The Pye/Swift Family
This story celebrates not just one but three PSD people. Tess Pye, her mother Nadine Pye, and her mother, Julie Swift have gathered to share three generations worth of recollections.
Let’s start with the youngest, Tess (but don’t expect the others to stay quiet!).
Tess (aged 20): Mum insists I was three but I think I was two when I started at the Memorial Hall. Mel had taken over as Head Honcho. I started with ballet and kept going from there with jazz, tap and then contemporary. I did join Hip Hop but only in my second last year at PSD.
PSD was SO much of my life. All my earliest memories come from PSD. In my first concert, I was a Christmas bauble (Julie: The best Christmas ornament ever) and I’ve also been a marzipan, a sailor, and even the grass that people walk on.
all my earliest memories come from PSD.
All my earliest friends come from PSD, and they are still such a large part of my life today. I met my best friend, Chess, during a ballet class when I was three years old and, later on, we found out that we have the same birthday!
Chess is a crazy character and I love her so much. We have so many special memories and we’ve been next to each other on stage and in dance photos our whole life.
We also have some stories from Cecchetti Summer Schools that Miss Sandra wouldn’t want to know about! Chess is at Transit Dance and I stay with her every Tuesday night in Prahran (Julie: Chess and Tess have a very special friendship, tied together through dance).
I taught for Mel for a long time. I was in Dance Step, the student teacher training, from the day I turned 10 because I wanted to help with the babies and be there as much as possible. I became a proper teacher with my own classes when I was 16. That’s been such a bit part of my development, not only as a teacher but as a student myself. You learn so much from teaching others, even three year olds. I loved every second.
Chess and Tess have a very special friendship, tied together through dance
I also did admin stuff for Mel. I was her desk lady in my last year, as it was during my gap year after school. I learned so much about what it takes to run a dance school. I reorganised the entire costume room, which is the room under the stairs. I felt like Harry Potter! Some costumes hadn’t been worn since my mum wore them. There’s so much history so I learned a lot about the school and its richness.
I went all the way up to age 18 when I left to go to Patrick School of Arts (PSA). It was in my last year or two at PSD that I decided full-time was something I wanted to do. I had all these negative voices telling me that it’s not a sustainable career and that you don’t even know if you’re going to make it in that world but, Liv Gard inspired me to not listen to the outside noise and just listen to myself (and, obviously, she’s now on a Disney cruise ship living her best life!).
It was in my last year or two at PSD that I decided full-time was something I wanted to do.
As well as all the PSD shows, in 2017 when I was aged 10, I did a show under Jason Coleman called Humanimals. We thought we were so cool! I was a gorilla, a mermaid and seaweed. I also did musicals at my high school, Peninsula Grammar, including being Dance Captain from Year 10 to Year 12.
I went onto choreograph for my high school, and for Matilda Junior for St Leonards during my gap year, including for 14 year old boys who have never done a box step in their lives. I also worked last summer for the Australian Open helping with little kid shows and activities.
I’m in second year at PSA in the Performing Arts Stream, focussed on Musical Theatre. I’m doing lots of things I’ve been doing since I was three years old and lots of things I’ve never done before, but Mel has provided the foundation and the confidence for me to branch out by using what she gave me in other contexts.
Mel has provided the foundation and confidence for me to branch out.
Tess particiapted in many performances, muscial theatre productions, VET dance and dance exams
As well as spending lots of time driving to and from PSA, I try to have a personal life! I stay with my partner, Sam, who I met at Disneyland in 2024 (Sam is the sister of a dancer with HD Dance, who we toured with). I also bartend in Sorrento.
My ultimate goal is to be in musicals, whether here or in London. I’d love to do a cruise at some stage too. I’ve been auditioning, auditioning and auditioning…
Let’s move up a generation…
Nadine (aged 50): I started ballet with Miss Sandra until such time that she determined we could do something else! I don’t have natural turnout or great feet, so I wasn’t born to be a ballerina. Ballet was really hard but I loved it so much and what I do have is a really strong work ethic so I went right through with Cecchetti to completing my Advanced.
