The Dance Domain is New Zealand’s oldest and largest ballet school exclusively for adult dancers. Our mission is to inspire people of all backgrounds to fall in love with ballet and to challenge themselves, have fun, and achieve their fitness goals.
Ione Barczak
Ione Barczak teaches Ballet the way it’s done on stage by the world’s best dancers. Since 1979 Ione has taught movers of all kinds, from aspiring dancers to amateurs. Owning and operating her own dance school until 1999, Ione is also the founder of Danca Corpo & Cia and Candelabrum.
In New Zealand Ione has taught and choreographed at City Dance, North Harbour Gym, Diocesan School, Northcote College, North Shore Musical Theatre, Pilates Body Studio, IQ Pilates, Lifestyle Fitness and others.
Ione studied Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary and Tap at STAGIUM, UNIC, Joffrey Ballet School, Broadway Dance Centre and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. During her dancing career Ione performed with many Dance Companies, Drama Companies, Choirs and Rock and Roll Bands.
Ione follows the methods of Finis Jhung and David Howard, both masters with New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, using a modern version of the Vaganova Technique. Known by her students for her enthusiasm and patience, she encourages dancers of all levels to enjoy the movement while preserving the essential qualities that make Ballet amazing.
Emily Chang
Emily studied ballet as a child and young adult. After 25 years away from dance, she started again, as an adult beginner. What started as a distraction from her intense day job has become a passion, especially teaching adults who are completely new to ballet or rediscovering it after many years away.
Her lessons give students fundamental ballet basics and build on them step by step. She understands the unique needs of adult learners and helps her students achieve their full ballet potential while having lots of fun at the same time.
Rina Song
Rina is a proficient ballet dancer with a wealth of experience, and a passion for teaching others this wonderful art form. She teaches in order to share the joy of ballet with others, to help them progress technically and artistically, and grow in confidence and strength as a ballet dancer.
Rina started ballet at the age of seven, training in the Russian Vaganova in her hometown in South Korea. She has danced in New York, New Jersey, Italy, South Korea (of course) and New Zealand (naturally!). She has won a number of awards in national ballet competitions as well as an international scholarship. She is also trained in RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) and BAL (Ballet Australasia Ltd). She operated her own ballet academy in Auckland from 2016-2019 for both children and adults, before joining the Dance Domain in 2020.
Julie Sandilands
Julie is a life-long dancer and has danced and performed around the world. She believes ballet isn’t just for children and teens. The best type of ballet is adult ballet!
Teaching and sharing her love of ballet with others is a great pleasure. It’s also a great way of keeping fit and active in a sport that’s a whole lot of fun. She loves teaching and helping others develop their love for ballet.
Julie started the Dance Domain because it was difficult as an adult to find high-quality ballet classes. As an exclusive adult ballet school with expert teachers and classes for all levels throughout the week, the Dance Domain is a place for adult dancers to get their ballet fix.