Guest Teachers
Principal dancers, ballet masters and teachers from leading companies, who have taught at the academy since 2013.
Each visit gives our students a class with an artist from the professional stage. They are listed by the year they taught here.
2026
Photo: Chris Hardy Yuan Yuan Tan
Artistic Director, Suzhou Ballet Theatre; former Principal Dancer, San Francisco Ballet
Trained at the Shanghai Dance School and the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Yuan Yuan Tan joined San Francisco Ballet in 1995 and became a principal dancer two years later, the youngest in the company’s history. She danced her farewell there in 2024, now directs Suzhou Ballet Theatre, and led a masterclass at the academy in February 2026.
Read more · Prix de Lausanne
Photo: The Australian Ballet Annabelle Watt
Coryphée, The Australian Ballet
Annabelle Watt trained in Brisbane and at The Australian Ballet School, where she was School Captain in 2020, and joined The Australian Ballet after graduating. Promoted to coryphée in 2024, she performed with American Ballet Theatre in New York in 2026 on the Walter Bourke Scholarship.
Read more · The Australian Ballet
2025
Photo: The Australian Ballet Yaru Xu
Artist, The Australian Ballet
Born in Xiamen, Yaru Xu trained at John Curtin College of the Arts in Perth and won The Australian Ballet School Scholarship Award in 2018. She completed her training at the School and joined The Australian Ballet in 2024.
Read more · The Australian Ballet
2023 & 2024
Photo: Queensland Ballet Claire Phipps
Head of Program (Upper School), Academy of Queensland Ballet
Claire Phipps graduated with honours from The Australian Ballet School and danced corps de ballet and soloist roles with The Australian Ballet, then became a Soloist and later Ballet Mistress with Queensland Ballet. She holds the Royal Academy of Dance’s Diploma in Dance Teaching Studies and now leads the upper school of the Academy of Queensland Ballet.
Read more · Queensland Ballet
2022
Photo: DIDA Media, Prix de Lausanne Chi Cao
Former Principal, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Chi Cao trained at the Beijing Dance Academy and The Royal Ballet School, was a prize-winner at the 1994 Prix de Lausanne and won gold at the 1998 Varna International Ballet Competition. A principal of Birmingham Royal Ballet from 2002 to 2018, he played Li Cunxin in the film Mao’s Last Dancer, and now holds the Royal Academy of Dance’s teaching diploma and sits on its Board of Trustees.
Read more · Birmingham Royal Ballet
Photo: Zhuo Wu Yuan Wang Xiaoming
Principal Teacher, Zhuo Wu Yuan, Singapore
Wang Xiaoming trained in Chinese ethnic folk dance at the Beijing Dance Academy and in musicology at the China Conservatory of Music, and taught dance at the Hunan Vocational College of Art. Now Principal Teacher at Zhuo Wu Yuan in Singapore, Wang Xiaoming is certified to teach the Beijing Dance Academy’s Chinese dance examinations and teaches in schools and junior colleges across Singapore.
Read more · Zhuo Wu Yuan
2020
Photo: The Australian Ballet Yichuan Wang
Coryphée, The Australian Ballet
Born in Zhenjiang, Yichuan Wang studied at the Beijing Dance Academy for six years before moving to Melbourne in 2016 to train at The Australian Ballet School. He joined The Australian Ballet in 2017, was nominated for the 2019 Telstra Ballet Dancer Award and was promoted to coryphée in 2024.
Read more · The Australian Ballet
2019
Photo: Laoshan Culture & Arts Lectures Wang Hao
Ballet Master, National Ballet of China
Wang Hao graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy’s secondary school and joined the National Ballet of China in 2002, dancing roles including Xiaopang in The Red Detachment of Women. A teacher and répétiteur with the company since 2009, he has helped John Neumeier, Natalia Makarova and Manuel Legris stage their works, and in 2019 he took part in an exchange with The Australian Ballet.
Read more · National Ballet of China
2015
Photo: Andreas Jakwerth Cédric Ygnace
Former Principal Dancer, Dutch National Ballet
Cédric Ygnace trained at the Académie de Danse Princesse Grace in Monaco and was a prize-winner at the 1996 Prix de Lausanne. He danced with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and was a principal of Dutch National Ballet from 1998 to 2012, then became a ballet master and coach with The Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet, West Australian Ballet and the Vienna State Ballet.
Read more · Vienna State Opera
Photo: The Australian Ballet Chengwu Guo
Principal Artist, The Australian Ballet
Chengwu Guo trained at the Beijing Dance Academy and was a prize-winner at the 2006 Prix de Lausanne, which brought him to The Australian Ballet School. He joined The Australian Ballet in 2008, won the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award in 2011 and was promoted to principal artist in 2013.
Read more · The Australian Ballet
Photo: The Australian Ballet Ako Kondo
Principal Artist, The Australian Ballet
Born in Nagoya, Ako Kondo came to The Australian Ballet School on a scholarship in 2007 and joined The Australian Ballet in 2010. In 2015 she became the company’s first Japanese principal artist, and in 2018 she won the Helpmann Award for Best Female Dancer as Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Read more · The Australian Ballet
2014
Photo: Adam Trafford, The Courier Olivia Bell
Former Principal Artist, The Australian Ballet
Newcastle-born Olivia Bell won a prize at the 1994 Prix de Lausanne that took her to the Paris Opera Ballet School, and joined The Australian Ballet in 1995. Promoted to principal artist in 2007, she danced leading roles in Manon, The Merry Widow and Schéhérazade before retiring from the stage in 2013, after 18 years with the company.
Read more · Dance Australia
2013
Photo: The Australian Ballet Kirsty Martin
Principal Repetiteur and former Principal Artist, The Australian Ballet
Kirsty Martin joined The Australian Ballet in 1996, danced with Nederlands Dans Theater from 2000 to 2002, and returned as a principal artist in 2003. In 2009 she won the Benois de la Danse for her Manon, and after retiring from the stage she taught at the Victorian College of the Arts and The Australian Ballet School before rejoining the company as Principal Repetiteur.
Read more · The Australian Ballet
Photo: City Dance Centre Sakura Shimizu
Director, City Dance Centre, Melbourne; former dancer, Hamburg Ballet and Singapore Dance Theatre
Born in Yokohama, Sakura Shimizu graduated from the Hamburg Ballet School in 1994 to join John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet, and in 2002 joined Singapore Dance Theatre, where she also choreographed for the company. Since settling in Melbourne she has danced with Melbourne Ballet Company, and she has directed City Dance Centre since 2011.
Read more · City Dance Centre