Our Faculty
Glenda Allen, Principal
Glenda Allen began her dance training with Madame Kira Bousloff and Kiril Vassilkovsky in Perth, Western Australia. After studying tap, jazz and highland dancing, Glenda concentrated on her ballet training and graduated from The Australian Ballet School in 1975 as their top student, gaining Honours, and was awarded the highly coveted Dame Margot Fonteyn Scholarship Award.
Glenda was offered a place at the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London, but upon graduation from The Australian Ballet School, she was the only student to be given a contract with the internationally acclaimed “The Australian Ballet” Company. Glenda decided to join “The Australian Ballet” and quickly rose through the ranks, taking many soloist roles in “The Merry Widow”; “The Sleeping Beauty”; “Don Quixote”; “Swan Lake”; “Giselle” and many other ballets.
Glenda toured extensively with “The Australian Ballet” to the United States and England and has danced with many leading dancers including Rudolf Nureyev, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Carla Fracci and Sir Robert Helpmann. Glenda has trained with some of the world’s greatest teachers: Asaf Messerer of the Bolshoi Ballet; Sir Robert Helpmann, Dame Peggy Van Praagh, Professor Leon Kellaway and Kathleen Gorham of “The Australian Ballet”; Patricia Wilde of the American Ballet Theater and Marika Besabrasova of the Princess Grace Ecole de Danse in Monte Carlo.
Glenda has also performed works with many leading choreographers including Rudolf Nureyev, John Cranko, George Balanchine, Roland Petit, Sir Robert Helpmann, Eugene Loring, Gillian Lynne, Ian Spink, Leigh Warren and Graeme Murphy.
A serious knee injury sustained whilst on tour with “The Australian Ballet”, forced Glenda into an early retirement from the stage and Glenda then decided to become a teacher in order to pass on her knowledge and love of dance to aspiring young dancers. Glenda has been teaching for the past 30 years in London, Madrid, Stuttgart, Australia, Cairo, Geneva and Hong Kong. Glenda was the Ballet Mistress for the acclaimed “Stepping Out Dance Company” in Geneva and has been a Guest Teacher for the City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) in Hong Kong. In 2004, Glenda was nominated for the “Australian of the Year 2004 Award”. Glenda is married and has two children.
Courtney Trace, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Ballet, Contemporary, Lyrical and Musical Theatre Teacher
Courtney began dancing at the age of 5 in Queensland, Australia and has trained extensively in all genres of dance, including Jazz, Ballet, Contemporary, Tap, Lyrical, Hip Hop and Musical Theatre.
Courtney holds a Teachers Certificate in the CSTD syllabus and also completed her Certificate IV in Dance at the well known Dynamite Studios in Queensland, Australia.
Some highlights of Courtney’s career so far, include travelling to Los Angeles in the United States in 2018 to perform at ’The ARTS International Showcase' as a Dancer, Model and Actor. She finished in the Top 10 of the Competition, as well as receiving a Scholarship to the New York Film Academy.
Courtney has performed in Musical Theatre Productions in Australia, including “Mary Poppins”, “Wicked” and “Heathers” amongst others.
Courtney has also competed in many Dance Competitions in both Australia and New Zealand, winning a high number of awards.
Miss Courtney looks forward to sharing her bubbly personality and to helping each and every student reach their goals and full potential.
We are absolutely delighted to welcome Miss Courtney to our Academy!
Christina Lai, Ballet Teacher
Christina trained under the Tsinforn C. Wong Memorial Scholarship for 9 years at the Jean M. Wong School of Ballet. In 1985 she was awarded the Heinz Bosl Scholarship to study further with Madame Marika Besabrasova at the “Ecole de Danse Classique Princess Grace” in Monte Carlo.
In 1988, Christina won the South China Morning Post Student Dancer of the Year Award and joined the Hong Kong Ballet. Christina was a dancer with the Hong Kong Ballet for 12 years and was promoted to Senior Soloist Artist in 1998. Her many leading roles included Lise in “La Fille Mal Gardee”; the Snow Queen in “The Nutcracker”; Blue girl in Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Les Patineurs”; Young girl in “Two Pigeons”; Helena in “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” and danced many main roles in “Swan Lake” and George Balanchine’s “Concerto Barocco” and other ballets with the Hong Kong Ballet.
