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MEET OUR FACULTY
EIGHT DISCIPLINES. FIVE STUDIOS. ONE STANDARD
Studio One Dance Academy was founded in 2024 by Paula and Jill, two Cape Town dance educators who brought together decades of professional performance and world-class training. They launched with a shared conviction: that serious dance education belongs in every community.
With that vision as a cornerstone of Studio One, it similarly has shaped the teaching philosophy of the dance academy.
"Dance is a universal language, but technique is its vocabulary.
Our goal is to give every dancer the strongest possible foundation so they can speak volumes on stage."
- Paula & Jillian, founders of Studio One Dance Academy
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OUR TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Every member of the Studio One faculty was chosen for the same reason: they are not just technically accomplished dancers, they are gifted teachers.
There is a difference, and it matters. A dancer who has mastered their craft does not automatically know how to break it down for a seven-year-old discovering it for the first time, or how to push a sixteen-year-old who is technically ready for more but not yet sure she is. That capacity: to read a student, to adjust, to challenge and reassure in the same breath - is what we look for in every person who teaches here.
Our approach is consistent across all four studios: serious technical training delivered with warmth. We do not separate discipline from joy. We do not believe one comes at the cost of the other. Our teachers hold both.
Between them, our instructors have backgrounds in institutions such as the Royal Academy of Dance, the Cecchetti Society, the International Sport and Dance Teachers Association (ISTD), the South African Body of Dance (SABD), and the Waterfront Theatre College.
Every Studio One teacher contributes uniquely to the studios balanced, curated set of programmes through the diverse range of trainin, perormance and study they've been through. This enables the studio to maximise the experience of every student, regardless of their background.
“We want every student to leave class knowing something they didn’t know when they walked in: about the movement, and about themselves.”
Paula Buitendag
STUDIO CO-OWNER & HEAD INSTRUCTOR
BALLET & SODA PROGRAMMES
Paula began her training at the Royal Academy of Dance at age four, earning distinctions across the syllabus levels before enrolling in the RAD’s prestigious professional teacher training programme at eighteen. At twenty-one, she opened her first ballet school, operating across Cape Town, Somerset West and Stellenbosch. During these years she simultaneously ran a pre-school & Grade R dance programme, showing an early ability of managing multiple projects.
Her hallmark: precision, discipline, and joy held in the same hand, is at the heart of everything Studio One teaches. She co-founded the academy in 2024 to build something that matched her standard of excellence and her belief that serious dance education belongs in every community.
Jillian Jooste
STUDIO CO-OWNER & HEAD INSTRUCTOR
MODERN, ACRO & SODA PROGRAMMES
Jillian has been immersed in movement since the age of three, training in the Cecchetti ballet method through Advanced 2, before later completing her ISTD Modern and Ballet Advanced qualifications and Teaching Associate at the Waterfront Theatre College.
An exceptionally gifted & prolific dancer with an added benefit of having a gymnastics background, Jillian shines as a choreographer and the studios creative voice with a gift for building student confidence, she brings a confidence that makes students feel safe enough to take risks.
Jillian co-founded Studio One to create a space where every dancer finds their voice, regardless of where they start, how naturally it comes, or how far they want to go.
Kara Martin
INSTRUCTOR
MODERN & LYRICAL
A dancer from early childhood, Kara’s specialisation in Lyrical and Modern reflects her deep understanding of emotional expression and movement narrative: how a body tells a story, and what it feels like when it finally does.
Currently completing her Modern Dance Pre-Associate qualification with the South African Body of Dance (SABD), Kara brings both technical rigour and a particular patience and enthusiasm to Studio One’s youngest students. She understands that the foundations laid at four and five years old are the ones that last a lifetime, and she teaches accordingly. An underrated aspect of Kara's time at Studio One is the way the she has formed genuinely impactful bonds with students in her brief time with them. Demonstrating just how receptive students are to passionate dance instructors.
Lara de Goede
INSTRUCTOR
CONTEMPORARY & HIP HOP
Lara has spent over a decade immersed in Contemporary and Hip Hop, two disciplines that look different from the outside but share, at their core, the same demand: complete physical honesty.
Studio One's competition teams benefit immensely under the guidance of Lara, who shares her rich experience of winning multiple awards & accolades while competing at an elite level, dancing on the biggest regional and national stages. Her philosophy is simple and it shows in every class: dance should be joyful. Not easy, joyful. There’s a difference, and Lara holds it. She brings high energy, stylistic range, and a genuine love for the breadth of what movement can be.
Isabel Faasen
INSTRUCTOR
JUNIOR
Isabel came to teaching through performance. With impressive stage experience, she brings to her classes something that can’t be taught from a textbook: the felt knowledge of what it means to stand in front of an audience and deliver.
Working with Studio One’s junior students, Isabel’s role is to be the bridge between the foundations laid in the early years and the more demanding technical work that follows. She keeps her teaching current, energetic, and closely attuned to what young dancers are excited by right now. Isabel, currently studying a degree in education, incorporates and blends principles of academic teaching with her performance experience which fosters an attuned communication ability
Students truly thrive in spaces
such as these studios.
The Studio One faculty comprises highly accredited professionals who bring decades of combined stage and studio experience to our dancers. From the foundational discipline of classical ballet to the expressive energy of contemporary and hip hop, our instructors are dedicated to nurturing talent, building confidence, and maintaining the highest standards of safety and technique across our four studio locations.
The best way to understand what we mean by our teaching standard is to come and see it. Every Studio One studio offers a free trial class for new students, and there are multiple demo weeks and parent watch days throughout he year, where you are welcome to watch before your child commits to anything.
If you have a question about a specific teacher, a particular discipline, or which studio and programme is right for your child, reach out. We will point you in the right direction.
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