Bundaberg’s biggest dance stars: 14 young dancers to watch

From Disney Cruises to top competitions, talented dancers taught at Bundaberg are making their mark on the state stage and beyond. Here’s 14 young dancers to watch:

Bundaberg is known for its artistic community, and these dance stars are no exception.

Talents range from acrobatics to jazz, read below about how these dancer showcase their skills across the country.

See the list of Bundaberg’s biggest dance stars below:

Poppy Burfield, 7 and her sister Lola Burfield.
Poppy Burfield began her journey into dance at the age of 2, and now, at the age of 7, dances for the Bundaberg Dance Academy.

She dances three times a week for the academy and trains in tap, ballet and conditioning though her favourite dance style is jazz.

Dancing for the BDA has given her the opportunity to perform in exams, solo and group competitions and be a part of end-of-year concerts.

Poppy enjoys dancing with her friends and loves the choreography of her solo dances created by teachers Coco Suosaari and Gabi Bannerman. Poppy greatly admires her teacher, and has followed Miss Coco’s own dancing career with awe.

Poppy’s younger sister Lola has recently joined the BDA and both girls look forward to a successful and joyful dance future under its guidance.

Arianna Juster, 9.

Now nine-years-old, Arianna Juster began her dance career at the age of three.

Arianna is blind in her right eye and her parents thought the hand-eye co-ordination and motor skills that came from dancing would help their daughter.

This has proven to be a great success and Arianna has taken to dancing like a duck to water.

Arianna now dances with Acrobatica Dance and Acrobatics, and through her attendance also explores high silks and high hoops acrobatics. Dance remains close to her heart, and she excels in tap and ballet.

Her successes include being awarded Most Improved at her former academy and she is hoping to compete in her first solo performance in the coming year.

Lani Plath, 16.

Lani began dancing at two-years-old for the Bundaberg Dance Academy, and continues to excel.

Lani’s key dance achievements include dancing for the Brisbane City Youth Ballet in 2017 as part of the production The Magic Faraway Tree and in the RB Corp Instructions production of The Hive in 2019.

Her impressive career has led her to being awarded Most Promising Classical Dancer at the Bundaberg Festival of Dance Eisteddfod in 2021.

However, Lani isn’t in it for fame and acclaim.

“My favourite thing about dance is getting to travel around and meet new people and make the best memories as well as all the skills dance teaches you, not only technically but also life skills,” she said.

Lani aspires to a professional career in dance, and hopes to perform on cruise ships.

“I believe you can be and do whatever you dream to be if you work hard enough,” she tells us.

Abbey Stumer, 17.

Abbey loves the opportunity to teach dance and has been with the Bundaberg Dance Academy for 12 years.

Her dancing achievements include performing with the Imperial Russian Ballet in 2015 at just 10 and more recently, dancing as the lead in the Bundaberg Dance Academy’s production of Snow White in 2021.

“I’d love to be able to continue to work with little humans that love to dance! Teaching is always exciting and the kids always have something new they’d like to do and it’s really inspiring,” she said.

This year Abbey was awarded with a half scholarship at the BDA, on the back of performing her own choreography solo for her school at Arts Night in 2021.

“There’s something for everyone at dance. It’s really inclusive and a fun way of expressing yourself and your emotions,” Abbey said.

Coco Suosaari, 15.

Coco began her dance career at three-years-old, and now dances for the Bundaberg Dance Academy.

She has a number of achievements under her belt including being the first person to win Get The Beat National Champion of Champion three times in a row between 2016 and 2020 (the nature of the competition prevents her from competing in back-to-back years, and so her awards were won in 2016, 2018 and 2020).

She also placed fifth in the Kids Artistic Revue USA and Radix USA in 2019. In 2022, Coco also became the 14-15 years Evolution National Champion.

Coco tells us that these achievements came from the freedom that dancing brings.

“It’s my own little world where I can be creative and emotional and passionate all at once. Dancing is like my safe space and it makes me feel so welcomed,” she said.

Her incredible dance highlights also include being a part of the Australian Team at Get The Beat, dancing for the Dream Dance Company in Singapore and dancing in Thailand at the Australian Teachers of Dancing International Competition.

She said she really enjoyed the opportunity to explore the world through dance, and being able to meet “so many wonderful and inspiring people throughout my dancing journey.”

Coco’s dancing aspirations are as broad as her talent.

“I would love to travel more of the world with dance and share with everyone the joys of this art form. If I can try everything I will; company’s, cruise ships, backup dancers, productions. As long as I’m dancing.”

Summer Card, 13.

Summer has 10 years of dancing experience, and now dances for the Bundaberg Dance Academy.

