Meet the team
We love sharing the joy of movement and dance and will support you unconditionally during your time with us.
We can't wait to dance with you!
BIANCA PEARL
At age 5 I began ballet, tap and jazz classes. I loved making up dances in my bedroom and performing them for anyone who was willing to watch. I thrived on practicing for exams and concerts and entering all the competitions. I went on to train contemporary dance at Ga-ton in Israel. But after an injury and just being a teenager, I sort of let dancing go…
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After attending classes that were too fast paced or focused on being ‘cool’ that felt hard and not fun, a friend and I attended a Dee Street class. That dance class woke up my body in a way I had forgotten, it felt amazing. I was hooked, but not without all the self-doubt, body loathing, and chatter in my head about my age, being a mum and could I dance anymore?
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The answer was hell yes! I had the space to find my rhythm, feel into my body again and quieten down all the pointless chatter about not being good enough. I reconnected with my deep love of movement, music and the pure joy of dancing with others.
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I danced at Dee Street as a student for 5 years and now have the joy and privilege of teaching dance & movement with the awesome community of women that I love.
ESTHER BRAKEY
Growing up, all my spare moments were spent learning and performing ballet, jazz, tap, character, contemporary, classical Indian and Thai dance.
After high school, I went to Japan for a year and stopped dancing because I was loving experiencing new things. However, once I’d taken a break from dance, I found it really hard to be able to get back into it. I let it go for a long time.
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Instead, I discovered Japanese drumming (taiko) and performed this highly physical and choreographed drumming style all around Melbourne for 12 years.
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I stopped playing taiko while raising my two young kids. When they got older and less time demanding, a friend told me about Dee Street. As soon as I heard about this body positive, supportive, dance school for women, I knew I had to join!
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Getting back into dance has been so joyous, but it was difficult at first! It was hard to get out of my head and recognise that my body is not and cannot do what it used to when I was 17!
Since accepting that, I’ve had the most transformative experience reclaiming my body as my own. Now I take pride and feel joy in my body more so than ever before and I absolutely love sharing this with my students.
JESS HALSTEAD -SMITH
I grew up in a family of musicians so music and dance have always been a big part of my life. I studied several different instruments through my school years and in my early 20s began to study various dance forms.
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I trained in capoeira, belly dance, dancehall, Latin, hip hop and African dance styles (including with Sarah Dee pre-Dee Street!). I continued belly dancing for more than 10 years, trained to teach it, and danced right through my first pregnancy.
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​I took up DJing (dancehall, global booty bass electronica) in early parenthood as I didn’t have to leave home to practise. I was still hitting the dancefloor at every opportunity and as much as I love influencing the energy of people on the d-floor through playing music, I really missed getting new moves and routines into my body. So, I joined a Dee Street course.
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The absolute joy of sharing space and energy with a room full of dancing women was incredible! I believe dancing is such a fundamental part of being human and so good for our body and soul.
I love supporting groups of women to just enjoy getting a groove into their bodies, focussing on moving in a way that feels good, rather than fussing too much about what it looks from the outside.
SARAH DEE
As a child I learned creative dance, drama and gymnastics. In my early 20’s in west Africa I really fell in love with dance.
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In Ghana, I studied traditional drumming, dance and singing with the Kusun ensemble. The expression of joy and the celebration of life that came through the dance was so infectious that I stayed in West Africa for a year, learning from teachers across 8 countries.
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In Australia I began performing and teaching, collaborating with dancers and musicians from various genres. I completed a performing arts degree and worked in theatre, comedy, film and television as well as making my own shows and work which I presented in Melbourne, Vancouver, New York and San Francisco.
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I independently studied hip hop, African, krump, twerk, bounce, dancehall, contemporary and Dunham technique in the United States and Australia, as well as traditional dance in Cuba and Spain. I recently spent a year living and teaching dance in Egypt.
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I have spent the past 25 years developing my teaching style and body knowledge. Over the years my west African dance classes combined with hip-hop moves to become Afro funk and then became booty dance classes.
In 2015 I became a yoga teacher and created Dee Street. I wanted to create a class where women could learn to dance without pressure and competition. To be supported to face the inner critic and keep on moving in truth, in joy and in love.
