MEET SOPHIE & ALISON GOULD
Mother and daughter, two generations of dancing within the walls of the Rosebud Ballet School.
Sophie Gould danced and taught at PSD from age 4 until she moved to Melbourne for study in 2020. Did you know that her mother, Alison, also danced at the school? Let’s hear from this mother-and-daughter duo.
“Our love of dance connects us deeply.” – Sophie
Alison, let’s start with you. Tell me about your years of dance.
I started ballet when I was five – in the 1970s, that was the accepted age for kids to start. I also wanted to do modern dance (we didn’t have ‘jazz’ in those days) but with five of us kids that wasn’t possible. My older sister and youngest brother also danced.
Alison playing the cheeky character of “Pigtails” in the ballet Graduation Ball for a Rosebud Ballet School performance.
I loved going to ballet camp at Frankston then Shoreham. They were the most joyful, glorious times. We had such exciting teachers and got to do ballet, all day.
My highlight was being ‘Pigtails’ in the ballet Graduation Ball. I also won the choreographic competition trophy the first time I entered. My mum said that, when I finished my dance, everyone held their breath for a moment, which is beautifully dramatic.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have, at least in the back of their head, a dream of going professional. So, yeah, I had dreams but I was nowhere near as good as the other girls, or those I’d see when we went up to the National Theatre in St Kilda for Cecchetti events.
I was always going to go to uni. I became a psychologist and, after doing that for 20 years, moved into teaching. I kept dancing during HSC (the old version of VCE) but stopped once I went away to university.
Alison as a young ballerina.
Alison plays a policeman (left) in a Rosebud Ballet School’s end of year performance.
“I loved going to ballet camp!” – Alison
Summer ballet camp in Shoreham.
Over to you, Sophie…
I started dancing when I was four when the school was still the Rosebud Ballet School. My class was one of the last to have Miss Sandra teach us our whole ballet life. I was a ‘Type A’ person and I couldn’t handle other people being naughty. In one picture, my back is ramrod straight, it looks like someone had put a stick up my spine. I’m very much a perfectionist across my life; not necessarily to be the best, but to do my best.
A young Sophie with teacher Miss Joanne Parker in one of her first years of ballet – her back “ramrod straight” as Sophie puts it!
Sophie waits patiently for her turn in her first ballet class with Miss Sandra Allan.
Sophie with a ‘First’ ribbon and medal after a competition.
The only time I mucked around was one time we played tiggy in our tights. I slipped and landed on my chin and had to go to hospital to have it stitched up. I still have the scar and never mucked up again!
A young “Miss Sophie” helping out with the littlest dancers in a concert.
Sophie (standing, second from the right) backstage at Frankston Arts Centre in costume for her jazz performance at a PSD annual performance.
I would have been only 12 when I asked Mel if I could start assisting with the younger classes. Over the next six years, I moved from being a class demonstrator to a paid teacher’s assistant and then a qualified teacher.
I’m one of two Sophies. I became best friends with Sophie Armstrong, who’s a year older than me and started teaching a year before I did. When we shared running things backstage at concerts, the joke was: “If you need someone, call out for a Sophie!”. Even Carla would respond to ‘Sophie’.
I wasn’t allowed to do anything other than ballet until I won a scholarship. It took me three years and then I loved jazz so much that Mum let me keep going.
“I struggle to find words as it’s hard to talk about something so integral to who I am as a person.” – Sophie
During Year 12, I auditioned for the tertiary dance program at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). I had planned to become a history and English teacher but I came into my own as a dancer when I was 16. Even so, I was so taken aback when I got in!
As a younger teenager, I wasn’t a bad dancer. I had excellent exam results but it wasn’t translating to the stage. I vividly recall a conversation with one of the older girls who said that I was an excellent dancer but was hard to watch because I didn’t express anything. It was hard to hear but it helped me find that sense of performance; to be more interested in expressing than being perfect. That was freeing.
Being at VCA was a complete immersion. I went from being a regional kid to being dumped in the middle of the city and arts community. I got to spend every day doing what I loved and learning more about it.
I had minimal contemporary training but Mel gave me some private lessons to help with some basic technique. I fell in love with this cool, different way of moving.
Sophie Gould caught in movement at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Miss Sophie says a tearful goodbye to one of her beloved PSD classes in 2020.
Miss Sophie with some of her students backstage at the 2019 PSD annual performance at George Jenkins Theatre in Frankston.
I returned to the peninsula and PSD in 2020, working and teaching four days a week. I then moved to the north of Melbourne with the plan of studying a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science at La Trobe University. I’d then like to do a Masters of Physiotherapy with an goal of working with elite athletes on performance enhancement and injury prevention.
So, at the end of 2020, I let Mel and the school know that I wouldn’t be coming back to teach in 2021. I’m the sort of person who doesn’t like letting people down or moving away so it was so upsetting. Mel gave a lovely speech and then she started crying and half the kids were crying, then I started crying!
The best memory is at the premiere of the film we created. In secret, they’d filmed students saying thank you and that was beautiful. I struggle to find words as it’s hard to talk about something so integral to who I am as a person.
