South London Dance School Teachers

Miss Zoe began teaching at her local dance school aged 15 and trained as a dancer / dance teacher in ISTD, RAD and IDTA. She later trained as an actress at LAMDA.

Her first performing job was in the Royal National Theatre’s production of ‘Oklahoma!’ with Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipman, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Susan Stroman. The show was a great success going into the West End and being made into a film.  Her next job was ‘Of Thee I Sing’ at the Bridewell Theatre, choreographed by Stephen Mear.  She then went on to perform in other London based and touring musicals as well as working as an actress in TV and film.

In 2002 Miss Zoe decided she wanted to teach dance again and founded Grafton Dance Academy in Dulwich with the aim of creating a dance school that catered for all abilities; ensuring that those children talented enough to consider a career as a dancer would have an excellent technical and artistic foundation training and those students attending classes purely as a hobby could achieve their personal best in a supportive and fun environment. This ethos has been successful and the school – becoming South London Dance School and securing its own premises in 2009 – now has over 750 happy and successful students.

Miss Emma graduated from The Centre Performing Arts College in 2008, achieving 3 years of professional performing and ISTD dance teacher training under the direction of Karen King.

She went on to dance on The Celebrity Constellation cruise ship with The Gary Musick Company enjoying several months travelling the Caribbean and the Baltic.

Miss Emma then started her teaching career at her local dance school in her home town Beverley, East Yorkshire. After a few years she felt it was time to venture back to London where she is very happy teaching at South London Dance School.

From 2019 Miss Emma will be taking on the exciting challenge of Acting Principal with full responsibility for dance training quality, care of the students and management of the business.

Miss Helen studied all styles of dance from a young age, and as a teenager she was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre and the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.   She was also a competitive Irish dancer, and performed at the World Championships in Belfast, 2008 and London, 2014.   At 18 she went to study for a BA Hons in Anthropology at Exeter University but couldn’t keep away from dancing!  After university, she trained for a year at Bird College of Dance before deciding to take a Masters in Musical Theatre Performance at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.  She then went on to study for her DDE qualifications with the ISTD in tap and modern, and began her teaching career in several dance schools across London.  She is delighted to be a part of the SLDS team, and is very happy to be adding teaching National dance to her skill set.

Katie has a BA Hons in European Theatre Arts from Rose Bruford College and she also trained at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. After graduating, Katie toured with a Physical Theatre company called Counter Active Theatre Company and also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Since 2012, Katie has worked at the V&A Museum of Childhood and this role enabled her to develop a broad skill set since she worked in several departments including Education and Learning, which gave her significant experience organising educational visits. Katie went on to specialise in delivering learning programmes to school groups and families, which has led to producing and directing interactive and innovative performances for all ages.

Katie is interested and passionate about dance and theatre and is excited to start her new adventure at South London Dance School.

Miss Ellie trained at Bright Sparks Performers and with them performed as a child in many professional productions including pantomimes at the Hackney Empire and several TV adverts.  At the age of 16, she began full-time dance and musical theatre training at Performers College, graduating with a Level 6 National Trinity Diploma.

Miss Ellie has performed professionally for Dreamworks ‘Penguin of Madagascar Live!’, the London 2012 Olympic Games and in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Pantomime at the Shaw Theatre where she was also given the responsibility of Dance Captain. Within this role when she looked after and taught the Juvenile dancers, Miss Ellie discovered her enjoyment and passion for teaching young people and so she decided to take her ISTD teaching qualifications in modern and tap. Miss Ellie is very excited to be joining the South London Dance School team and hopes to inspire the next generation of young dancers and performers to follow their passion just as she has.

Ciera trained for 4 years at The Brit School for Performing Arts, 1 year at The Urdang Academy and 3 years at D&B Performing Arts where she graduated in July 2012 with a Diploma in Musical Theatre.

Since graduating, Ciera worked professionally as Ensemble in Evita UK Tour, Principal Dancer and Understudy Tinkerbell in Peter Pan with UK Productions, Princess Jasmine in Aladdin Pantomime with touring company Chaplins, playing Cinderella, Rapunzel and Ariel in Disneyland Paris, Dancer (Let’s Dance for Comic Relief) and Body Double for Hit Girl (Kick Ass 2). Photographic credits include Ford and Stub Hub.

Ciera is a qualified ISTD Tap & Modern teacher and loves passing on her passion for performing through her teaching. She has entered children for their ISTD exams and has choreographed for numerous dance shows.

Ciera is really excited to be back teaching for us at South London Dance School!

