Corinne Yee, Director

Thanks for dropping in, it’s great to connect here.  No doubt we share a passion for dance. 

With dance in my blood, I am proud to have established the Asia Pacific Dance Association (APDA), an entity committed to developing and promoting positive, inspirational and inclusive dance education.    

I was fortunate to learn dance from a young age and even more blessed to have four sisters (guinea pigs) on-site who enabled me to experiment with choreography endlessly.  Under the tutelage of Debra Dean, Beverley Bowen and Julia Barry (Auckland, New Zealand), I trained in ballet and jazz.

In 1998 I established a dance studio in Auckland. During the 20 years of operation it grew to  become one of New Zealand’s largest dance studios.  Former students include international professional dancers, musical theatre lead performers, ballet company soloists, hip hop crew world champions, choreographers, dance directors, teachers, examiners, dance captains and studio owners.

In a former life I worked in Public Relations/ Communications.  In addition to dance qualifications, I hold a Bachelor of Communications and was awarded the AUT PR Graduation Scholarship.  I worked for several years as the Communications Manager for Montana Wines before consulting to Montana Wines and Air New Zealand for the 1999 America’s Cup and 2000 Sydney Olympics.

In 2004 I combined my dance and business experience to establish the Asia Pacific Dance Association (APDA). My mission was to provide positive, comprehensive dance education. As the Head Examiner and Director of the Association and the original choreographer of Jazzaddict, La Beauté Ballet and Encore Theatre Dance, my focus has always been to provide a dance curriculum that is inspiring, enjoyable and relevant.

APDA has grown to provide six genres of dance syllabi and an acrobatics syllabus. The full repertoire of work has been created by a diverse talented team of choreographers.  APDA is offered by dance studios and private educational schools and institutions in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Africa, Qatar, Canada and the UK.

In 2007 I was honoured to be one of eight New Zealand women selected by NEXT Magazine as a “Changemaker” and profiled for influence and innovation in the dance industry.  This reinforced to me that, with passion and belief, we are all capable of making positive changes in what we do and how we do it.  

Dance has provided me with so many wonderful relationships and opportunities.  I’ve had the privilege of being an international adjudicator judging The Hong Kong Cup Challenge for over a decade and currently adjudicating for Thailand’s Artist Award Competition. I have been very fortunate to be a judge at the Australian Dance Festival (ADF) in Sydney for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 competitions.  Seeing the talent of this generation takes my breath away. It never fails to amaze me how choreography and talent continues to evolve… just when I thought it couldn’t get any better.

Today I continue to work with international organisations and dance specialists in my never-ending pursuit to provide innovative services and programmes to benefit youth and teachers in the dance sector.