What a hero! Dance Express Mackay
Our invitation to enter our REGIONAL HEROES feature prompted a huge response. We received hundreds of enthusiastic and at times quite moving nominations for our feature, but unfortunately had room for only a handful of the many deserving entries.
As Michelle Dursun, Dance Australias' education writer, said:
"It is so lovely to be able to honour a few – though there are examples in all regional areas of Australia – they really are heroes!"
Here is the first of those chosen as our 2024 REGIONAL HERO: you can find the rest in the Oct/Nov/Dec print issue of Dance Australia: OUT NOW.
Dance Express Mackay
Twelve hours drive north from Brisbane.
For a regional dance school based in North Mackay, Queensland, 2024 marks a major milestone. Dance Express Mackay will celebrate its 20th anniversary in November, with a few secret surprises that founder and director, Karen Bishop, is keeping close to her chest. Founded with the motto of “Where Achieving is FUN”, Bishop explains that, while outstanding exam results and excellent competition achievements are important, “we never lose sight of the bigger picture”.
Dance Express Mackay was established by Bishop in 2005, following 19 years teaching at Theatre Arts Mackay. Early dance training with the esteemed Lynette Denny in Mackay embedded Karen’s love of dance. She moved to Victoria for four years in the 1980s to study with the Victorian College of the Arts, before returning to her birthplace to continue teaching with Denny for 19 years. After 50 years in the industry, Bishop says she has her mum (Lucy), to thank for working three jobs to finance her dreams, which ultimately lead to the establishment of the dance school that means so much to so many.
This tribute is more than matched by the gratitude expressed by parents and grandparents of students enrolled at Dance Express Mackay. Grandmother Joanne Gillespie explains her granddaughter has attended the school since she was 18 months old. She says the friendly and caring atmosphere that is created in each class, by teachers who build relationships and know each and every child, “has not only continued to develop our little person’s heart, mind and physical abilities, but has made the school very much a part of my daughter and granddaughter’s village, as we live over 3500km away”. Other comments such as, “Dance Express students bleed orange and blue” (the colours of the school) and that the “studio feels like home” are common sentiments expressed by parents and families.
Dance Express Mackay currently has 340 students, a number that Bishop calls our “sweet spot”, a balancing act of growing the studio and keeping the personal touch. Students can enrol from the age of 18 months and keep dancing to senior level with classes on offer including ballet, contemporary, tap, jazz, hip hop, acrobatics and cheer, singing and conditioning. Students from Dance Express have gone on to performing careers in musicals such as Matilda, Annie and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, while others have been accepted into full-time schools or pre-professional years at the Australian Ballet School, Brent Street, Sydney Dance Company, Ev and Bow, QUT and WAAPA.
Bishop loves to see these students realise their dreams, but she knows that the majority of her students will not go to become professional performers. “The steps we teach are a vessel for the lessons that will carry students through life including the development of confidence, creativity and work ethic, she explains. Success can be measured in so many ways: “We just had a student skip for the first time last week and yesterday I heard laughter in the courtyard from teenagers, with no electronic devices in sight.” She adds, “If my students can look back on their dance days with happy memories, then I have succeeded.”
Offering performance opportunities is one of the ways the school fulfils its mantra of giving back to the community: “Some people joke that Dance Express would perform at the opening of an envelope”, Bishop laughs. When not running the school she runs, along with other volunteers, The Mackay Dance Festival, with dancers travelling from all over Queensland to perform. She has also been recently made a Life Member of the Mackay Eisteddfod.
With the highlight of an end of year concert and 20th anniversary ahead, Bishop is looking forward to seeing her students shine. She is proud of the legacy of her school and the impact it has had on the community. Reflecting the sentiments of many, parent Sarah Readman, who has had two daughters trained at Dance Express Mackay, says: “Karen’s favourite saying to the kids is ‘Happy Days’ and it has truly been happy days for us”.
– MICHELLE DURSUN
Regional Heroes is proudly sponsored by https://dancesurance.com/ 