seena1: Seena Ramona Bird in her early 20s.By Kelly Yates
A DANCING star leaves behind the legacy of a prestigious local dance school.
Seena Ramona Bird, the founder of The Seena Bird Academy of Dance, died last Saturday in a Carrum Downs nursing home.
The funeral for Ms Bird will be held at Trinity Uniting Church in Dandenong tomorrow (Friday) at 1pm, followed by a burial at the Berwick Cemetery.
The granddaughter of Ms Bird, Sheree Bould, said the family was expecting more than 300 people to pay tribute at the funeral.
“Grandma was a sweet person and all of the students idolised her,” she said.
“She had a love for dance and even rejected joining an elite ballet company to open up her first school.”
Although the 90-year-old hung up her dancing shoes long ago, the legacy has lived on through her daughters Rosalie and Sherall and granddaughters Sheree and Alicia.
The Seena Bird Dance Academy, with studios in Garfield, Berwick, Narre Warren and Dandenong, still continues nearly 60 years after its formation.
The academy began in 1949 with about 30 students at Dandenong’s Old Temperance Hall and now has more than 340 students learning dance styles including jazz, tap, acrobatics, funk, hip hop and classical ballet.
Ms Bould said her grandmother suffered a stroke three years ago and was wheelchair bound.
“She didn’t want to be that. She was a very fit dancer, who up until the age of 80 years was still dancing,” she said.
“She lived a full life. And was a pretty cool grandma.”
