Winter School 2025
Over the Moon Studio's annual Winter School will be held on Monday 7th, Tuesday 8th & Wednesday 9th July 2025.
Firstly, a note to our teens: This year, Winter School as we know it will be for 3.5-12 year olds. We warmly invite you to play a key role in Winter School in your capacities as class assistants, beautiful role models and big friends. In exciting news, we are joyously planning something tailor-made to you, in recognition that you need a particular kind of challenge, artistic extension and heart — all rolled into one. Be in touch soon…
What is Winter School?
Winter School is an opportunity for 3.5 to 12 year olds to be immersed in a magical world of dance and art-making for 1, 2 or 3 days. There will be three age groups: 3.5-5.5 years, 5.5-8 years, and our senior dancers, 9-12 year olds. Dancers will explore genres including creative dance and yoga, drama, Orff Schulwerk informed music, junior ballet, musical theatre, jazz, contemporary, and… lantern making! Winter School is an opportunity for dancers to expand their experience of dance and creative practices!
This year, we are delighted to be making lanterns! We look forward to a lantern walk together in the early evening of Wed 9 July, meeting at the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens. Everyone welcome! Bring your singing voices.
Dancers can come for 1, 2 or 3 days of magical immersion in a world of varied and engaging creative experiences.
Please note, a discount for multiple day bookings will automatically be applied at point of sale. To enrol, click the link above, navigate to your preferred class, click ‘Add class’, and ‘Add more classes’ to select any additional days. Payment plans are available - please let us know if you would like a payment plan.
PRICING
5% off both classes for a 2-day booking
10% off all classes for a 3-day booking
Early bird special — enjoy a FURTHER 10% off when you book before 1st June - use discount code at checkout: WS2025
3.5-5.5 years old, 9am-10:45am (1 hour, 45 mins) - $40
5.5-8 years old, 9am-11:45am (2 hours, 45 mins) - $65
9-12 years old, 10:45am-4:15pm (5 hours 30 mins) - $105
WHAT TO BRING? Please wear comfortable clothes with layers dancers can take off as they warm up. Please bring a named water bottle. More details will be sent to you once you have booked.
This year, Winter School teachers are:
Desiree Osborne, Drama
Desiree Osborne has been a teacher for almost 40 years, 30 of those in Performing Arts. Desiree has taught in all sectors; preschools, secondary schools and in gifted programs run by LaTrobe University. Her programs have always included dance, music and drama.
We are delighted to welcome Desiree to the Over the Moon family, as our first drama teacher!
Drama is a particular passion of Desiree’s. It’s great fun, builds confidence and creativity, and improves self-expression and public speaking skills.
We are looking forward to welcoming Desiree, and welcoming Winter School students to drama at Over the Moon!
Iona Julian-Walters
Iona is a queer visual artist living and working in Melbourne. She works primarily in the mediums of drawing, photography, performance, and installation. Her work is often concerned with ecology, body, relationship and place and explores themes such as grief, transience, liminality and ritual. She is a founding member of the puppet company Golden Scissor Puppets and was part of First Site Gallery’s winter residency program in 2020 - Out of Site. Her work has been published in magazines such as Voiceworks. Iona holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Honours, from RMIT University and was the winner of the RMIT School of Drawing Prize in 2021. Iona is famous for running Community Arts at the National Folk Festival!
Iona is delighted to be making lanterns with Over the Moon dancers!
We look forward to a lantern walk together in the early evening of Wed 9 July, meeting at the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens. Everyone welcome! Bring your singing voices.
Amber Riches, Junior Ballet, Musical Theatre, Contemporary and Jazz
Amber's journey through dance began at Deakin University, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Dance before pursuing Honours in Contemporary Dance at WAAPA with Link Dance Company. Her experiences performing internationally and across Australia ignited her passion for inclusivity in the arts.
