Honours List. Picture: Gary Sissons
PASSING on ballet skills to the next generations of dancers has earned Sandra McKay an Order of Australia for services to the performing arts, especially ballet, in this month’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
The 74-year-old Frankston South resident, who teaches at several dance schools in Frankston and across the Mornington Peninsula, said she “had no idea” she had been nominated for an OAM and said it is an honour to be recognised for her work.
Ms McKay teaches youngsters ballet and also mentors ten teachers who give ballet lessons.
“I consider myself very lucky that I’m still wanted by people,” she said.
Ms McKay’s ballet journey began when she was just six years old when she was encouraged to learn ballet “by my mother who always wanted to dance but never got the chance”.
She enrolled in a dance school in Brighton and was also trained by renowned ballet dancer and teacher Madame Lucie Saronova.
A foot injury led Ms McKay to establish the Rosebud Ballet School, now known as the Peninsula School of Dance, in 1961 when she was just 18.
“It was a small school but we produced some amazing dancers including some who went into companies as artistic directors and in musical theatre,” she said.
One of her star pupils at the school was dancer, actor and choreographer Jason Coleman.
“I’ve been so lucky. I still teach there two days a week and teach at three other schools on the peninsula,” Ms McKay said.
