The Australian dance teacher who's just admitted to assaulting his students.

WARNING: This post deals with child sexual abuse.

For more than a decade, Grant Davies was a much-admired instructor at the dance studio he co-founded, RG Dance.

At the inner-Western Sydney studio, he was entrusted with the care of dozens of aspiring dancers, some of who had not yet even hit puberty.

To the outside world Davies was a committed teacher and public speaker who helped prepare his young charges for major productions like The Lion King and Billy Elliot. His Chiswick dance school was remarkably successful, and according to The Australian had more than 30,000 followers on social media.

But in May 2013, his wife found some unnerving messages to one of his students on his phone.

Those texts were the catalyst for a series of sickening revelations about what Davies was really doing to his students behind closed doors.

While he should have been empowering his young students to achieve their goals of dance success, Davies was betraying his position of power in the most repulsive way — abusing the boys and girls entrusted to his care.

The 41-year-old has now admitted as much, yesterday pleading guilty at Sydney’s District Court to 28 offences against students between nine and 15.

Many of those charges related to child pornography offences involving photos he took of his students; other charges involved indecent assault, or sexual intercourse with a child without consent.

The assaults took place between 2002 and 2013 and involved both male and female students.

Davies raped one victim seven times and messaged another after indecently assaulting her, to say: “Hiii.Yayyy. That felt so special.”

Davies also told several victims that he loved them, and pressured them into saying it back.

He also befriended some victims’ mothers; as Mamamia previously reported, last September a Sydney mother was jailed for sending Davies sexually explicit images of her daughters.

The woman, who was sentenced to 18 months behind bars, told the Downing Centre District Court she had worried Davies would give her daughter only “back row” dance parts in concerts if she didn’t comply.

One of his victims said in a statement she allowed him to take photos and videos of her because she feared she could not otherwise succeed as a dancer.

“I didn’t want to do the photos and videos but that’s the only way I actually thought I would become professional dancer,” she said, according to Fairfax.

Shockingly, police received complaints about Davies’ inappropriate messages to students as far back as 2006 but no charges were laid, Fairfax Media reports.

A meeting was held in which parents were told it was “all a misunderstanding,” according to Fairfax. Parents were also hesitant to have their children testify in court, so no charges were laid.

The girls and teacher who raised the concerns left the school — and Davies continued teaching for another seven years, until his wife found his disturbing messages to students.

The suffering these students endured at the hands of a man they were supposed to trust is unthinkable — but at least with Davies’ guilty plea, the first step towards justice has been taken.

“I think today we’ve reached a just outcome for the victims such as myself and for the wider community,” the former student, who cannot be named, told reporters.

“It was an abuse of trust and of his position of authority.”

Davies will return to court to be sentenced in February 2016.

If you wish to speak to someone regarding child sex assault, contact Bravehearts on 1800 272 831