“I have amazing role models and friends that I love to watch dance and learn from,” she said.

Summer’s dancing achievements include qualifying for the Champions at the Bundaberg Festival of Dance every year since she was 8.

She often places highly at the festival.

She was also awarded most promising entertainer at Gladstone Eisteddfod.

“I love dance because it is an escape from everything and it makes me feel happy. I enjoy expressing all of my emotions and thoughts and seeing what I am capable of,” she said.

Summer’s amazing list of achievements also include being awarded 2021’s Dance Champion at the Bundaberg Festival of Dance, and participating in the Maryborough Eisteddfod and Future Stars dance competition with her own choreography routine.

Future aspirations for Summer include dancing full-time and exploring the interests she has in choreography.

Kasey Hess, 18.

Kasey is currently dancing for Encore Dance Studios, and has been dancing for 12 years since joining the studio in 2010.

Kasey only has a few months left at the studio before she undertakes an exciting position as a full-time dancer at Dance Force on the Gold Coast, and will begin her journey there in 2023.

Her favourite dance styles are hip hop and commercial jazz.

Her dancing aspiration is to become a professional dancer in the industry.

Imogen Runge, 18.

Imogen began dancing just 3 and has been with TNT dance studio ever since.

Her career has taken her to multiple eisteddfod competitions, and she completes yearly examinations.

Imogen’s future aspirations in dance professionally are well on track with her recent acceptance into Dance Force 2023 as a full time dancer.

She is also currently studying a Bachelor of Law, and spends her time teaching at TNT studio.

Saige Jacobs, 14.

Saige has been a part of the TNT dance studio family since she began her journey into dance at 5.

She spends her time helping at the studio teaching the younger students, and hopes to continue with this after she finishes school.

Saige’s dancing highlight was winning 1st place in a contemporary solo dance competition despite receiving a possible minor concussion after an incident during warm-ups.

She hopes to have a career connected to dance, and would love to be able to become a physiotherapist or trainer in the future.

Allegra Shepard, 10.

Allegra is a dancer to watch, already achieving two Modern Dance Championships at the Bundaberg Eisteddfod.

She is currently preparing for her solos for the upcoming Bundaberg Oh La La Eisteddfod, and working on her grade 5 ballet and jazz exams.

She began dancing in TNT’s Tiny Tot’s classes, with her own mother leading the class.

Allegra dreams of following in her mother’s footsteps and running a dance studio, as while she loves dancing she is not a fan of “dressing up” for the stage.

She has already had huge challenges in her career with a recent broken ankle sidelining her for 3 months.

“It was the hardest thing not being able to dance,” said TNT trainer Couris.

Kerrod Box, 20.

Kerrod’s journey into dance was not as typical as other dancers. His introduction to dance was an after school dance class hosted by his primary school Kalkie when he was 11.

His talent was immediately obvious to the TNT teachers assisting in the after-school program and he was strongly urged to commence technical training in several dancing disciplines.

Kerrod is now in his third year of a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance Performance) at the Queensland University of Technology, and has already begun his professional career.

He recently performed in a sold-out week of dance in the Leviathan performance as part of the contemporary circus company CIRCA at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

Kerrod has already choreographed and performed his own works including a nine-minute work titled Conscious, and performed choreography by leading dance choreographers such as Darren Ellis and Alexander Ekman.

He hopes to continue on this journey and perform all over the world, either independently or as part of a dance company.

Paris Hillier, 21.

If you ever get the chance to head out on a Disney Cruise, you might just get to see Paris dancing.

She currently performs as a swing for a line of Disney cruises, and covers 20 different tracks across three different shows.

Her dancing career began at the tender age of two with TNT Dance Studio.

She spent her time building her skills with TNT and obtained her Pre-Elementary Teaching status which allowed her to teach at the studio and build her choreography skills.

Paris has since completed a Certificate III and IV in dance, and spent two years dancing full time on the Gold Coast at Ikin and Dance Force.

She now dreams of returning to Australia and auditioning for homegrown musical theatre companies.

Telea Roberts, 16.

Ignite Dance Studio lists Telea Roberts as one of its top students, with recent podium places at the Queensland Eisteddfod held in Redcliffe.

Telea began dancing at three- years-old, and while she studies all facets of dance, acrobatics is her favourite.

She loves performing on stage, but knows just how important high level technique is to achieve success at high levels of competition.

Telea is currently preparing for her next challenge; her tap, acrobatic, jazz, ballet and musical theatre examinations that are held in November.

She is currently in year 11 and is studying towards teaching qualifications that will allow her to perform and teach the dancing that she loves so much.

“She is a very talented young lady,” Ignite Studio said