Our Instructors
Cassandra
MINI BIO: Cassandra is the owner of 5D Squad and has been dancing ever since she was old enough to move her feet. She has trained in almost all styles of dance, her biggest love being for hip hop until she found pole back in 2003. She became a latin ballroom dance teacher by day and nightclub freestyle podium dancer by night after graduating high school then started 5D Squad in 2006. She has performed on stage with many international music acts both here in Australia and was a principle dancer in the Australian Michael Jackson Tribute Show for years before giving up the stage to focus on the studio full time.
TEACHES: Pole Dancing, Booty Camp, Spin Bike, Stretch & Flex, Aerial
Yoga and Aerial Cube
STRENGTHS: Splits, Dynamic Tricks & Combinations, Muscle Building & Full On Sweaty Mess Workouts
FAVOURITE THINGS: Adventures, Halloween, Bed Time and English Breakfast Tea
**FOLLOW CASSANDRA ON INSTAGRAM @ MISSCASSANDRAC**
Cat
MINI BIO: Cat originally started out as a student of the studio back when we had our Collingwood studio! She was quickly sky rocketing through the syllabus and then had to take an expected break to have her 2 kids. She made a triumphant return after 12 years away from the pole and came back even stronger than before!
Cat has been involved with sports and coaching basketball and netball for as long as she can remember and that made her an obvious choice for an instructor at 5D. She’s extremely athletic and competitive and will push you to never give up, no mater how hard something might seem at first.
TEACHES: Pole Dancing and Spin Bike
STRENGTHS: Big Strength Tricks, Pushing Hard Motivation and Best Spotter in Town
FAVOURITE THINGS: Basketball & Netball, Fiji and Glitter
**FOLLOW CAT ON INSTAGRAM @ CATHERINE.E.BURK**
Hannah
MINI BIO: We like to joke that Hannah is our semi famous instructor because everybody knows who she is! Probably contributed to her amazing set of skills (and excessive amount of followers on social media).
Hannah is an astoundingly beautiful aerial dancer and is mesmerising to watch perform in her many comps and guest appearances she does throughout Australia. If you really want to improve as an aerialist with the goal to compete one day, we highly recommend joining a class with Hannah to learn how she makes everything look so flawless and easy. Plus you can also enjoy her hilarious personality and easy going approach to teaching while you get taught by one of the best in the business!
TEACHES: Aerial Hoops and Aerial Silks
STRENGTHS: Beautiful Technique & Lines, Slow & Flow Combinations, Super Impressive Flexibility
FAVOURITE THINGS: Animals, Spontaneous Adventures, Chocolate and Heavy Music
**FOLLOW HANNAH ON INSTAGRAM @ HANNAH_AERIALIST**
Jao
MINI BIO: Jao has been dancing and competing ever since she was just 4 years old in all styles of dance including Ballet, Jazz and Lyrical. She started aerials at 5D in 2018 with friends for fun and was immediately hooked on Hoops!
Ever since then she has competed in multiple aerial championships in both solo and double acts where she quickly started making a name for herself in the competition scene as an upcoming and star! Jao loves the stage and her beautiful technique and creative choreography, plus her passion for pushing herself to the limits makes her the perfect addition to the 5D team.
TEACHES: Aerial Hoops, Pole Flow, Pole Dancing & Fly Pole
STRENGTHS: Amazing Flexibility, Beautiful Technique, Big Strength Moves and the Cutest Giggle in the World
FAVOURITE THINGS: Her Cat, Trashy Reality TV and Desserts
**FOLLOW JAO ON INSTAGRAM @ JAO.AERIALS**
Kelly
MINI BIO: Kelly started out as a student at 5D Squad and finally became an instructor after starting Aerial Hoops. Kelly has an extensive background in dance and you can still catch her performing with her Samba troupe in the tiny sequin bikinis and giant feathers at major events all around Melbourne. Her beautiful nurturing nature is perfect for our smaller sized classes and certainly explains why so many of Kelly’s students are now close enough friends to be at her daughters birthday parties.
