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Home , Adam Cooper (dancer), Ballet Ireland, Bird College, Central School of Ballet, Gillian Lynne, Laine Theatre Arts

Tring Park School Dance Department

Lorraine Jones Interim Co-Director of Dance LISTD (MTH, TAP) AISTD (CB, NB) Lorraine trained at Doreen where she gained her teaching qualifications. She danced professionally for many years in the UK and abroad until joining Tring Park in 1990. She is a well-known choreographer and has worked on many productions including Moby Dick, , and Sweet Charity. Lorraine has worked alongside many professional choreographers and is in much demand by the industry. In 2006 she became Head of and in 2017 became Deputy Director of Dance. Lorraine is currently Interim Co-Director of Dance. A prolific choreographer and innovative teacher, Lorraine is also part of the team of Senior Assessors in Lesson Observations. Antony Dowson Interim Co-Director of Dance Antony Dowson trained at The Royal School and graduated into The Royal . He was promoted to Principal dancer in 1984 and danced most of the leading roles of the repertoire. He graduated from the Professional Dancers Teaching Course with distinction. He taught at School and then became Ballet Master for the English National Ballet Company. Since 2012 he has been at Tring Park School for the performing Arts and he is also Artistic Director of the schools Encore Dance Company. He works internationally as Guest Ballet Master where he Reproduces the work of Sir Kenneth MacMillan amongst others. He has choreographed several short for schools as well as for and English National Ballet Company’s end of year performances.

Sarah McIlroy Head of

Sarah McIlroy trained at the and graduated in to the English National Ballet in 1992. She worked her way through the ranks and was promoted to Principal in 2002. As well as performing a wide variety of roles in the classical repertoire from corps de ballet through to principal, she has also created roles for Christopher Hampson, and Mauro Bigonzetti After her 18 year career with English National Ballet Sarah went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dance, gaining the Professional Dancers Teaching Diploma and joined the teaching staff at English National Ballet School. In 2017 she became a freelance teacher and has worked with and Ballet Black. In September 2017 Sarah joined Tring Park as Encore Ballet Mistress and is now Head of Classical Ballet.

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Eva Blanco, Dance Teacher

Eva is a graduate of The Arts Educational School and Licentiate member of the ISTD. She worked as a professional dancer upon graduating, specialising in and commercial dance in the UK and Internationally. Performing in Tommy Steele's What a Show!, Gaudi das Musical, Boogie Nights, The Millennium Dome and the closing ceremony of 2012 Olympics. She joined Tring Park in September 2013 as a Modern, Jazz and Tap teacher, choreographer and mentor.

Tim Blowfield M.A. Curriculum Leader in . Tim trained at Bird College and London Contemporary Dance School. He performed in 's "" and “The Car-Man”. He danced with National Dance Company Wales and for choreographers including Ben Wright, Kerry Nicholls, Lisa Torun & Jia-Yu Chang. Tim also teaches Contemporary Dance at , GSA/University of and has been a regular teacher of company class for New Adventures. Tim presented his own choreography independently, including “Left”, “Traces” and "Unfolding Layers" on tour, supported by grants from Arts Council . He recently choreographed “Much Ado About Nothing” for Bedouin Shakespeare Company, performed at The Globe Theatre in Rome and in London. He is an A Level Dance Examiner. Tim completed his MA at LCDS in December 2016.

Melanie Booth

Melanie graduated from The Arts Educational School, Tring Park, she holds IDTA fellowship ballet, IDTA licentiate Modern and Jazz, ISTD DDI Tap. She danced with English Bach Festival Trust in both Athens and Whitehall under the direction of Chris Tudor, September 2007, she joined and performed soloist and principal roles touring the UK, Dubai and Kenya. Melanie has danced principal roles with Kent Youth Dance Company since 2008. She currently dances with Let’s All Dance in their Alice in Wonderland production and also all over the world in productions with Divine Company.

