Our Team

Jane Allyn is a Guest Teacher at AQ Dance. She has taught at AQ’s Summer Programme in June 2017, and has since been invited back to AQ as guest teacher and choreographer.

Jane Allyn has danced professionally, worked as a ballet company teacher, co-directed a large vocational dance school and written two books.

Born in England, she emigrated to Sydney, Australia at the age of 11 with her parents. All her early dance training was with the Scully-Borovansky School in Sydney and she completed her training at the Royal Ballet School, London.

She danced for 10 years with the Cape Town City Ballet, in South Africa dancing Corps de ballet, held Soloist & Principal roles in their extensive repertoire; including all the classic ballets and many original works. A back injury brought her professional dancing career to an early end. However, she continued to share her love and passion for dance and as a Company teacher for PACT Ballet in Johannesburg and NAPAC Dance Company in Durban; also guesting at a number of RAD & Cecchetti Summer Schools. While living in South Africa Jane wrote the text for two books – Dance for Life and Portrait of a Ballerina.

Jane met her husband, British choreographer Ashley Killar in South Africa and they have one son, Tim. They moved to New Zealand in 1991 when Ashley Killar became Artistic Director of Royal New Zealand Ballet and it was here that Jane Allyn became a registered teacher with the RAD and began teaching RAD Syllabus work.

In 1996 Jane and Ashley bought Ecole Classique Ballet Studios in Sydney and later changed the name to Ecole Ballet & Dance Theatre. Over the last 20 years they have both directed this school, sending numerous students to leading vocational schools around the world such as the Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School, School of American Ballet, the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg and many more.