Louise Baker completed a Diploma in Commercial dance at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre (now Whitireia) in 2010 receiving the first year scholarship for the most promising student. During her time at WPAC she performed in the Wellington Musical Theatre production Gleevent as a solo dancer and was a Hurricanes cheerleader.

 

Louise became interested in hip hop dance when she was accepted into Wellington's Infinite Dance Crew and went on to travel internationally with them, receiving 4th Place in the FISAF world championships. After a busy few years in Wellington teaching for Pump dance and Step out Dance Co Louise moved to Melbourne where auditioned successfully for a dance contract which took her to the Dominican Republic.

 

Louise returned home to teach for 8 months before setting off for London to travel, dance and teach. During her 2 years there she taught at Spencer Stage School in Notting Hill, became a London Cheerleader and continued to take classes at the famous Pineapple Dance and Studio 68. In 2014 Louise attended Urban Dance Camp in Germany where she was able to learn from some of the best jazz, contemporary and hip hop tutors in the world.

 

Louise returned to NZ and completed her Royal Academy of Dance Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies (CBTS) while teaching at the Maureen Ax School of Dance. Louise has been a judge/tutor and guest taught at various summer schools, workshops and competitions over the past 7 years as well as teaching ballet, jazz and contemporary casually for DanceWorks studios in Palmerston North.

 

In 2022, Louise moved, with her family, back to her hometown of Pahiatua and restarted Tararua School of Dance. Despite Pahiatua being a small town, the school has grown to over 120 students in under two years. Louise is now a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD)