Nicole Ashfield was originally trained by her mother, Avril Binzer, and then later with Paul Hammond in Melbourne. She successfully auditioned for The Australian Ballet School in 1967 and graduated in 1969. At the ballet school, she trained under such luminaries as Dame Margaret Scott, Dame Peggy Van Praagh and Leon Kellaway to name a few.
Her dance career has been diverse including dancing in musicals, operas, winning the World Amateur Latin American championship in 1967 and being involved in the production of Nureyev’s version of ‘Don Quixote’ in 1970.
She then began teaching in partnership with her mother at the Binzer Schools of Ballet and Modern Dance in Glen Waverley, Melbourne until moving to Queensland with her family in 1977. In 1979 Nicole opened her own school, Ashfield Ballet School, in Cleveland, which very quickly grew into one of the largest and most successful ballet schools in the Redlands area of Brisbane. Her school, now in its 30th year, boasts a wonderful faculty of teachers, including her two daughters.
There is a permanent studio in Capalaba in addition to its six other branches around the Redlands City area. Nicole has been an Examiner for ATOD since its inception in 1991 and was made a Life Member in 2006. Nicole was also invited to be a Life Member of the Royal Academy of Dance in 2007. In 2006, she was awarded the Avril Binzer Memorial Award for her service and dedication to ATOD.
She has also been an integral member of the core committee for the new Classical Ballet Syllabus as well as the National Character Syllabus.