“Ballet was really hard but I loved it so much”
Jazz was really my thing. I loved it when Jason came down to take some open classes then, one day, when I was aged 19, he suggested that both my friend, Nicole, and I audition for Brent Street, a fulltime course in Sydney where he was teaching at that time. So, similar to what Tess is doing at PSA. If we hadn’t been encouraged by Jason, we wouldn’t have auditioned but we did and were accepted.
Our year at Brent Street was such a positive and fabulous experience. I wasn’t really a singer (Tess: God no, you’re not!) but we had the very best time and worked with incredible people in the music theatre industry, including Kelly Abbey and, of course, Jason, who was teaching there at that time.
Even back then, it was a hard gig. I did some commercial work, including being involved in the Commonwealth Games and dressing up as Audrey Hepburn for a corporate gig.
I was working at Woollies to pay the rent, so I returned to Melbourne and started teaching dance, including with Sharon Peters, who is also Rosebud Ballet School alumni and teaching tap for Sandra. All three of us have teaching in our blood; it’s a natural skill set.
Nadine at Rosebud Ballet School and pictured above at Brent Street
All three of us have teaching in our blood.
I then finished my degree and became a school teacher. I’m currently the Principal at Derinya Primary, in Frankston South. It’s a school of 800 children and has a strong performing arts stream, including two performances a year. I still do the staff dance — students are always surprised when the principal can bust a move — and I can pick up a performing arts class no problems; just don’t ask me to teach PE or Art!
As a mum, dance has been a big part of my life, also all three kids did gymnastics. Though my dance mum role is now a couple of years in the past, I continued to be connected with PSD, though sometimes from afar. I’ve only missed one concert.
Like Tess, I agree that the friendships you make in dance are strong and incredible. People who are not in dance don’t understand.
“All three of us have teaching in our blood”
Last but by no means least, let’s hear from Julie:
Julie (73): I did ballet for five or six years when I was younger but then I went to ballroom dancing. I married an Australian and Australasian champion and we had a big ballroom dancing school. (Nadine: Time to name drop…). Oh yes, Jason Coleman came to us for ballroom dancing at age six. He didn’t last very long as he went to dance with Sandra at Rosebud Ballet school but he clearly had talent.
Jason Coleman came to us for ballroom dancing at age six.
I enrolled Nadine at Sandra’s when she was five. My recollection is that, at this stage, before they started at Rosebud Ballet School, children needed to know their left from their right and be able to count to 8. My other daughter danced for a few years on and off but she wasn’t as committed to dance as Nadine was. I scheduled a lot of my life around dance.
I did some ballet classes while Nadine was there. Due to complications of life, I didn’t keep going but I performed in the Nutcracker twice, in the role of the mother, so I got to dance with Nadine.
Swift family
Julie pictured centre with fellow tap dancers
I got to dance with Nadine.
I used to make all the costumes. For my role in the Nutcracker, Sandra gave me five metres of brown satin and said ‘You can make the dress, can’t you?’. That dress is still in the ballet school (Tess: It doesn’t die! Nadine: As is my Tarantella skirt and my snowflake costume). Nadine’s first costume was a chicken, with a little bit of yellow lycra and 16 layers of tulle. I missed a layer and, instead of sticking out, mine drooped down like a lampshade, so I had to take them all off and start again. I could sew a bit but not fantastically so I did a lot of head scratching and pinning.
During this time, I got back into dance in a different way, with tap dancing, modern and contemporary dancing. This wasn’t with Miss Sandra as she didn’t offer classes for mature adults at that time unfortunately, or I would have done them there.
