Ravenhall · Melbourne’s West · Est. 2002
Once a dancer,
always a dancer.
At three,it's thirty minutesand a lot of spinning.
No audition, no experience, nothing to buy. Preschool ballet runs half an hour because that is exactly as long as a three-year-old's best dancing lasts. You finish wanting more.
Ballet · Jazz/Tap
Since 2002
A generation of
Melbourne’s West
grew up here.
We opened in 2002. 24 years later, students who started at three are teaching here, and parents who sat in our waiting room are bringing their own kids in.
Our teachers are committed to a good deal more than technical excellence. We emphasise respect, kindness, confidence and resilience — because we’re not only trying to turn out outstanding dancers. We’re helping to shape confident young people who support one another, work hard, believe in themselves and carry the lessons they learn at DFX well beyond the studio.
We’re trying to turn out beautiful humans.
24
years teaching
4
dance studios
3+
years to adult
10
styles taught
The bit that actually matters
We know
which one is yours.
What is the best class for my child? A question parents often weigh up, and one a timetable can never answer for you. So, here is how we answer it.
How to choose a dance school — the eight questions
The same teachers, year after year.
Consistency is the whole trick. It is how a teacher comes to know that a particular ten-year-old goes quiet when they are frustrated rather than when they are bored — and knowing that is the difference between a child who quits at eleven and a child who is still dancing at eighteen.
A room for homework, not just for dancing.
A Tuesday-night class should not cost a student their schoolwork. So there is a room for it, with desks, and it is busy every night of the week. They walk out with both done — which is why the building has six rooms in it and not one.
Our teachers came up through here.
Several of the people taking classes at DFX started at DFX, at three, in the same building. They are not visiting staff on a term contract. They know what it is to be the smallest one in that room, because they were.
Concert week runs to four shows.
Two dress rehearsals and four concerts across one week in a real theatre — because that is what it takes to get this many dancers onto a stage. Your child is not watching from the audience while the good ones perform.
And then, one night
in a real theatre.
The last night of the year
Everybody
on that stage.
Concert week is pure DFX magic. The three-year-olds take the stage. Backstage is buzzing, the audience is cheering, the confetti is flying—and somehow, every parent in the theatre ends up crying over somebody else’s kid. It’s big, beautiful, slightly chaotic, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ten styles, four age bands
Find your style
Not sure which one is theirs?
Answer three questions.
We’ll name the class.
Who is dancing, what is their level and skill set, what drives them. You get the style, the age band, class information, and what the first class is actually like — before you book anything.
The building
Most studios are
one hired hall.
Four dance studios, a music room, parents’ café, waiting lounge, dance shop and homework room — all under one roof on the Western Highway. A space designed for the whole family’s evening, not just the dancer’s 45 minutes.
Four dance studios
Four dedicated rooms, so classes run properly rather than in shifts around one hall.
A parents cafe
Somewhere to actually sit for 45 minutes. With coffee. This is not a small thing.
A waiting lounge
Room for the sibling, the pram and the school bag while one child is in class.
A homework room
So a Tuesday-night class does not cost a student their homework. They walk out with both done.
A music room
Purpose-built for private singing, in the same building as everything else.
The DFX Dance Shop
Shoes, dancewear, uniform and merch on site — fitted by people who watch your child dance every week.
Three ways to dance here
Take it as far as you want
Nobody has to compete. Nobody has to sit an exam. Most of our students dance once a week for the love of it — and the door to more is always open.
Recreational
One class a week, for the love of it.
Most students start here and many happily stay. A weekly class, a costume, and a spot in the concert at the end of the year. No pressure, no selection, no extra commitment.
Examinations
Graded, assessed, on the record.
For students who want their dancing formally examined. Preparation happens inside regular class time, and the result is a recognised grade that travels with them.
Competition Teams
Selection-based. Rehearsal-heavy. The real thing.
Our performance troupes — Femme Fatalz among them — compete across the Melbourne circuit and perform at community events. This is the pathway for a student building toward a career in dance.
One year, four movements
The DFX year
January
Open Day
A full day of free workshops across every style and age band. Try three classes, meet the teachers, and decide with your feet instead of a price list. In the studio's own words: come on down and have a boogie with us.
Term 1
Classes begin
New students settle in, groups form, and the year's choreography starts taking shape.
Mid-year
Exams and comps
The examination stream sits its grades. The competition teams start their circuit. PJ Week happens somewhere in here, because it should.
Term 4
Concert
Choreo. Cleaning. Creation. Then a real theatre, a real audience, and four shows across one week. It is the biggest night of the DFX year and it is what the whole year points at.
- How young can my child start?
- Three. Our preschool ballet and Jazz/Tap classes are built for three, four and five year olds — short, structured and joyful, with no prior experience of anything.
- Can we try a class before we enrol?
- Yes. Your first class is free, every style, every age, all year round. Call 0425 783 743 or send us a message and we will put you in the right room.
- What do we need for the first class?
- Comfortable clothes your child can move in and hair tied back. That is genuinely it. Once you enrol, the DFX Dance Shop on site has every uniform item you will need, fitted in person.
- Do you take adults and complete beginners?
- Both. We teach from age three to adult and from absolute beginner to competition level. Adult classes are full of people who have not danced since school, or ever.
- Where are you and is there parking?
- We are at 5/1021–1027 Western Highway, Ravenhall VIC 3023, on the Western Highway. There is parking on site.
- Does my child have to compete or sit exams?
- Not at all. Most of our students dance recreationally — one class a week, for the love of it, and a spot in the concert at the end of the year. Exams and competition teams are there for students who want them.
Your first class
is free.
Bring a child who dances in the lounge room. We will take it from there.