Faculty
Meet our teachers
Valentina Pavlova
Valentina Pavlova has over 20 years of experience teaching classical, repertoire, character dance, stretching and conditioning.
Valentina studied ballet for 8 years at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. After graduation in 1985 she worked as a principal ballet dancer at the Moscow Festival Theatre. In 1991 Valentina was invited by a prominent Russian choreographer Vladimir Vasiliev to join the State Kremlin Ballet of Russia as a soloist and principal dancer.
Her repertoire includes: Swan Lake, Cinderella, Nutcracker, Giselle, Don Quixote, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Napoleon Bonaparte, Tom Sawyer, Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and The Walpurgis Night.
During her career, Valentina toured worldwide across Great Britain, Japan, Ireland, France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Taiwan, China, Norway and Canary Islands.
Valentina has worked with prominent Russian choreographers like Yuri Grigorovich, Vladimir Vasiliev, Andrei Petrov and Marius Liepa.
Valentina has taught ballet classes for professionals when she worked in the Kremlin Ballet and in Moscow Ballet La Classique. Valentina also conducted rehearsals. She enjoys working with children, and has extensive experience teaching youngsters in Russia, Japan and Great Britain.
In 2004 Valentina choreographed a composition from ‘Swan Lake’ with students from Charles Campbell Secondary School.
From 2020 Valentina works as a ballet teacher at GWB studios. Valentina has also worked at Mitcham Rhythmic Gymnastics Club as a ballet instructor since 2005.
Valentina's former students joined and graduated from the world famous and most prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy in Saint Petersburg and Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow.
Valentina's students participated and won in international and Australian ballet competitions such as Taiwan Grand Prix, Asian Grand Prix, Youth America Grand Prix, World Ballet Competition, KAR, Follow Your Dreams, Get The Beat, CanDance Australia and SASDS (Eisteddfod).
Olga Buglak
Rhythmic Gymnastics Coach, Rhythmic Gymnastics Judge
Olga has over 15 years experience in coaching Rhythmic Gymnastics. During this time she produced many Australian national and South Australia state champions. In 2019, Olga’s gymnasts were selected to be on the Australian national squad and therefore are eligible to represent Australia in international competitions. In 2014 and 2015, Olga and her gymnasts were selected to represent Australia in the New Zealand Tour. In 2016, Olga and her gymnasts took part in international competitions in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Olga also has experience in teaching and creating dance, including acrobatic, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop and Russian/Ukrainian folk dance. Her creative work has been performed at Fringe Festivals, Gymnaestradas, Pacific School Games Opening Ceremony, South Australian and Australian Championships.
Olga’s coaching style is full of life and energy and your child is sure to have fun in her class whilst improving their coordination, flexibility, strengths, acrobatic and bodywork technique.
Jessica Goldfinch
Jessica Goldfinch is a passionate arts educator who has been working within the arts and education sectors for over 20 years. Jess graduated with a Bachelor of Dance Performance from ACArts in 2004 and performed as an independent contemporary dance artist for a number of years before returning to complete a Master of Teaching from the University of South Australia in 2010. Jess has extensive dance teaching experience within a range of diverse contexts including: early childhood to adult and mature-aged students, within primary and high schools, private dance studios, regional community and outreach programs, in the genres of contemporary technique, composition, partnerwork, and performance, hip hop, ballet, jazz, and body conditioning, and has worked with beginners through to students studying SACE, and Cert.4 professional dance courses. Over the last 12 years Jess has focussed her teaching in the tertiary sector within Initial teacher education programs at the University of South Australia and Flinders University. Most recently Jess has been appointed as associate lecturer at Flinders University, with the role of coordinating arts education topics across early childhood, primary, and secondary years teacher education programs, while still enjoying teaching for a number of private dance schools across Adelaide.