Mr Tony trained as a professional dancer at The Royal Academy of Dancing and Bush Davies School where he won The Dancing Times Award for Choreography.

Mr Tony went on to have a successful career as a professional ballet, jazz, musical theatre and commercial dancer.  His credits are extensive as a dancer, dance captain and choreographer, including ‘Miss Saigon’, ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’, ‘West Side Story’, ‘Theme and Variations’ and Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’.

After retiring as a performer, Mr Tony qualified as a teacher with the ISTD gaining his Licentiate in Imperial Classical Ballet with Distinction. Mr Tony has taught boys and girls of all ages and abilities and strives for his students to be the very best dancers they can. He is delighted to be joining the faculty of South London Dance School and looks forward to passing on his love for classical ballet to the students.

Avalon was born in South Devon, England where she trained at her mothers dancing school. At the age of 18 she was awarded a 3 year full-time Scholarship to train at the renowned dance college Bird College, London. At the end of her 3rd year Avalon was invited to complete an internship with the American Tap Dance Foundation, NYC. From there she was accepted into Grant Swifts Tap company TeAyPe, Melbourne, Australia.

Since arriving back in London in 2010 Avalon has taken the tap scene by force, teaching, performing and mentoring many students and performers throughout the UK. Avalon has been part of The Pulse Collective, Managed by Kimberly Wyatt’s Beautiful Movements, Grounded, Mellifluous_Feat, Juggling on tap and Michele Drees: Jazz Tap Project.

Her most gratifying moment was performing in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 OLYMPICS as a tap dancing dementor!

Avalon was part of the faculty at Stockholm Tap Festival in easter 2013 and 2014, faculty for the Prague City Tap Festival, creating an Intermediate/Advanced level repertoire piece and also faculty for The Australian Tap Dance Festival, creating an Intermediate residency and performing a solo at the Gala in the summer of 2013, she was also the joint winner of  Stockholm Tap Festival ‘The Cutting Contest 2013’. Avalon performed with Ryan Campbell-Birch for the 1st Chinese-British International Film awards, Great Hall, Westminster, London.

Since the Beginning of 2014 Avalon has taken on two separate Research and Development Dance projects with Grounded and Kitch&Sync, taught and performed at Move-It.

Avalon was invited to accept one of the 25 places reserved for outstanding dancers in the 2014 Tap programme at the school at Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts.

Avalon was asked to join Tapestry Dance Company. North America’s only full time and paid Tap dance company In summer 2014. Avalon Recently created her own company Old Kent Road, which will premiere their new work ‘Fall out’ at Resolution! in 2015.

Miss Kirsty is a contemporary teacher and dancer. She received her 1st class honours degree at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance before completing an international tour with London Contemporary Dance School’s post-graduate company EDge, continuing to receive an MA in Performance.

She has performed professionally for a range of choreographers including Seke Chimuntengwende, Chilean company Jose Vidal and Co, has worked in The Place Prize and the English National Opera. She has been involved in independent projects with the BBC Symphony Orchestra Outreach at the Barbican in the UK, and Places to Dance, a series of short films shown on BBC2. Most recently Miss Kirsty was involved in the creation and performance of The Drowned man, co-produced by Punchdrunk and The National Theatre. She has received Arts Council funding for her own choreographic work.

Miss Kirsty has taught and toured internationally, and is pleased to now be London-based and introducing Contemporary dance to the senior students at South London Dance School.

Dan trained at Dolphin Dance Studios in Liverpool. After graduating he went on to work professionally worldwide, on television shows, trade shows and with various artists, at prestigious venues such as The Royal Albert Hall and Cannes Film Festival. Other dance credits include: Rihanna (CH5), Will.I.Am (Cannes Film Festival), We Are Fashion (Westfield Shopping Mall), Sunflower Jam with Bill Bailey (Royal ALbert Hall), Mel B Dance (XBOX)(Wii), Resident dancer on Justin Lee Collins – Good Times (Tiger Aspect), Iceland (TV Commercial) and Across the Universe (Film).

Dan has Choreographed for various stage productions, television shows and corporate events, highlights include:

For The New Vic Theatre, Oliver!, Wizard Of Oz, Laurel and Hardy UK Tour and Don Giovanni. For The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, Our Day Out The Musical.

For television: Jane MacDonald for Loose Women (ITV).

Corporate Events Include: The Bridging and Communication Awards, Debenham’s, Alton Towers Resort, Selfridges&co, Royston Blythe Hair Salon, Paramount, OK! Magazine, Hilton Hotel, SkyTV, Vogue and The Isle Of Wight Music Festival.

