year full time Diploma. During this time she trained in Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Character, Spanish, Musical Theatre and Tap. On completing the Diploma she took up regular employment teaching ballet at Camberwell District Ballet, and Rhythm and Coordination classes for children at Caulfield Recreation Centre. She was appointed Guest Teacher at the Leslie Cox School of Ballet (Bendigo) Summer Camp in which she was responsible for Ballet, contemporary, strength and conditioning and all choreography for her final performance. She also volunteered to run rehearsals for her local high school Eisteddfod submission. She has performed at a number of venues including Adelaide Festival Centre, Palais Theatre, and the National Theatre, numerous regional Victorian centres, the MCG and Melbourne Exhibition Centre as well as being involved in television for the Grand Final Footy Show. She has a varied performance experience from Adelaide Eisteddfods to being a member of the South Australian Children’s Ballet Company. She has performed as both a student and then guest artist with the National Theatre Youth Ballet Company and Camberwell Ballet, and was a finalist in the (MacDonalds) Sydney Eisteddfod. During this time she had the opportunity to work with staff and choreographers including Marilyn Jones, Ann Jenner, Mark Annear and Joanne Adderley among others.
She has always loved teaching and has a genuine interest in all students, with the ability to relate to varied personalities and provide positive support that can achieve individual results and assist students to experience all the benefits that come with learning dance. Her strength lays in ballet technique, and she would be happy to assist with private lessons focusing on developing a professional performance to the students best ability. She believes her depth of experience can be useful to all ages and abilities.
Miss Nikki
Miss Nikki takes our Hip Hop and Jazz classes, as well as Tiny Toes.
Early Childhood Education and Care – Certificate III • Business – Certificate III
More coming soon.
Miss Georgia
Miss Georgia takes our Meringandan Tap classes.
More coming soon.