Helen Catton

Helen graduated from The Arts Educational School, Tring Park where she completed her Teaching Associates in Modern and Cecchetti Ballet. She performed with JazzXChange, Ballet Ireland UK and Ireland tours, Holly Noble Dance, Too Far - European tours and York Dancers Austria as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. Returning to London she continued to work as a freelance commercial dancer. Helen holds her Diploma in Dance Education in Imperial Ballet, Cecchetti Ballet, ISTD Modern and ISTD Tap. She is currently training to be a Pilates Instructor with Body Control Pilates.

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Deidre Chapman

She grew up and trained in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She danced professionally with , , and as a First Soloist with the The Royal Ballet. Her performing career included works by Ashton, Balanchine, Bintley, Bruce, Canaparoli, Cunningham, DeValois, Ek, Flindt, Kylian, Marston, McGregor, Morris, MacMillan, Naharin, Nijinsky, Petipa, Taylor, Tetley, Tharp, Tomasson, Robbins, and Wheeldon among others. Her staging credits at the Royal Ballet include assisting and re-staging works by Kim Brandstrup, Fleming Flindt, Aakash Odedra, and Hofesh Schecter. She most recently restaged Flight Pattern, by Crystal Pite. She has also assisted and staged works for Cathy Marston. She has a teaching diploma from the Royal Ballet School, and an MA in Dance Anthropology from Roehampton University. She teaches and coaches for the Royal Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Ballet Black, , Tring School for the Performing Arts, The Royal Ballet upper and lower schools, and . She is co-chair of the Board of Governors of Granard Primary School, and a trustee at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

Morgan Cloud

Morgan Cloud holds a Master of Arts from London Contemporary Dance School and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Theatre from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. He has performed across the UK, USA, and Europe in contemporary and dance-theatre works by companies including Made by Katie Green, Troika Ranch, Nigel Charnock + Company, Smallpetitklein, and the Rosie Kay Dance Company. Morgan has also held teaching and lecturing posts at University Campus Suffolk, the Royal Academy of Dance, and Performers College. Morgan has been teaching at Tring Park since 2014.

Trained at the Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet School, Adam was a Principal with the Royal Ballet before becoming freelance. His recent choreography includes: Drei Männer im Schnee (Munich), On The Town (Theater St Gallen and Munich), (Munich), Sunny Afternoon the 5 time Olivier Award Winning Show including Best New Musical (Hampstead Theatre, West End and U.K Tour), Recent performances include The Merry Widow, Singin’ in the Rain and Soldiers Tale. He also won numerous awards as a performer, mainly for the role of The Swan/ Stranger in Matthew Bourne‘s Swan Lake. He also appeared in the film .

Linda Crocker

Linda qualified as a Physiotherapist in 1988 and after some years in the NHS she moved into the private sector. She under took postgraduate study in Musculoskeletal therapy to Maters level and has a special interest in sport and dance Physiotherapy. She has worked at Tring Park School for over 10 years, initially providing cover and now permanently.

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Jenny Hale

Miss Hale completed her vocational training at the College of the Royal Academy of Dance, London. She has worked as a ballet teacher for many schools in the greater London area and has been coaching the RAD vocational syllabus at Tring Park since 2009. She has tutored for the RAD on various teacher training programmes and has worked with teachers internationally through her role as a CPD tutor. Miss Hale was appointed to the RAD Panel of Examiners in 2006 and became a Solo Seal Examiner and Standardisation Examiner in 2016. In September 2017 she was appointed as Chief Examiner.

Leah Holdroyd Physiotherapist

Specializing in musculoskeletal and sports injuries with extensive experience in the Performing Arts. She has been at Tring Park since 2000 and spent 12 years as the physiotherapist on The Chance to Dance Project (The ). Leah is also a clinical supervisor on the MSc Advanced Physiotherapy at The University of Hertfordshire. She is a member of the Musculoskeletal Association of Physiotherapists (MACP) and a member of The Acupuncture Association of Physiotherapists (MMACP). She also has an interest in Pilates having trained with Dance Medicine Australia. She is focused on providing individual treatment and rehabilitation to help students achieve their goal.

