On the Couch | Melanie Gard | Peninsula School of Dance | McNeill Real Estate
Recently we were delighted to have Melanie Gard, a local dance teacher and owner of Peninsula School of Dance, join us #onthecouch.
Melanie owns and operates an incredible dance studio in Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula. Her passion for dance and for her students shines through in this interview, where Melanie spoke about her business and how it helps children to learn to dance and develop confidence, poise and resilience to help them through life.
As the Director of Peninsula School of Dance, I'm not interested in just churning out "the best" dancers, but I'm very passionate in helping kids reach their full potential. I believe that dance is a powerful tool that can be used to help build the capacity of our young people to be resilient, creative and empathetic adults.
Many students come to us with the desire to dance pumping through their veins, through their very soul. Others are here to unwind after school, have fun with friends, gain confidence and enhance their health, be inspired to express themselves, feel supported and safe and to just hang out in a place that really gets them. Peninsula School of Dance is my happy place, I know it will become your child's happy place too.
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM TO WATCH THE VIDEO, or read the transcript below
McNeill Real Estate are delighted to be hosting local business owners, identities' and personalities from around the Mornington Peninsula, to share their great products, services, and events with others.
This idea to share came about when the team, Janet McNeill and David Kershaw, realised that during the course of running their own business, they were meeting so many amazing people with great stories, that they wanted to let others know what was on their doorstep.
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Janet and David
TRANSCRIPT
JANET: Are you a parent who has children who are interested in dancing? Well tune into this video because we meet Melanie Gard of Peninsula School of Dance.
JANET: Welcome to another episode of On the Couch with McNeill Real Estate, my name is Janet McNeill and today I'm delighted to welcome Melanie Gard from Peninsula School of Dance. Peninsula School of Dance is a safe, friendly and nurturing environment for children to experience dance and performing arts. So welcome.
MELANIE: Thank you so much for having me Janet.
JANET: It's going to be an absolute pleasure to learn all about you. So Melanie, to start, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
MELANIE: Sure! So I have always danced. I learnt dance as a little girl and it was something that was always a really important part of my life. I always aspired to be just like the big girls at dance and went on and did all my teaching qualifications. I've always been a passionate educator. I think that's something. I'm the eldest child. So yeah okay you know sometimes, that's just yeah part of part and parcel of being the eldest child I think. So I finished my schooling and I went to University. So I did a bachelor degree in disability studies. So I've always had a really strong sense of community, social justice. I'm also a Kiwi so I feel like that's a little bit in our makeup as well, us Kiwis. So I did that degree. I worked in the disability sector for around 15 years, working in community development and working a lot of the big projects around the devolution of big institutions, and looking at how we could transfer those services into community-based settings. So worked on some really ground breaking projects, prior to what now we know as the NDIS and all the while I still kept teaching. And always taught for my dance studio where I grew up in Ivanhoe. So this was pre moving down to the Peninsula in 2000. My husband and I moved down here, and I started teaching for Sandra Allen and her school in Rosebud. So I would go and teach on the weekends when I could. And then we had a baby and all those sorts of things happened, and she came and approached me and said look I've been running the business, you know, I really, I would like to continue to teach, but I don't want to run the school anymore. And I guess all of the timing for it for us, in terms of you know moving into having children and all those sorts of things, it was just perfect timing and as I said at the start, it's been my passion. Dance gave me so many skills, confidence, resilience, the ability to talk to people and present myself, as a particularly, as a young adult so it was just all of the lining of the things that came together. So I took. We purchased the school in 2006 and we since then have moved from a community hall. We've purchased a factory in Rosebud and we've fitted that out into some beautiful studios and spaces. It's really my happy place. When I put the key in the door and walk in there I just feel like it's my second home. I just adore walking in and teaching those students. Also empowering my staff and my teachers to continue on that tradition of passing on the love of dance, and also all of those skills that we know that dance brings to young people. Yeah that's fantastic. So you are a local - yes well considering 20. 20 years so I'm hoping I cut for local status!
JANET: Yes so what do you love most about the Mornington Peninsula?
MELANIE: I just adore living here. I think having lived down here for so long my family still live over sort of Greensborough way. So whenever we do traipse up to the City a lot. As soon as I come back down, I just feel like I can breathe! Just the, it's just more relaxed, the salty sea air. I love going for walks on the beach. I just love the lifestyle for our children. Our children you know, finish school, run down to the beach. You know it's just such a great place to bring up children and we've got really strong connections down here, and just I can't imagine living anywhere else now.
