Lesley Bandy (Guest Teacher)
Lesley trained in Auckland New Zealand with Doreen O’Leary, the Scottish Ballet School, and the Royal Ballet School in London. Classes in New York with David Howard, American Ballet Theatre and School of American Ballet, and with Stanley Holden in LA. She danced with the Royal Opera Ballet at Covent Garden, and appeared as a freelance artist in ballet – mainly in the USA. Roles included Giselle, Odette, Cinderella, Sugar Plum Fairy, La Sylphide, Odette in Swan Lake, Dying Swan, Swanhilda in Coppelia, The Cowgirl in Rodeo, Glove Seller in Gaite Parisienne, Don Quixote and Le Corsaire pas de deux. She performed as principal and adagio dancer in Production Shows (Lido -Paris, Hello Hollywood Hello -Reno, Jubilee -Las Vegas) and had Contemporary dance roles created on
her (Lizzie Borden, Red Sun Rising, An American in Paris).
Lesley has since staged, choreographed and directed ballet, opera, concerts, multi-million
dollar corporate events, musicals, cabaret, and fashion shows. Examples: The Last Rain Forest and Christmas Carol – original musicals (Reno & Las
Vegas), Carmen, La Boheme, L’Italiana in Londra (Opera New York for Judith Fredricks & Auckland Opera Studio). Corporate shows for major companies including Toshiba, Kia, REMAX, Arbonne. Corporate videos for MGM Grand Productions Las Vegas, and music videos in San Diego.
She held Entertainment Manager positions with Harrah’s Entertainment (opening the entertainment department and theatre at Sky City) and at MGM Grand Resorts in Las Vegas. Project Manager for Mardi Gras and Halloween parkwide events for Universal Studios FL and MGM Grand Las Vegas. Dance Consultant for the reality TV show, Dance Moms. Ballets choreographed include: Full-length – The Nutcracker, A Tale of Frankenstein. Shorter works – Pointe Red (based on The Red Shoes, nominated for Best Choreography – Golden Rainbow AIDs concert, Las Vegas), Britannia Suite (Reno Artown) Jeux ( San Diego), An Afternoon With Percy (with principals of Ballet Idaho), Genevieve and Suzanne solos (for ballerina Laura Saxon Jones), Grooves! to classic rock tunes -tours South Island NZ, and The Perils of Polly (the making of a silent black & white film – as a dance performance).
She performed recently with Laura Saxon Jones in Smile Lines choreographed by Loughlan Prior. Choreographs and hires dancers for the Tchaikovsky Candlelight Concerts being performed in Auckland Wellington and Christchurch. Lesley has a project-to-project dance company – Primarily Dance – touring high-quality and theatrical contemporary ballet to regional communities in Aotearoa New Zealand with a small group of New Zealand’s best freelance professional dancers.