Now, I’m an assistant teacher and dancer with Diedre’s Tappers, who rehearse in the PSD studios. We do around half-a-dozen shows a year, entertaining at nursing homes and retirement villages. There are 20 of us, ranging in age from late 60s to 90 year olds. Some have danced with Diedre for 30 years and all of us danced in some capacity earlier in life, including with Bert Newton’s Channel Nine dancers or on TV with Denise Drysdale.
it’s very special and cool to be the third generation of us to be involved with PSD – Tess
Tess performing in a contemporary dance
Tess performing at Disneyland
Tess with classmates in their costumes for the Nutcracker
Nadine pictured with ballet classmates
Nadine and friend ready for their Spanish dance
Tess with VET dance classmates
Nadine and Tess sharing their love of musical theatre
What’s it like knowing that three generations of Pye / Swifts have danced and taught at the same dance school?
Tess: There have been multiple instances where Sandra has called me Nadine in class! That’s the funny side of it but, other than that, it’s very special and cool to be the third generation of us to be involved with PSD. It’s really special that many of the costumes I wear, Mum’s worn and Nan made them. There’s such a deep bond, as Mel’s known Mum for ever and Miss Sandra’s known all three of us for ever.
It’s very cool to be the third generation.
Nadine: Mum was heavily invested in the school and her super-power was in the dance mum aspect. She was a trail-blazer in that she was the first to have a video camera (the footage was dreadful but at least it was footage before the school got a videographer) and she was the first to give flowers after a solo. As much as some of that embarrassed the living daylights out of us when we were teenagers, she celebrated not just her own child but the whole world of dance.
Mum’s super-power was in the dance mum aspect.
Julie: It’s been lovely seeing my daughter and my granddaughters go to PSD. When Nadine went to dance, I knew where she was, that she was well looked after and that she was learning something that was constructive and life-changing. I wasn’t worried about any of them one bit while they were at dance.
Sandra had the three generations too.
Sandra had the three generations too. Her mother, Mrs Allen, used to be the costume-fitter and the shoe-trier-on for many years and Sandra’s son, Andrew, and two daughters, Lisa and Kirsten, danced.
What do you love about Rosebud Ballet / PSD? Let’s go in reverse order, starting with you, Julie.
Julie: I loved the choreographic competitions from the perspective of offering a creative outlet, where students could choose their own music and do their own dance. It gives children, including my other daughter, the opportunity to shine without having to be the best dancer.
I’ve also always been impressed with Miss Mel’s ability to offer teaching programs for students from such a young age. Regardless of whether they become dance teachers, the skills she’s teaching them are carried through to their adult working life, not just in dance but in managing people. She offers this on such a professional level.
Nadine: In my work now as a school principal when I run professional learning for staff, I ask the question ‘Who was your favourite teacher’. I always provide Miss Sandra as my example, because she had so much passion and the highest expectations of us. All the things I expect of my teachers — to give and receive feedback, to have high levels of content knowledge and to have passion for their craft — Sandra had in spades.
Mel and I have a strong collegial and professional relationship and one of the things we are closely aligned with is around inclusion and supporting students to be able to experience the love of dance and all the benefits that provides. Not everyone has Miss Mel’s background knowledge, with her experience in disability services, but she also has a willingness to do this throughout her dance school.
Tess: You don’t just feel like a student, you feel like a member of the family. It doesn’t feel just like I’m going to a dance class but to my second home. You’re surrounded by so much love and understanding from everyone around you as they’ve known you their whole life. They know the ins and outs of your personality; what ticks you off and what calms you down.
Mel has new ideas every single day in her determination to grow and change for the sake of the kids. The school’s culture evolves and continues to grow. It all feels really, really connected.
Nadine: What Tess said! Everyone who goes to the school, whether with Sandra or Mel, has experienced connection, community, belonging and passion for dance. It has a culture that people want to be a part of.
You don’t see many businesses manage to balance tradition and innovation. How do you honour the past, hold onto what’s fantastic and be innovative about what comes next. This is why the school’s gone on for 65 years.
Thank you so much, Tess, Nadine and Julie, for sharing three generations of being a Peninsula dancer, dance mum and nan.