Bio

Edwynna Adams has been a classical ballet teacher for 25 years. She completed the Australian Associate Diploma of Dance Teaching and Management at Melbourne's Box Hill College of TAFE in 1992. Edwynna was taught by the late Laurel Martyn OBE, pioneer and celebrated Australian classical ballet dancer. Edwynna's enthusiasm for sharing the joy of movement with young children is inspired by Laurel's passion for teaching and sharing movement with all, which she promoted through her ballet syllabus and her daily motto of 'Let them Dance'. Edwynna currently teaches Ballet, Character & PBT at Over the Moon Studios in Central Victoria. She taught previously at the Victorian School of Ballet and Miranda Kalgovas Ballet School teaching classical ballet, contemporary and jazz dance. Edwynna teaches Laurel Martyn OBE's Classical Ballet Syllabus, the Laurel Martyn Dance Teaching System (LMDTS). The LMDTS approach is regarded as among the most progressive and creative in current practice (see below). Edwynna is a certified Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) Instructor and incorporates this valuable program into the Level 4 and above classical ballet classes. Dance has been a part of Edwynna's life since she was a child, and later whilst living and working overseas. Edwynna now loves sharing this beautiful art form with her children and those she teaches, both young and old alike. About the Laurel Martyn Dance Training System In this system, the principles and purpose of movement and creative expression are recognised as the core elements of the teaching, rather than a rigid, standardised syllabus of training. As a young dancer in Europe during the 1930’s, Laurel was deeply inspired by her Russian teachers, and found their training and the intelligent and logical approach to technical development to be the guiding principal of her dancing life, namely that dance is total and involves the mind and the whole body, and therefore the two must be developed simultaneously as each part of the body is recognised, explored, and remembers as a part of the whole. With this in mind Laurel Martyn OBE, designed and wrote the Laurel Martyn Dance Teaching System (LMDTS), using these principals and adapting them for the Australian dance environment. The achievement of artistry is based on respect for the body as the essential instrument through which the creative instinct is expressed. At each stage, the student is considered as a complete dancer at their own level of ability and development, with all elements progressing hand-in-hand. All students, of all abilities and ages, may move beautifully and expressively when they are allowed.