Evolution of “The Sophies”:
Also known as ‘Sophie²’
Sophie Gould and Sophie Armstrong sitting together waiting their turn backstage at one of their first concerts together.
Sophie A and Sophie G in the famous “ice-skater” costumes, sitting on stage together.
Some very serious dancing on the balcony going on here? Fashion icons.
Sophie A and Sophie G take barre together.
The Sophies at an annual PSD Choreographic Competition, waiting to hear the results of their ballet duo.
Best friends Sophie and Sophie receive their Advanced 1 ballet exam results together in 2015.
The Sophies watch Miss Sandra intently in their ballet class.
All grown up; Sophie Gould and Sophie Armstrong inseparable backstage at the 2019 PSD annual performance at George Jenkins Theatre.
Alison, what has it been like having Sophie dance at the same school you did?
I have loved being able to share something I loved as a kid with Sophie. She grew up with all my ballet costumes as her dress-ups!
It was important she was in a place that would look after her so, even though we lived over half-an-hour away, it was never a question about where she (and her brother and sister) would go to dance.
It was a school I knew, a community I loved and teachers I trusted. It was her place. Her safe place that anchored and nurtured her.
“There was never any question about where she would dance.” – Alison
Alison (left) dances in a special free entertainment in the park performance in Melbourne.
Was I ever a pushy ‘dance mum’? Oh, no! They only time I pushed her was to do some of the bigger Cecchetti events, like the William Carse medal classes, which had moved from my time in ‘seedy St Kilda’ to Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance.
Sophie would be in tears on the way home because she didn’t win or get into the finals but it was important to me that she see where other kids were at in terms of standards.
Alison in a clown costume for one of Rosebud Ballet School’s concerts.
Alison Gould (centre) poses with her class.
Sophie, were you ever known as ‘Alison’s daughter’?
If I ever spoke to someone like Effie Papoulias or Jason Coleman, they’d kind of remember her. But, otherwise, no, especially as she had a different surname [Alison’s maiden name is Scarlett].
In the first lockdown, we did class together in the loungeroom! We also did the special last class at the Memorial Hall together, in 2012.
Sophie and Alison with generations of Rosebud Ballet School students after a very special reunion class with Miss Sandra Allan in 2012, celebrating the final day of classes at the Rosebud Memorial Hall before the school’s move to the purpose-built studios in Merino Street.
My sister, Scarlett, who is 10 years younger than me also danced. The story is that, when my mum was pregnant, I raced into the hall at ballet and shouted at Mel: “My mum is having a baby!” Scarlett is in so many of the photos that Sharlene took. She used to walk into the studio and see herself on marketing materials and say “I’m famous!”
Dance is something mum and I share. I didn’t appreciate that as a teenager but our love of dance is something that connects us deeply.
Sophie as a young ballerina before a concert.
Sophie’s younger sister, Scarlett, before one of her first ballet exams.
From left to right, Sophie, her sister Scarlett and Alison.
Alison, what do you most appreciate about PSD?
I was a little nervous when Mel bought the school but I didn’t need to be. She took all the beautiful elements of Rosebud Ballet School and nurtured and grew them.
I’m so impressed with the leadership and teaching programs. I’ve seen firsthand the impact of that on Sophie.
As a parent, you hope your children will connect in with good people, especially in the teenage years when life can be really hard. To know that there are other significant adults in their lives showing them they’re capable, loved and supported is so important.
Alison and her ballet class.
The school was a place that was beautiful for me as a child and teen and now it’s been beautiful for me as a mother to see the impact it’s had on my children. I’ve had the additional joy of creating friendships with all the other dance mums. I’ve loved being a ‘dance mum’ and contributing back to the school in that way.
It says a lot about the school that there are a number of families like us where the mum or dad danced there and that’s where they’ve chosen for their kids to go.
I can’t thank everyone enough.
Alison (behind) enjoys “lunch” with her friends after class at the Rosebud Memorial Hall.
Alison (third from the left) with her closest ballet friends and Miss Sandra Allan after their farewell class in 2012.
Sophie, talking about PSD has brought you to tears. Can you share what’s behind that emotion?
Ultimately, PSD was a place where I was safe, believed in, supported and encouraged. I could be myself in a way that I wanted to be.
It saved me. There were a lot of dark parts of my life. Having the opportunity to teach, having a reason to get up, having a place to be creative and express what I was feeling, and having the kids rely on me gave me a reason to keep living.
“The school is so special.” – Sophie
I can’t thank Mel and Sandra enough for the time, energy, passion and love that they poured into my soul.
The school is so much bigger than me but I hope that, when they think of me, that they’re proud of what I did. I hope that the kids I taught remember our classes fondly and feel like they had someone who listened to them and celebrated them.
The school is so special. I love that it is a safe space that encourages young people to grow, develop, form friendships and be encouraged to improve.
And now, we’re crying too! Thank you Sophie and Alison for sharing your memories as part of PSD’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
Three cheeky ballerinas. Sophie Gould on the right.
A young Sophie Gould before her ballet concert.