The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet

Established in 1991 by Christine Walsh AM and Ricardo Ella, The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet (ACB) has a well-known reputation for strong professional ballet training, with students benefiting from the most up-to-date methods in order to be fully prepared for the current requirements of dance companies worldwide.

The Australian Conservatoire of Ballet is both a classical ballet school and a training program. The creation of the ACB teacher training and assessment program (syllabus), half-day ballet/half-day academic: 21626VIC Certificate lll in Dance (Classical Ballet and Performing Arts) and 21627VIC Certificate lV in Dance (Classical Ballet and Performing Arts) and the full-time: 21628VIC Diploma of Dance (Classical Ballet and Performing Arts) has enabled students to reach exemplary standards. The program is based of the Vaganova method, which has been adapted to suit the needs of Australian and international students attending academic day schools. Over 200 teachers now teach this program in schools across Australia, the Philippines, Japan and Hong Kong.

The school is continuing to enjoy the recognition of its training in classical ballet by the international dance community. 

A number of academic schools in Melbourne now participate in the ACB 21626VIC Certificate lll in Dance (Classical Ballet and Performing Arts) and 21627VIC Certifiicate lV in Dance (Classical Ballet and Performing Arts) where students undertake their academic studies on a half-day basis devoting the other half of the day to their ballet studies at the ACB’s own premises in Collingwood. Many ACB graduates students have entered dance companies such as the Royal Ballet, Houston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Kiev Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Bavarian National Ballet, Deutsche Staatsoper-Berlin, Ballet Ireland, Ballet du Rhin, Tokyo Ballet and many other European companies.

The ACB performs full-length classical ballets annually at the Melbourne Arts Centre with international guest artists. ACB is the only private ballet school in Australia, perhaps in the world, to perform these major productions on a yearly basis with its own full-scale orchestra. In July 2009, ACB organized the first truly "International Ballet Gala” in Australia – featuring principal artists from the Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, American Ballet Theatre and English National Ballet receiving high praise from critics, such as Eamonn Kelly of The Australian in 2009 who wrote:

 
"Here was a Melbourne ballet school on an admirable pedagogic mission: to expose its students and local
audiences to diverse examples of international excellence. Former Australian Ballet principal Christine Walsh directs the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet using the Vaganova teaching method, and the
Russian classical influence was clear in this program."  "…overall precision that many a professional company would envy".