Popular preschool dance series, READY SET DANCE, returned this May to living rooms around Australia and has been such a success that the first series is now airing across 120 countries in 25 different languages.

The producers of the show went on a nation-wide search to find the READY SET DANCE Kid Crew cast for the second series.  The team includes strong commercial dancers, ballet technicians, samba champions, tap specialists and authentic hip hop artists.  

Young Melbourne-based dancer Jada-lee was thrilled to be selected as the only Victorian cast member for Season 2.  Her big personality and versatile dance skills saw her feature in a range of the new episodes designed to teach preschoolers the basics of dance while keeping them active.  

“You won’t miss her in the team because her face absolutely lights up the screen.  She was also a favourite with the preschoolers who joined in for the dance party segments on set.  There was always a long line to get a photo with Jada-lee especially when she was dressed as a hip hop princess,” said Jade Barnes, READY SET DANCE director. 

Jada-lee as a tiger on READY, SET, DANCE. Supplied.

Jada-lee’s audition video was a stand-out amongst the hundreds of submissions that came in from all over Australia.  Her versatility as a performer was a real asset to this kind of show because she could appear as a tiger in one episode with a fierce jazz style and the next minute she was a beautiful ballet unicorn.  

“My audition was a little different to the rest of the kids who auditioned in Sydney.  I’m from Melbourne so my auditions were all submitted by video.  I had to send videos in different dance styles from classical ballet to hip hop.  I found out I was in the kids crew while I was at my dance studio.  Miss Sammie asked me to come into one of the studios and everyone threw balloons and streamers at me,” said Jada-lee. 

READY SET DANCE was originally created by Jade Barnes, Belinda Agostino, Natalie Ettingshausen, Glenda Yee and Priscilla Severino.  The five successful entrepreneurs launched their innovative class-based dance program for preschoolers after identifying a gap in the market at their own successful dance studios.  Five years later, the class is currently licensed to more than 230 dance schools around Australia and New Zealand.

The TV program premiered in January 2019 on Nick Jr to a huge fan base of preschoolers who love to dance along to the show at home.  Nickelodeon is the number-one entertainment brand for kids, now in its 41th year globally and 25th year in Australia.