To create a ‘Fun . Safe . Dance’ environment for all students and their families.

We believe it takes a village to raise a child and in a world where we don’t always have that, we hope The Dance@ Program can become part of that village for our families.

The Dance@ Program was created by Bethany Girardi in 2017 when she saw a need for wholistic, safe, dance practices within the communities of Melbourne.

After sustaining major injuries both physically and mentally due to the performing arts industry and dance schools, Bethany wanted to create a safe and nurturing space within the industry to encourage children to achieve their personal best.

Bethany noted that there were not many dance programs within the communities she lived in that remembered that at its core dance is fun, But still provided safe and specialised dance education. Bethany believes in letting kids be kids, whilst providing them with safe and developmentally appropriate dance technique.

Bethany realised she had a unique view of what dance education could look like within the communities of Melbourne and decided to act on it; and so The Dance@ Program was born.

In 2017 The Dance@ Program began at Donvale Christian College (DCC) and enrolled over 40 students. We started small, providing 2 dance classes per week across junior and senior primary age students, with varied experience and abilities, growing to 5 full classes across both ballet and jazz.

In 2023 Bethany stepped back from running the program to focus on her young family after welcoming the birth of her son.

Now Bethany is thrilled to be starting a new chapter of The Dance@ Program, with classes for multiple age groups, across several local communities.

We hope over the next couple of years to expand our class offerings, in line with the needs of our beautiful community.

Lets Have Fun!