Our next metamorphosis: How Dragonfly Dance is evolving in 2026
- Jo McDonald
- Dec 12, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2025
Every few years, Dragonfly Dance goes through a quiet transformation. For 20 years, it has grown, shifted, and reshaped itself in quiet but meaningful ways.
Sometimes the change is visible — a new studio, new teachers, a larger community.
Other times the change happens beneath the surface — in how we teach, how we support adult learners, and how we design the pathways that help dancers grow.
Now, as we move into 2026, Dragonfly Dance is entering its next metamorphosis. This transformation is guided by a refreshed vision, purpose, and values that reflect who are are now and where we are heading.
This isn’t a departure from who we are. It’s the natural next step in a 20-year journey of shaping a studio built entirely for adult dancers: how they move, how they learn, and how they thrive.
These foundations will guide our decisions, our teaching, our communication, and the experience we create for you.
1. Our new strategic direction
Our Vision: To empower adults to dance freely, fully, fearlessly.
This is the heart of Dragonfly Dance — supporting adults to move with confidence, joy, and self-expression.
Our Purpose: To foster belonging and connection through dance.
Everything we do aims to strengthen community and create spaces where adults feel welcomed, supported, and part of something meaningful.
Our Values: Connection. Kindness. Commitment. Respect. These values have been at the centre of our culture for years. Now we are naming them more explicitly so they can guide our communication, our teaching, and our relationships with dancers.
Our Pillars and Priorities
Pillar 1: Dancer Growth
inspiring and structured learning journeys
celebrate progress and connection through dance
Pillar 2: Aligned Team
Effective communication
Consistent quality of service
Pillar 3: Sustainable & Viable Opportunities
Explore current and future facilities
Increase capacity and utilisation
Build a recognisable brand and profile
Pillar 4:Seamless Systems
Quality management systems
Build capacity of dancers and team
These pillars give direction to our long-term development. They ensure Dragonfly Dance continues to grow sustainably, purposefully, and with care for our dancers and our community.
2. Why change at all?
Adult dance studios around the world are evolving, and Dragonfly Dance has always been part of that movement.
Over the years, we’ve learned that adult dancers flourish when they have:
a clear and steady learning pathway
a supportive and consistent class community
access to a well-designed teaching method
teachers who understand the way adults learn
flexibility when life requires it
connection that lasts longer than a single class
The changes we’re introducing in 2026 bring these ideas into sharper focus. They offer structure where it strengthens learning, flexibility where it’s needed, and connection where it matters most.
3. Class enrolment: a steadier home base
In 2026, we are introducing enrolment for all dancers. This means you will nominate the weekly classes included in your membership, and those classes will become your home base for the year.
For dancers on a Silver membership, this will be one class. For dancers on higher level memberships, it will be two or more (Gold - 2 classes, Platinum - 3 classes, Diamond - 4 classes, Ultimate - 5 classes (but you can attend more).
Enrolment gives you a stable anchor in the timetable. When classes become busy or fill quickly, your enrolled class is held for you so you don’t need to worry about missing out on a place. It also helps your teacher understand who they are supporting across the year, which strengthens your learning experience even if you’re not focused on progression.
We also recognise that some dancers have highly variable schedules and can’t attend the same class every week. Flexibility remains important at Dragonfly Dance. If your availability shifts from week to week, you will still have the ability to cancel an enrolled class and book into another suitable class when you need to.
Your enrolled class (or classes) simply becomes your foundation — the place where your teacher knows you, your progress is understood, and your learning unfolds with more clarity.
The enrolment process and enrolment forms will open soon.
We’ll send a step-by-step guide showing how to nominate your classes, how to make changes if your situation shifts, and how to manage weeks when your availability is different.
Enrolment strengthens your connection.
Your flexibility stays intact.
And together, these create a steadier, more supportive learning journey for adult dancers.
Your enrolled classes set your pathway. Your bookings manage your week.
