Lucy Martin

Lucy began dancing in 2007, originally beginning her training in Jazz, and later training in Ballet, Tap, Lyrical and Contemporary. She joined the senior competition team at age 16 and competed with this team for 8 years - including performing at PACANZ nationals 2017, 2018 and 2019, making it to the finals in 2018 and 2019. Lucy also studied NZQA dance at Avondale College, from age 13 to when she graduated at age 17. Receiving Excellent and Merit endorsements throughout her NCEA years.

In 2015, Lucy began teaching. She has completed her Teaching Certificate III in Ballet and her Teaching Certificate IV in Dancing Teaching and Management with Ballet Australasia Limited. Lucy is also Module 1 Certified with Acrobatic Arts. Lucy has taught dancing at Cool Crew charity, specialising in dance lessons for children with special needs. She is also a qualified Personal Trainer and works part time as an F45 Coach.

In early 2017, she began teaching at Grey Lynn Dance School and in October of 2017, took over ownership from Bev Birch to continue to pursue her passion of teaching. In late 2017 the school was rebranded to Lucy Martin School Of Dance. Today she continues to teach, and has successfully expanded the school from an original 30 students, to more than 200 over the last 5 years. The school continues to grow each term. In December 2021, Lucy took over ownership of Bev Birch School Of Dance after Bev announced her retirement. The Henderson location trades under Lucy Martin School Of Dance going forward.

Exams and qualifications

BAL Teaching Certificate IV in Dance Teaching and Management

BAL Teaching Certificate III in Ballet

Certified in Acrobatic Arts Module 1

Executive Diploma In Personal Training

BAL Ballet Intermediate

BAL Tap Advanced

BAL Tap ‘N’ Beats Stage 9

BAL Jazz Advanced

RAD Ballet Advanced Foundation

JDNZ Jazz Advanced 2

NZAMD Contemporary Level 6

Lynley Murgatroyd

Lynley has danced for many years and at the age of 15, started her own dance school which she successfully ran for 13 years before having her daughter. Not long after this she was asked to join the teaching team of her previous Ballet teacher, where she taught for 22 years. Following this, she joined the team at Bev Birch School of Dance in Henderson and also teaches elsewhere in West Auckland. In 2009, Lynley became an examiner for Jazz Dance New Zealand and examined with them until 2018. She has her Certificate IV in Dance Teaching and Management from Ballet Australasia Limited.

In 2015 Lynley was asked to become an examiner by the Board of Ballet Australasia Limited and she has been examining with them ever since. This was a lifetime dream of hers as her main passion is Ballet, amongst other genres and to be invited to examine an Australian qualifications registered syllabus is a huge honour. In 2020 Lynley became a member of the Board of Ballet Australasia Limited to give New Zealand a presence. She has had many students go on to professional dance careers or become successful studio owners. Lynley is very pleased to be a teaching team member at Lucy Martin School Of Dance and we are delighted to have such an experienced teacher with such a wealth of knowledge on our teaching team.

Exams and Qualifications

Director Ballet Australasia Limited

Examiner Ballet Australasia Limited

BAL Certificate IV in Dance Teaching and Management

Member of Jazz Dance New Zealand

Member of Ballet Australasia Limited

Hons. NZAMD Jazz

BBO Elementary Ballet

Lisa Walker

Lisa found her love of dance at age 5, and dance has been her passion ever since. She is constantly exploring new horizons and prides herself on continually trying to improve her dancers by educating them about their bodies, using her personal training skills to enhance the students she teaches. Lisa loves the performing arts and keeps abreast of the latest trends and enjoys bringing that to her students. She also adjudicates dance competitions around Auckland and is an experienced adjudicator. We are so delighted to have such an enthusiastic and experienced teacher like Lisa onboard our teaching team.

Exams and Qualifications

BAL Ballet Elementary

JDNZ Jazz Major

Bachelor of Psychology from Massey University

Diploma in Nutritional Science

Registered Nutritionist

Qualified Personal Trainer

Certificate IV TAELLN (Archived)

Sarah Reece

Sarah grew up dancing in Auckland, New Zealand. She fell in love with dancing aged 3, and originally trained in Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Contemporary and Lyrical, completing her exams to the highest standards. She was part of the Royal New Zealand Ballet mentorship programme, and received a scholarship to The Edge Performers School in Melbourne. She has been working professionally the past 10 years with credits spanning in TV, music videos and numerous live performances. Sarah is predominantly trained in Jazz, Ballet, Heels, Contemporary, Hip Hop and other street styles. Some of her credits include Kpop Academy, Skycity, Coca Cola, NBL Breakers, Westfield, Silver Ferns and Air New Zealand. Sarah is currently working as a professional commercial dancer and choreographer, freelancing throughout Auckland, and is part of Candee Collective. Sarah is involved with dance competitions throughout New Zealand, her choreography has been performed at PACANZ nationals multiple times and was danced in the finals in 2018 and 2019. She is a competition adjudicator, where she shares her wealth of knowledge with competitors.

Sarah is delighted to be teaching for Lucy Martin School Of Dance, and to be sharing her knowledge and passion with students across a range of genres. We are thrilled to be able to give our students the opportunity to learn from Sarah.