Completing her Master's in Arts Management at RMIT in 2015, she co-produced and performed in her first Melbourne Fringe Festival show, marking her entry into arts management. For over a decade, Amber has taught dance at Stage School Australia, enriching the lives of her students with her expertise and passion.
Her dedication to inclusivity led her to expand her teaching into the disability sector at YourDNA Creative Arts. In 2024, Amber co-founded YourDNA Dance Collective, a pioneering initiative fostering inclusivity for neurodiverse and Disabled dancers in Melbourne's contemporary dance scene. Through collaboration and advocacy, Amber continues to champion diversity and accessibility in the arts, shaping a more inclusive future for dancers of all backgrounds and abilities.
It’s a pleasure to welcome Amber back to Over the Moon!
Edna Reinhardt, Yoga & Creative Dance
Edna Reinhardt is the beloved, esteemed, forever-celebrated founder of Over the Moon Studios! Edna has been teaching yoga and creative dance to students from 2½ to 20 years old since 1975, wow!
From a background in contemporary dance and drama, Edna studied yoga and creative dance with the esteemed educator, Dorotea Mangiamele at Mangala Studios in Melbourne from the early 1970s through to the 1980s. Edna was attracted to the interconnectedness of music, dance and art. The concept of mindful movement in improvisation was an integral aspect of Mangiamele’s style. This association profoundly influenced Edna’s approach to yoga and dance education.
In the 1990s Edna taught music and movement at the Bendigo Regional Institute of Technology (TAFE) Diploma of Early Childhood Education Introduced the concept of using yoga in early childhood education to this course. She is a presenter at conferences for early childhood educators, as well as teachers of primary and secondary students in Australia and overseas. Edna has worked as an artist in residence in most schools in the Mount Alexander region and beyond as a teacher and choreographer.
Edna is the author of the Yoga Education Resources Series. This yoga syllabus informs the yoga education at Over the Moon and is used in many schools and therapeutic settings.
What did Edna take away from her yoga and dance education? Each class should be like a work of art. The music should have a logical and aesthetic flow. The props should reflect the themes that are being explored in each class. The movement should be mindful and creative so that students have an artistically enriching experience. This method of teaching takes time and energy to prepare and is rewarding for students and teacher alike. Edna is inspired by the philosophy that each class should be a work of art with the hope that students absorb a heightened awareness of a visual and musical aesthetic and the confidence to express their creativity through dance.
How lucky are we to dance with Edna this Winter School!
Marlena Raymond, Orff Schulwerk informed music
Marlena Raymond is a co-director of Over The Moon Yoga and Dance studios, together with Michelle Young.
Marlena grew up dancing at Mangala Studios of Creative Dance and Yoga from the age of three. She has been deeply moved by the music and movement she experienced at Mangala, and these set her on a path for life. She has assisted at Mangala, studied classical music at The Conservatorium at The University of Melbourne and at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), and holds a Level 1 Orff Schulwerk certificate. Her teaching experience includes early childhood music, private and school flute teaching, and a band program at a K-12 school. Marlena enjoys dancing with Travel Art Dance Company, an interdisciplinary group directed by Meah Velik-Lord comprising movers trained in ballet, hip hop, Feldenkrais and creative dance (and probably more!). She enjoys practising yoga and exploring spirituality and movement in many forms.
Marlena is extremely grateful to Edna’s teacher, Mrs Dorotea Mangiamele, who emigrated from Germany to Melbourne and established the Mangala school in 1970. Marlena’s teachers are Margaret Crawford, Peter and Sue Hockey, Claudia Mangiamele, Neika Huss, Meah Velik-Lord and the late beloved Amanda Burns; she thanks them for their teachings over many, many years. It is an enormous honour to continue the lineage of Mrs Mangiemele and her student, dear Edna Reinhart.
Marlena is a lawyer and serves as co-chair on the board of a disability peak body. Marlena is passionate about dignity and respect for all people, in all areas of life, all of the time.
Marlena is delighted to be mentored by OTM Founder, Edna Reinhardt.
To book click here. Jump in quickly to confirm your place!