Dan has a huge passion for teaching, and has taught all over the U.K. for the last 8 years. Dan is happy to be part of the South London Dance Studio team.

Miss Steph started dancing at the age of 6, at Sarah Goffe Theatre School (now Leanne Hughes Theatre School) and competed in local festivals for ten years, culminating in going to All England National Finals three times. At the age of 16, Miss Steph won a DADA to Bird College in Sidcup, and in 2010 graduated with a diploma in Musical Theatre.

After graduation Miss Steph worked professionally including commercials and the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games with Dame Darcey Bussell.

It was in 2012 that Miss Steph discovered her for teaching, and so she completed her ISTD teaching qualifications in ballet, tap and modern.  She now she teaches in various schools, including Tring Park on the Associate course.  Miss Steph knew she wanted to get back into festivals, as she loved them as a child, so she is thrilled to be a part of the SLDS festival team.

Miss Jennifer trained in RAD classical ballet, Matt Mattox jazz and Graham contemporary at Lewisham College from 2000-2003. On completion of this, she continued to further her skills in commercial and street dance.

In 2010, Miss Jennifer embarked on her ISTD teacher training qualifications at the Dance College in Royston where she completed her Diploma in Dance Education in Imperial Ballet and Modern Theatre Dance.

Over the last six years, Miss Jennifer has worked at several dance schools, training children for their ISTD graded and major examinations and choreographing for school shows. She has also developed a real passion for teaching dance to very young children who may have never before been in a structured class environment.

Miss Jennifer looks forward to joining the team at South London Dance school and to nurturing the students through her own skill and understanding of educating children in the art of dance.

Miss Lucy completed a three-year Musical Theatre degree course at London Studio Centre. As a performer, Miss Lucy has played various characters in a production of Legally Blonde at the Pleasance Theatre and danced in a number of commercial events in London. However, Miss Lucy’s passion is teaching and choreography and since graduating, she has taught children and adults at various dance schools in London, including The Brit School. She has also choreographed many routines that have been gained high marks and places in All England Dance Festivals. Miss Lucy is very much looking forward to joining the SLDS team and getting to know the children and adults to whom she can pass on her love of dance and performing.

Miss Natasha is an experienced dance teacher and performer, specialising in ballet and jazz. She has a Dance Performance Diploma and also gained her ISTD ballet and modern teacher training from Margret Howard Theatre School. Miss Natasha has previously taught for the Academy Performing Arts Greenwich and Stage Coach Theatre Arts. She has a passion for teaching children of all ages as well as a love for choreography.  Miss Natasha is looking forward to meeting more new children this term to pass on her love for dance.

From an early age, Clyde trained and competed at a high level in acrobatic gymnastics including the World Championships.  Most recently, he was a finalist in the Youth Olympic Games and he also holds the title of Gymnastic British Champion.

At the age of sixteen, Clyde commenced his training in Performing Arts at The Brit School and it was here that he discovered his love of dance, in particular, combining dance with gymnastics.

Since graduating, Clyde has continued to broaden his skill base by training in Circus Arts. However, most of his time has been spent teaching gymnastics to young children and dancers and he is currently coaching at Bromley Valley Gymnastics Centre.  Clyde is passionate about passing on his knowledge and passion for gymnastics and acrobatics and so he is very much looking forward to meeting the students of South London Dance School and expanding their skills.

Lorraine gained the LGSM Teaching at the Guildhall School of Speech and Drama and a BA (Hons) in Community Theatre at Portsmouth University.  From 1990 to 2000 she held the post of training director at South London Theatre.  She then taught drama in Singapore for two years. Since returning to England she has worked on a number of teaching, acting and directing projects. Acting roles include Kath – “Entertaining Mr Sloan” and Lizzie Jackson – “Roofing the County of Surrey with Crystal”.  In 2013 she performed at the Camden Festival and Edinburgh Festival in “Very Still And Hard To See”.  Directing credits include “Skellig”, “Brandy” and “Experiment With An Airpump”

Lewis is an experienced teacher and director, having worked at drama schools around the UK including the BA course at Italia Conti and Fourth Monkey Theatre Company. He is also a partner in www.auditioncoachlondon.co.uk.

As an actor, he has toured in several Shakespeare plays with Propeller Theatre Company, and performed in ‘Dunsinane’ with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Scotland. Also, ‘Hedda Gabler’ and ‘Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off’ at the Lyceum, Edinburgh and Dundee Rep.

Lewis is very happy to be teaching the Acting (II) and (III) classes at South London Dance School.