Exams and qualifications

BAL Ballet Advanced

BAL Jazz Advanced

BAL Tap Advanced

JDNZ Jazz Advanced 2

JDNZ Jazz Solo Seal

JDNZ Hip Hop

NZAMD Contemporary Level 6

NZAMD Contemporary Solo Seal

Elizabeth Oldham

Elizabeth began learning Ballet at age 4 and has continued different dance styles throughout her life. Through her love of performing on stage in amateur theatre Elizabeth began learning Tap dance, which lead to a passion for this genre. Having completed her exams under the tutelage of Bev Birch she then obtained the BAL Certficate III in Dance Teaching (Tap). Elizabeth was then lucky enough to teach for Bev Birch School of Dance and continues to teach at another dance school in west Auckland. Elizabeth has three children, all of whom have a strong interest in dance. Liz is an incredibly knowledgable Tap teacher and we are thrilled to have her share her knowledge and passion with our students.

Exams and Qualifications

BAL Certificate III in Dance Teaching (Tap)

BAL Tap Intermediate

BBO Ballet Elementary

Master of Social Work (Applied) (Honours) from Massey University

Bachelor of Science from University of Auckland

Shannon Spray

Shannon commenced dancing at the age of three. With her talent and love of dance she continued to study Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical and Tap in West Auckland until accepting a scholarship to train full-time at the Alberta Ballet School in Canada, a highly recognised Ballet school for pre-professional training. Shannon loves seeing the joy and excitement dance brings to young children, and hopes to pass on the passion and knowledge she has gained throughout her years of dancing and studying. With her diverse background Shannon is able to offer a wide set of skills to her students. Shannon is a very passionate and energetic teacher, and we are delighted to have her on board our teaching team.

Exams and Qualifications

BHSc(Physiotherapy)

BAL Teaching Certificate III in Ballet

BAL Advanced Ballet

RAD Advanced 1 Ballet

Cecchetti Intermediate Ballet

JDNZ Jazz Major

JDNZ Advanced Gold Lyrical

NZAMD Stretch Leap and Spin

NZAMD Level 6 Contemporary

Weichu Huang

Weichu grew up dancing in Wellington. She achieved her RAD Advanced 2 in 2016 and in 2019 moved to Auckland to study a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts (Contemporary Dance) at Unitec Institute of Technology, which she completed at the end of 2021. Weichu has performed extensively throughout Auckland and Wellington in both professional and community contexts, including Tempo Dance Festival and World of Wearable Arts, and has worked with leading New Zealand dancers and choreographers as well as international dance groups. She is excited to work with dancers of all ages and abilities, and collectively discover the joy that movement brings.

Exams and qualifications

RAD Advanced 2 Ballet

Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts (Contemporary Dance)

Grace Dunn

Grace has been dancing from the age of 3. She learnt Ballet and Jazz from our very own Lynley, Lyrical and Contemporary from Lisa, and Tap from Bev Birch. She has achieved extremely high exam results in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary and Lyrical, showing her natural ability and passion for dance. She was nominated for the inaugral BAL Ballet Scholarship (now the Audrey Ward Scholarship) and represented her studio with pride.

Grace has begun her TCIII in Dance Teaching - specialising in ballet. She attended the annual BAL Summer School Workshop gaining so much knowledge to pass on to any of her students whom she may be given the opportunity to teach.

It is wonderful to have young and enthusiastic teacher joining our team, welcome Grace.

Exams and qualifications

BAL Ballet Intermediate

BAL Ballet Junior Solo Seal

BAL Jazz Advanced

BAL Jazz Senior Solo Seal

BAL Tap Advanced

BAL Tap Junior Solo Seal

BAL Tap ‘N’ Beats Stage 8

JDNZ Lyrical Advanced Gold

NZAMD Contemporary Level 6

Currently studying Teaching Certificate III in Ballet with Ballet Australasia Limited

Hannah Bailey

Hannah Bailey has danced for many years in a number of genres. She is still studying her senior grades and intends to continue with TCIll in Ballet with Ballet Australasia in due course. Not only has Hannah received extremely high results in her dance exams, she has also represented her dance school at the Performer of the Year National championships with her Contemporary competition team. Recently, Hannah was also successful in being nominated for the Audrey Ward BAL Ballet Scholarship in Australia for receiving Honours in her Pre Elementary ballet exam. She has a passion for young dancers and is really looking forward to joining our team, we are looking forward to having her onboard and being involved as she begins her teaching journey.

Exams and Qualifications

JDNZ Senior Silver Lyrical

JDNZ Grade 5 Jazz

BAL Grade 4 Jazz

BAL Pre Elementary Ballet

NZAMD Level 3 Contemporary

Meya Viskovich

Meya started dancing at the young age of 5 years old and her passion has continued to grow since. Meya has been taught by our very own Lynley for her Jazz work, and Lisa for her Contemporary. In 2023 she completed her final BAL exam under Lynley’s teaching, and sat her final Contemporary exam with NZAMD in 2021. Meya also began learning Hip Hop from Sarah Reece in 2023. She has studied NZQA Dance at Rutherford College and received excellent marks across all three years of study. Meya has been accepted into Unitec to study a Bachelor In Performing And Screen Arts majoring in Contemporary Dance, she will study this full time for the next three years starting in 2024.

Meya and her family have been key members of our dance community, with her two younger sisters also studying Jazz and Contemporary with us. We are delighted to welcome Meya to our teaching team in 2024, and look forward to supporting her and mentoring her as she begins her teaching journey.

Exams and Qualifications

BAL Jazz Advanced

NZAMD Level 6 Contemporary

Currently studying a Bachelor In Performing and Screen Arts (Contemporary)