Zara Gomes  Director of the Van Norton Li Community Health Institute, Queensland Ballet.

Zara Gomes is a Dance Physiotherapist with over 25 years’ experience working with dancers in elite dance companies and schools in Australia, the UK and Germany, prior to joining Queensland Ballet (QB) in 2011. Zara was Head of Performance Health with QB from 2011-2022, before moving into her current role working across the Performance Health and Community teams as part of the Van Norton Li Community Health Institute. The QB Performance Health team provides in-house services to the professional Company dancers and QB Academy students, including physiotherapy, pilates, strength and conditioning and sports dietetics, as well as an external visiting team of health specialists. Zara is keen to share research and clinical knowledge to improve dancer health, wellbeing and performance, as well as promoting the benefits of dance and exercise throughout the wider community. She is passionate about encouraging all to experience dance and to maximise dancers’ physical and mental health and wellbeing.