Sophia began her training with her mother, Elaine Bailey, who ran a ballet school in Ireland for over 20 years. before moving to England at 14 to train with Dorothy Stevens MBE. On emigrating to Australia with her family, she was accepted into the National Theatre Ballet School, and then the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) degree and joined Melbourne’s vibrant independent dance scene.
She was invited by the VCA to teach ballet workshops as part of their outreach program in rural Victoria and decided to make teaching her career. She became a ballet coach to the Elite Gymnastic Squads at the Victorian Institute of Sport, many of whom went on to compete in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. She completed her teacher training at the prestigious Australian Ballet School graduating with a Distinction in the Advanced Diploma of Teaching. She is qualified to teach the Vaganova-based Australian Ballet School System of Training and is a fully registered teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD RTS).
Sophia ran her own school, The North Eastern Ballet School, in Melbourne. When she returned to Ireland she taught in various schools including Shawbrook and the Bray Institute of Further Education.
She has been teaching ballet on the Dance Studies course at the Inchicore College of Further Education in Dublin since 2003, where she has helped to train many of Ireland’s dancers and teachers. She has also been a ballet tutor at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, since 2010. Sophia is a fully registered member of the Teaching Council of Ireland. She founded the Turning Pointe School of Ballet in September 2005.