TEACHES: Aerial Hoops, Exotic, Pole Dancing & Booty Camp
STRENGTHS: Muscle Building, Twerking, Qualified Barre Instructor and Big Self Love Promoter
FAVOURITE THINGS: Glitter, Cowboy Hats & Boots and Cats
**FOLLOW KELLY ON INSTAGRAM @ KELLEE_DEE**
Laura
MINI BIO: Laura was fresh out of studying 3 years of full time dance in jazz, ballet, hip hop, musical theatre and contemporary when she started pole training and was a natural at it. Her years of experience teaching kids dance classes and performing as a Melbourne Storm Cheerleader translated perfectly into the world of teaching aerial fitness.
Nowadays Laura can be found more typically on the Hoops & Silks and if she’s not up in the air with us, then she’s dancing up a storm at her own dance studio in Moorabbin. Basically she lives, breathes, eats and sleep dance and has an absolutely uncanny ability to remember choreography off by heart from any dance routine, at any era of life.
TEACHES: Aerial Hoops, Aerial Silks and Kids Aerials
STRENGTHS: Splits, Technical Dance, Scary Drops and Super Fun Routines
FAVOURITE THINGS: Summer, The Beach, Dancing & Glitter
**FOLLOW LAURA ON INSTAGRAM @ AERIALDANCER_LAURAMAY**
Luci
MINI BIO: Luci spent years as a cheerleader and coaching gymnastics until she decided to give Pole Dancing a go. It turned out that she was an absolute machine on the Pole and her natural skills along with awesome training ethics landed her a spot on the teaching squad.
Luci loves dynamic tricks and big strength skills and has a teaching style which is just right for both adults who like a good push in their work outs and kids who want to have as much fun as possible. She is our resident handstand and balancing expert and can always be seen helping out everyone at the studio with whatever they are struggling with or just getting in with all the good camera angles for your Insta stories.
TEACHES: Pole Dancing & Kids Aerials & Acro
STRENGTHS: Dynamic Pole Skills, Tough Love Training, Handstands and A Good Chat
FAVOURITE THINGS: Beach, Being With Friends & Family, Learning New Things & Pole Dancing
Rowan
MINI BIO: Rowan was never very sporty growing up and didn’t do any dancing but when she decided to give Pole a go with us, she turned out to be a natural! When we noticed not only how beautifully Rowan dances but how much hard work she puts in to every second of class and how super helpful she was to all her class mates, we knew we had to share her magic with everyone as an instructor.
Rowan now teaches beginners level Pole and Chair Flow and is spreading her ray of sunshine attitude mixed with never ending patience and positivity throughout all her classes!
TEACHES: Pole Dancing & Chair Flow
STRENGTHS: Chair Tricks, Never Letting You Give Up, Grace and Breaking Down Skills
FAVOURITE THINGS: Dogs, Arts & Crafts, A Cup of Tea at Mum & Dads and Music
**FOLLOW ROWAN ON INSTAGRAM @ ROWANXO_POLE**
Virginia
MINI BIO: Virginia also started as a student at 5D Squad and we quickly fell in love with her talent, sense of humour and dedication when she competed and placed in some of Melbourne’s pole dancing competitions. Since becoming an instructor, Virginia gave up her full time office job and has become a qualified Personal Trainer, specialising in post and pre natal PT aswell as a full time physio. She runs her own boot camps in St Kilda and spends more of her time upside down than the right way up which, we think, gives her the perfect perspective on life!
TEACHES: Pole Dancing, Pole Flow, Chair Flow, Stretch & Flex, & Pole Conditioning
STRENGTHS: Splits, Partner Acro, Russian Exotic and Qualified PT & Physio
FAVOURITE THINGS: Wine, Acro and Her Dog
**FOLLOW VIRGINIA ON INSTAGRAM @ GINNYB_POLE**