Bonnie Neate was born in Brisbane, Queensland and began dancing at the age of four. It soon became a passion and she studied Classical Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary Dance and Tap as well as gymnastics.

After completing her studies and required exams (C.S.T.D.) and Ballet (RAD), Bonnie was offered a contract as a professional dancer with Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Upon returning to Australia, she worked as professional dancer for the Tivoli Theatre restaurant in Brisbane. Bonnie was also accepted into the prestigious Queensland University of Technology Dance Program where she completed a Bachelor of Arts (Dance)/ Bachelor of Secondary Education. During and after completing her studies, she performed as a contemporary dancer in numerous pre-professional dance works.

Bonnie then turned her attention to teaching and choreography, starting the Dance Program at Fairholme College in Toowoomba Queensland, which grew rapidly. Following the success of this program she was invited to become a panellist for the subjects of both Drama and Dance in Senior Schooling on the Queensland Board of Subject Advisory Officers.
In 2006, Bonnie moved to Western Australia with her husband where she was appointed as Head of Dance at Penrhos College, starting the school’s dance program. Bonnie has also worked as a teacher of dance for Presbyterian Ladies College and Corpus Christi College.

In 2011, Bonnie’s husband was again transferred and she moved to Canberra. In 2012, she was offered the position of Teacher of Contemporary Dance at a Canberra-based dance studio. During her time at this studio, her program increased in success and size and she was involved in professional choreography (including choreographing the media launch for Bangarra Dance Theatre’s production of Blak in 2013 through Canberra Theatre), and managing and choreographing technical competition dance works.

In 2015, Bonnie and her family moved back to Perth, where she resumed teaching dance at K2 Dance, where she taught Acrobatics, Contemporary Dance, Jazz and Tap. In 2018, Bonnie returned to Canberra as the Eisteddfod Division Co-ordinator for a Canberra-based dance studio. During this time, she experienced numerous successes with her students competing at both the state and national level and saw many of her students accepted into pre-professional dance courses throughout Australia.

In 2020, Bonnie formed a professional partnership with Suzy Piani, called The Training Ground. Having choreographed together extensively, they began training dancers at a pre-professional level to sharpen their skills for pre-professional dance courses and subsequent careers.

In 2021, Bonnie co-created and co-directed Unveiled with Suzy Piani. Their first full-length dance work under The Training Ground, Unveiled received glowing reviews, as well as numerous awards (Canberra Critics Circle, Canberra Area Theatre Awards) which praised its originality and demanding choreography. In 2022, Bonnie co-created and co-directed Unravel, followed by Unhinged in 2023, both of which were also highly successful.

Bonnie is known and respected for her ability to meticulously train dancers to an elite and pre-professional level in the genre of Contemporary Dance and Acrobatics.
Both Bonnie and Suzy are widely praised for their commitment to the Canberra dance community, innovative choreography and unique dance training programs.