4. A clearer teaching method and visible curriculum
The Dragonfly Method and Curriculum have been developing and in use behind the scenes for years. It draws on adult learning principles, thoughtful progressions, and a deep understanding of how adults build skill, confidence, and expression.
In 2026, we’re bringing more of this framework into the open.
You’ll hear your teachers talk more about the focus for each quarter in your class
you’ll get a clearer sense of what you’re working on and how you’re progressing over time.
We’ll also begin developing student resources drawn from the curriculum, such as terminology and movement vocabulary for each level, so you can better understand the language, steps, and ideas that sit behind what you’re learning in class.
Adult dancers often tell us they appreciate knowing “the why” behind what they’re learning. By making the Method and Curriculum easier to access, we hope your learning feels even more grounded and meaningful.
5. Teacher rotation to strengthen studio-wide connection
In 2026, teachers will rotate more across classes.
This gives you the opportunity to learn from the strengths and perspectives of the entire Dragonfly teaching team — all of whom will share one method and one vision for adult dance education.
It also helps classes stay fresh, cohesive, and resilient.
You won’t feel lost if a teacher takes leave or makes a schedule change. Instead, you’ll experience a sense of continuity because the whole team is aligned.
Rotation also supports teachers in staying inspired, balanced, and at their best — which leads to richer classes for dancers.
6. Moving away from the “pick-and-mix” mentality
Studios in very large cities (places like Pineapple Studios in London) can operate successfully with a completely drop-in model because they have thousands of dancers moving through their doors every week.
Adelaide is different. Our population simply doesn’t support that kind of high-volume, constantly rotating attendance. If we relied on a pure drop-in model, many classes would struggle to remain stable across the year.
That’s why we’re gently shifting away from what we call a “pick-and-mix” mentality — not to limit your choices, but to create a stronger foundation for dancers and a more sustainable timetable for the studio.
When we refer to a “pick-and-mix” mentality, we’re not talking about dancers exploring different styles or taking classes they enjoy. That’s a wonderful and important part of learning.
What we mean is the idea of treating every class as completely interchangeable each week, with no consistent home class and no regular group of dancers working and progressing together. The challenge with this approach is that it makes it harder for adults to:
feel a sense of belonging in a class community
build confidence from consistent foundations
develop coordination and strength through steady progression
be seen, supported, and guided clearly by their teacher
understand their own pathway and what’s next
It can also unintentionally destabilise the timetable, because classes appear busy one week and then drop away the next.
Enrolment helps us move towards a gentler, more grounded structure. Your enrolled classes become your anchor. It gives you a place to belong, familiar faces around you, and clearer support from your teacher. From that foundation, you can still explore and enjoy other classes — flexibility remains part of the Dragonfly experience.
This shift is part of strengthening our studio for Adelaide’s reality, while still giving adult dancers rich, joyful, progressive training that’s designed thoughtfully for their learning journey.
Think of it as having both roots and wings.
7. A stronger learning pathway for adult dancers
Dragonfly Dance has always stood apart in that we specialise entirely in adult dancers. But now we’re taking that identity further.
Everything we are introducing in 2026 — enrolment, curriculum visibility, teacher rotation, clearer pathways — strengthens Dragonfly Dance’s identity as a studio built specifically for adults.
This is a shift from being “a place adults can take dance classes” to being a studio that leads the way in adult dance education.
Our new Vision, Purpose, Values, and Strategic Pillars provide the framework and direction for that evolution. They guide how we teach, how we communicate, how we support dancers, and how we grow as a community.
We want every dancer to feel:
“I’m not just attending classes. I’m developing as a dancer.”
This metamorphosis is not about becoming something different.It’s about becoming more fully ourselves.
Where this metamorphosis leads us
This is not a dramatic overhaul.
It’s a maturing.
A settling.
A clarifying.
A strengthening of the foundation that allows adult dancers to thrive.
As Dragonfly Dance moves into its next chapter, our intention is simple:
Thank you for being part of this metamorphosis. We’re excited to begin 2026 with you — grounded, connected, and ready for what unfolds next.
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