JANET: Yeah why would you! Exactly. That's fantastic. So you've touched a little bit on why you started the school. What sort of age groups are your students and are they just girls, or are they boys and girls?
MELANIE: Yeah great question actually. We look, we offer classes right from toddler age so we have sort of mummy and me, or daddy and me. I should say, as well and we have lots of guys. Yeah absolutely. Lots of grandparents come in. So it's a very interactive sort of place to start for those young children and my oldest student is 80. 80. yep wow! So she was a dancer and a teacher and she comes in and does a private lesson with me once a week. I highly respect her she has so much knowledge, but she says to me she said I can't do any other kind of exercise I just have to dance. So we do. Once a week we do a private lesson. I give her a class and she's just so inspirational at 80 to still be doing a ballet class once a week so the whole gamut.
JANET: Yeah that's brilliant. Yeah fantastic. So when children sort of come in to your classes, or students come to your classes, what can they sort of expect when they join your class?
MELANIE: Absolutely, so we really pride ourselves on being a really welcoming space, not just for the children, but also for their families. We know that when you have a baby and a young child, it's a really, you know it's a whole world that opens up for you and all of a sudden you're thinking what do I do with this little person. And how do I help them develop skills and confidence and that's often a big thing for parents. Is how do I help my child sort of navigate the world and develop those skills, getting ready for school, all those sorts of things. So we really pride ourselves on welcoming the family into the school and we pride ourselves on working with the family to make sure that that process for the child is smooth and you know successful for them on, on all levels.
JANET: So when you have a class are parents or grandparents allowed to be in the class?
MELANIE: No generally we don't. We don't have, we do when they're really little, so little toddlers, yes we welcome the parents in for a trial day. So when they first come in, and we do have open weeks where the parents, we open up the classes. Obviously that's been more challenging with COVID. We've been doing open week on zoom all that sort of stuff. Yeah absolutely. So we find generally students focus and work better without the distraction of mum and dad or a sibling, and it just creates a more cohesive class environment. But the door's certainly not closed. If anyone's got any concerns they can always come in.
JANET: Okay yeah that's fantastic. So what sort of, because I had a bit of a look on your website which is very, very comprehensive - what sort of different classes are available and how do they actually differ? You've got different types of classes, but yeah how do they like, how does a child work out which one they want that kind of?
MELANIE: Absolutely look we are really much based in ballet, so my training is in ballet and we do speak of ourselves very much as a ballet school. Now I say that because ballet is like, when you learn a musical instrument, you learn your scales, or the recorder. Yeah. So you learn that baseline of dance, so ballet gives us that really strong solid foundation of technique, the good posture, the coordination and we find that all of our kids that do ballet easily transition into jazz, tap, hip-hop all those other styles, because ballet's like that foundation. So we do encourage that. That being said, it's not for every child, some kids are like that's not for me so hip-hop's a great one. We love that. That's fun, it's upbeat, you know the music's really great fun and some kids prefer that style more. So yeah there's a broad range, but we do really encourage that ballet foundation right to begin with.
JANET: Yeah that's great. So obviously, again looking on the website, the kids are all wearing all the different kinds of costumes, so what sort of outfits do they need and can they wear it, like buy one outfit and wear that in each different style and what sort of cost is it to get into it?
MELANIE: Yeah absolutely, great question. So our uniform is based on the level that they're in, so generally speaking, if you start ballet you're wearing a leotard and tights and then we add pieces like little shorts or t-shirts if they're doing jazz or hip-hop, anything like that. So we have a full range to suit you know all body types, and boys and girls and all those sorts of things, yeah so generally speaking an outfit for, if you would come in for a little dancer, and they get like a little dress, tights, shoes that cost about $120. So generally speaking , like a well-fitted uniform will last a child at least full 12 months if not more, yeah unless they have a massive growth. Yeah look the great thing about leotards is they're made from they're really stretchy!
JANET: Yeah that's awesome. Now also do you, do your students enter any competitions, or do you actually run any competitions?
