Rosemarie Starke began her stage career at the age of two and a half. After being a child actress for theatre and television, she became interested in ballet and graduated with honours from the Berlin State Ballet School.

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Rosemarie quickly rose to the rank of Principal Dancer with the “Komische Oper” in East Berlin, one of the most interesting and prominent dance companies in Germany, under the direction of Tom Schilling, who was also the company’s principal choreographer. Her professional ballet career spanned 43 years and has provided her with extensive experience in many facets of ballet. In 1985, she was appointed Ballet Mistress, Repetiteur and Choreographic Assistant to the Komische Oper.

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After emigrating to Australia in 1989, she lectured in Classical Ballet, teaching the Russian Vaganova Method at the Australian Ballet School, National Theatre Ballet School, Victorian College of the Arts, Christine Walsh Conservatoire of Ballet and Ballet Theatre of Victoria. She also did extensive guest teaching at companies and institutes worldwide, including the Australian Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Australian Opera, Singapore Dance Theatre, Royal Academy of Dance and Australian Institute of Classical Dance. Her workshops were conducted at ballet schools in Germany, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, USA and Japan.