ABOUT HELEN

Helen has a long term involvement with the performing arts, studying both dance and art and beginning her career in Australia as a ballet dancer. On moving to England she completed a humanities degree with the Open University while raising her two children. After eleven years the family returned to Australia and Helen became the Victorian Education Department’s first full-time secondary dance teacher. This was followed by three years as a lecturer in movement and dance at the Institute of Early Childhood Development (a branch of the University of Melbourne at the time), and freelance work as a choreographer and therapeutic arts worker. She has also been active in improvisational dance and Playback Theatre.

A private story writer since her youth, Helen has had short stories and articles on spirituality and the arts published in a number of magazines. The biography ‘On the Inside – An Intimate Portrait of Sheila Florance’ is her first full-length book to be published. She plans to continue writing and a novel is well on the way.

Helen was married to Sheila’s son Peter Oyston, a theatre director and visual artist, for fifteen years. Their children are Dominique and Benjamin Oyston. Dominique, in true stage tradition, followed in her grandma’s footsteps. She is a classically trained singer, and has performed in opera, musicals and music theatre. Benjamin followed a different path and is an environmental scientist with a doctorate in geology. They are both married with children.

Benjamin in his doctoral gown and cap

Dominique dressed up for an opening night