Christina has been teaching for the past few years for the Hong Kong Children Arts Academy, and has been a teacher for the Junior Programme at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Christina joined the Glenda Allen Dance Academy in September 2005.
Teegan Bishop, Guest Choreographer
Teegan began dancing at the age of 2 at the Conroy Dance Centre in Brisbane, Australia, where she trained in multiple Dance and singing disciplines for 17 years.
She has performed across the globe, at Los Angeles Disneyland; Walt Disney World Orlando; Lincoln Centre New York; The UAE, and Australia. She has performed with Celebrity Cruises in Europe as both a Production Singer and Dancer. She was the lead featured vocalist in their production of Les Farfadais “Euporia”.
Teegan was also a Lead Dancer at Hong Kong Disneyland for 3 years where she performed in various shows including “Flights of Fantasy Parade”, “Disney’s Paint the Night Parade”, “Villian’s Night Out Parade” and many more.
Teegan was a Senior Dance Teacher with our Dance Academy in 2015/2016 and she has taught and choreographed many Musical Theatre and Dance routines for our Academy's Annual performance showcases. She also choreographed the Hong Kong International School’s (HKIS) production of “Honk Jr.”
Most recently in July 2019, Teegan co-choreographed the EXCEL’s Summer Musical Showcase production of “The Addams Family” at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts to much applause.
We are delighted to have Miss Teegan as one of our Guest Choreographers and our students all love her!
Michael Curry, Guest Artist
Sydney born, Michael began his dance training, studying classical, jazz and tap. These studies lead to professional engagements in musical theatre in Sydney, including joining the 1971 Australian and New Zealand tour of “Disney on Parade”.
At the end of the tour, Michael focused more intently on classical ballet and successfully completed the two year full-time course at “The Australian Ballet School”. Upon graduating, he was accepted into “The Australian Ballet” Company in 1976 and danced with them for the next 15 years.
As a member of “The Australian Ballet”, Michael danced a huge spectrum of roles, from corps de ballet, to featured and Principal roles, dancing in theatres around Australia and overseas. Highlights of these experiences were dancing at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad; Covent Garden in London; The Metropolitan Opera House in New York and the Herod Atticus open theatre in Athens. Favourite roles include Offenbach in Maurice Bejart’s ballet “Gaite Paite Parisienne”; the Jester in “Swan Lake”; “Clowns” in John Cranko’s “Romeo and Juliet”; the Headmistress in “Graduation Ball” and Widow Simone in Sir Frederick Ashton’s ballet “La Fille Mal Gardee”.
Michael was the Guest Artist for the Glenda Allen Dance Academy’s “Let’s Dance! 10th Anniversary” production in 2005 at the Drama Theatre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Mark Hodge, Guest Artist
Originally from Adelaide, Mark Hodge is a former member of the Adelaide Dance Company. He was also in “The Australian Ballet” Company for two years, where he danced in productions of “Giselle”; “Spartacus”; “Les Sylphides”; Maurice Bejart’s “Le Concours”; “Eugene Onegin”; “Romeo and Juliet” and “Equus”. In 1993 he was a Principal Dancer in “The Australian Opera’s production of “The Merry Widow”.
His musical theatre roles have included the lead dancer in “Hello Dolly”, Alonzo and Rumpus Cat in the Melbourne and Sydney seasons of “Cats”; Pepe in “West Side Story” and Riff in Q.U.T’s production of “West Side Story”. Mark completed an 18-month tour with the musical “Chicago”, in the role of Fred Caseley. On television, Mark has appeared in many Australian dramas. He has also played the Exterminator in “Chuck Finn”.
Mark was one of the core team of dancers in Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar winning film “Moulin Rouge” with Nicole Kidman. He has also appeared in numerous commercials overseas. Mark was one of the lead dancers in the musical “Singing in the Rain” which toured Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore in 2003. Mark has also been a leading dancer and one of the stars of the television series “Dancing with the Stars” in Australia during 2005.
Mark was the Guest Artist for the Glenda Allen Dance Academy’s “Dance Fantasia” production in 2003 at the Lyric Theatre and in the “Dance Kaleidoscope” production in 2004, also at the Lyric Theatre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.