MELANIE: Yeah, look we're not, we don't participate in Eisteddfod's and things like that. We do run an annual choreography competition, which has been running since the 60s! Wow. So we have perpetual trophies that date back to those years, when Sandra started the school, and it's a really treasured event. Our students really look forward to. As soon as it's over they're planning their dances for the next one!
JANET: Yeah absolutely, so when it's choreographed who does the choreography?
MELANIE: So it's about the students choreographing their own pieces so, yeah often in dance class and you know we work towards our concerts and performances, the teacher choreographs the dance, so this is all about the students coming up with their own work. It's amazing it's a really wonderful event. It gives children that perhaps, you know they might not be the most technically accomplished dancer, but they may have some really strong skills in creation, and so we find that those kids really love it, because it gives them an opportunity to shine as well, and it's really supportive. Everyone's you know, sort of happy for each other, and the trophies are like a treasure trove of names of people that have gone on to have amazing careers in dance and teaching. Some of them are parents that have got children at the school now, so yeah it's like a real piece of history.
JANET: That's awesome, I've been to a few concerts with watching kids. I've obviously got friends and family with children that have gone through dance classes and it's hysterical! Yeah it's also beautiful because you watch the kids when, you know the toddlers, they first do their dance routine on, on stage and they're all going in different directions and they're crying or they're twirling the wrong way or whatever, and then you know, each year you can see the progression.
MELANIE: Absolutely kids and they just they just so good. Yeah absolutely and that's really what it's about. It's not necessarily about creating dancers that are going to be professionals, whilst that's a great goal to have, and we do have students that go on and do that, most kids are not going to be a professional dancer, but what we're aiming for is giving them that confidence, that ability to get out there and put themselves out there. You know, to be able to stand up tall in front of a crowd, exactly scary yeah, and if you came in and met a lot of our teenagers, they're really well-spoken young people. They've got great manners, confidence, you know an air of, you know, ability to go around and speak to adults and look them in the eye and I think especially now, when we you know we see, I guess young people get a pretty bad rap at the moment, but honestly if you came in and met our young people, you'd just be so impressed. They impress me every day, they're wonderful.
JANET: Good okay so that actually brought into one of my questions? Do your classes give students confidence for their adult life? But I guess another question is, what's your sort of favorite success story around your students, is there a one particular student that sort of stands out or a year of students?
MELANIE: Yeah look I think there's probably a couple of students and I won't speak to anything specific, but as young people when they came to me, they lacked a lot of confidence. Experienced a lot of anxiety, a couple of students I've had that are now sort of in that later teenage age group. I've worked really closely with their families at they've seen psychologists, and we've had really strong strategies around managing their anxiety, and getting them into the dance class and whilst they may be a brilliant dancer, or they may not be, that's not the measure of success for me. The measure of success is seeing them now, if you walked in, you wouldn't know that they used to hide under the table cowering, you know because they were frightened or scared so those are the things that I'm most proud of.
JANET: Yeah definitely it's amazing. So how do people get in touch with you and your business?
MELANIE: Absolutely so you can find us on all the socials. So we're on Facebook Peninsula School of Dance. We're on Instagram @peninsuladance. The best way to find us, is just to simply google us, we have actually I should give Gren Design, a company based here in Mornington, do our website. Wonderful job they do and our website has every possible way to get in contact. There's contact forms, you can just click on the link there. So it's peninsuladance.com.au.
JANET: That's great. So Melanie, what do you actually do when you're not working?
MELANIE: Well I'm a mum to three, yes so they keep me really busy. They're 16, 14 and 10 so yeah life is busy, busy. They are my eldest dances but the other two play football and horse riding and so you know it's the constant ping pong between the mum, yeah you're driving the kids here there and everywhere and when do you have time for yourself!
MELANIE: Yeah well it's getting a little bit easier as they get older now that they're all at school. I love walking so I go on a walk every morning. I'm down along our beautiful beaches, I'm just about to do a 35 kilometer walk in a couple of weeks so setting myself goals like that kept me that certainly kept me really fit and well during lockdown last year, so yeah I love walking and being outside and connecting with friends.
JANET: Yep that's great that's fantastic. So thank you for joining us Melanie.
MELANIE: My pleasure.
JANET: That concludes another episode of on the couch with McNeill Real Estate. So thank you for watching and we'll see you soon.
JANET: Thank you for watching this interview, if you enjoyed it please subscribe to our channel and check out our other interviews in our On the Couch series
