Lisa Pavane

Faculty – VOCATIONAL, TEACHERS

Born in Newcastle, NSW, Lisa Pavane began her dance journey in 1978 as a student at The Australian Ballet School, training under the School’s founding Director, Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE. She was part of the inaugural tour of The Dancers’ Company (now The Australian Ballet’s National Tour) in 1980 and joined The Australian Ballet in 1981. Rising swiftly through the ranks, Lisa was promoted to Soloist in 1983 and Principal Artist in 1986.

In 1994, Lisa joined English National Ballet as a Senior Principal Ballerina and performed extensively as an international guest artist with leading companies including Boston Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, Munich Staatsoper, and Birmingham Royal Ballet. She retired from the stage in 1999.

Lisa returned to The Australian Ballet School in 2007 as a faculty member. In 2008, she became the first graduate of the School’s Vocational Graduate Certificate in Elite Ballet Instruction. She went on to hold several key leadership positions, becoming Head of Student Training in 2012, the same year she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship and completed a Graduate Certificate in Professional Education and Training from Deakin University.

In 2015, Lisa was appointed Director of The Australian Ballet School, a role she held with distinction for nearly a decade until stepping down in June 2024.

Since then, Lisa has remained active in the dance community. She has worked with Queensland Ballet as Guest Ballet Mistress, returned to the stage in the role of Lady Capulet in Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, and contributed as a teacher and adjudicator for the Royal Academy of Dance, Brisbane Performing Arts Challenge, and various masterclasses, intensives, and scholarship programs across Queensland and NSW.

Lisa continues to be involved on the international stage as a Committee Member of the International Alliance of Professional Dance Schools and through her work with Canada’s National Ballet School’s Assemblée Internationale program.Summary about the person here…