Changing the future with Sas Cook

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The Nugget
September 12, 2025

★ Changing the future with Sas Cook ★

Dance + heart = Sas Cook

When Sas Cook left Castlemaine at 17 to pursue dance in Melbourne, she had no idea what to expect and no financial backing.

"It was pretty tough. I did lots of terrifying auditions. I didn't have anywhere to live. I did a bit of couch surfing. I was studying eight hours a day and then I'd walk to waitress at a restaurant because I didn't have a car."

It all worked out. She went on to dance professionally, choreograph music videos and change lives as the Creative Director at Movement Zone.

She's determined to make sure her small-town students are more prepared when it's their time to break into the dance industry.

For five years, she's been lobbying Ausdance to run a regional dance summit in Castlemaine to help young performers find pathways into dance training and careers. The kind of event that happens all the time in Melbourne and Sydney.

"I got the call last year and they said, 'We've heard you, let's do a pilot event.' So I'm co-hosting and helping develop this amazing day."

On 11 October, the industry is coming to town. The Castlemaine Dance Summit is the definition of accessible. All of regional Victoria is invited and tickets start at $22.

The full-day summit includes dance workshops (no experience necessary), a mock tertiary audition with Melbourne's fancy Transit Dance school and a Dance Career Pathways panel discussion for both young people and parents.

There will be professional development workshops for dance teachers, including an information session about accredited training programs.

"I can't wait to attend that, myself," Sas says. "I would like to get accredited to teach VCE dance and VET dance in my studio.

"These courses aren't available in a lot of regional schools, so, let's look at how we can train up our secondary teachers or dance studio owners to maybe take this on," Sas says.

Castlemaine Secondary College tried to run a VCE dance program this year, but it didn't go ahead. 

“It’s about making sure regional kids aren’t left behind. They’re just as talented. They just need the opportunity,” Sas says.

That's actually true. As most of the town knows by now, Movement Zone's teen hip hop legends, the MZ Crew recently won their section at the Hollywood Bound Dance comp in Sydney.

They overcame many hurdles to claim the trophy, starting with selling sausages outside the news agent's on Mostyn street to raise travel money and enlisting the help of Rotary to buy uniforms.

The MZ Crew were up against kids who study dance fulltime at elite schools in Sydney and live on the competition circuit. 

"I ended up grabbing the microphone when they announced the winner because I wanted the crowd to know, we're from Castlemaine. Our group fundraised for months to get there," Sas says.

More sausage sizzles are coming because the MZ Crew's next stop is Nationals in the Gold Coast in January. 

The MZ Crew teens have stepped up at home. Some of them have taken up traineeships with Sas and are learning how to teach and choreograph. Some will likely pursue dance after Year 12. 

Sas says she spends time dismantling their ideas about needing to be perfect in order to succeed.

"That's just crap. You don't have to be the best dancer in the classroom in order to be a teacher. It's about being able to facilitate. And you don't need to have the perfect body to be a dancer.

"That was a big thing when I was young. I was constantly told I was too muscular, I was too short. That's why I wanted to create at Movement Zone a beautiful, inclusive school where dancers could just feel great."

I can 100% confirm that Sas has achieved this. The woman is able to make middle-aged wannabe fly girls with zero dance experience (moi) feel like superstars. She has inspired a talented crew of young males to dance everything from hip hop and breaking to contemporary. She teaches the glorious Silver Tops dance class, with Richard Mayes, the dancing doctor, and these older adults have become as tight as the MZ Crew. 

"We have morning teas for everyone who has a big birthday. The ladies go out for coffee together," Sas says.

"Some of these students are living on their own, so coming to Silver Tops each week and having that friendship and support is really special. It has enriched their lives, but also mine. I feel so privileged to be teaching these amazing older adults who have become my friends."

As if uplifting all these people through dance wasn't enough, Sas recently became a certified Dance Movement Therapist.

"It's all about empowering people to express themselves through movement and shift trauma. It's had incredible outcomes, especially for young people, people with ASD, and non-verbal patients. 

"I can see myself maybe moving out of the studio to work with people with dementia and I'd love to do more work with people living with disability.

"I'm getting older and I have some health issues myself, so, when I'm not hip hopping around the stage, I can still be helping people through movement with Dance Movement Therapy."

Anybody else feel like an underachiever at this stage in Sas' story? Whew. What a legend.

If you want to help her change the world, and who wouldn't, spread the word about the Castlemaine Dance Summit. If at least 50 people turn out to the Castlemaine pilot, Ausdance will run these events in other regional communities.

❀ We need a fulltime Doofe ❀

It’s a doof doof café, friends. And it’s one of the best things to happen to this town.

You know the kids who hang out in the Community House garden instead of going to school? It’s a thing.

I get it. The education system assumes that one size fits all when we know it does not and that makes school an awful experience for too many young people.

One of my kids has mega dyslexia and may always struggle with literacy. She could easily end up in the Community House garden instead of going to a school where she can’t access the content.

And what are we doing about it? In a town that knows how to organise and bring people together, it often feels like the teenagers who aren’t poster kids are forgotten.

Thank goodness for Community House. They hired a project officer (shout out to Kyan), who asked the kids in the garden what they wanted to do. They wanted to learn skills. With his help, they did a food handling course, created a menu and ran the Doofé.

There was doof doof music, toasties and coffee and so many people came out to support.

One of the learning support teachers from the highschool could not stop smiling and telling me how smart these kids are. Of course they are. The Doofé sold out an hour before close. I am hoping against hope that it becomes a regular thing.

Hear what the youth had to say about it on WIN News Bendigo.

♡˖ EVENTS ˖♡

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