Valerie Jonikic Valerie graduated from Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (Music Academy) as a composer and pianist with a Masters in 2009 and afterwards completed her studies in Sweden. During her studies she was granted the Shostakovich Scholarship. Since 2008 she worked professionally as a choir accompanist, opera pianist and ensemble pianist. As well as performing with various opera singers and playing for opera productions on stage as pianist-kapellmeister, she has been a freelance composer and has composed more than 60 works in different genres, such as choir music, song cycles, chamber, vocal, instrumental and large scale symphonic works as well as arrangements and orchestrations of classical and popular music. After she gained a full-time dance pianist position at The Northern Department of The Swedish Ballet School, playing for ballet, contemporary and character dance, she devoted all her time and passion to playing for dance. She joined Tring Park School in September 2018 as full time dance pianist. She also works at Central School of Ballet playing for ballet and contemporary classes for Associate and the Main (Senior) School. She plays regularly for TPA, CBA and Holiday Courses at Tring Park School.

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Jeremy Kerridge

Jeremy trained at White Lodge and at The Royal Ballet Upper School for 8 years. In 1981 he joined Northern Ballet Theatre where he remained for his entire 23 year career. He danced many leading roles in the classical repertoire and had many roles created for him including Mercutio () Scrooge (Christmas Carol) and Renfield (Dracula). After retiring he taught at various schools and joined Tring Park in 2005 as a full time teacher. In 2014 he assisted while she was creating Miracle In The Gorbals for Royal Ballet. Gabriel Kleinberg Pilates and Rehabilitation teacher

Discovering Pilates in 2003 after suffering a major back injury, he decided to train as a Pilates teacher. Gabriel has been teaching Pilates for over 10 years, as well as helping to open and run a studio in 2013. Previously, Gabriel worked as a health consultant together with doctors and osteopaths to help athletes with an array of injuries. His personal experience with rehabilitation gives him first-hand knowledge of the benefits of Pilates, both following an injury, and helping to prevent them. He creates treatment plans for students alongside physiotherapists, through combining education, exercise prescription and manual therapy.

Kate Mackie

Kate trained at in Chester. Upon graduating she went on to run two branches of ‘Escola de Bailado da Regua’ schools in the north of Portugal. She returned to the UK and worked as a freelance teacher for a number of years at: The Hammond School, Kate Simmons Dance, Elliott-Clarke Theatre Schools, North Liverpool Dance College and West Cheshire College. During this time her work included various choreographic work and community projects including Gallery 69 alongside Sharon Watson. With a keen interest in teaching Kate completed her Cert Ed with Manchester Metropolitan University. After relocating to London she continued to work freelance around London and at The Centre. Her desire to improve and develop her teaching inspired her to work towards her Felloo9wship Modern and it was during this time that she was invited by the ISTD to rake the classes at the prestigious Janet Cram awards. Kate began teaching at Tring in 2013 and continues to thoroughly enjoy all the school, has to offer.

Maria Milanova

Maria first studied piano in Bulgaria with Alexander Vassilenko and completed an MA in Piano Performance at the National Academy of Music in Sofia. She has won prizes from national competitions and has performed with chamber ensembles and choirs across Bulgaria and the UK. Maria has collaborated on dance and theatre productions in London and the Southeast. She regularly performs lunchtime concerts both as a soloist and as accompanist. As a repetiteur Maria has worked with LCB, ENB, Cecchetti and YBSS among others and has accompanied masterclasses with Zenaida Yanowsky, , CBE and many others.

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Steven Monteith

Trained at the Royal Ballet School from the age of 11-18, Steven was chosen by to join the (BRB) in 1998. He danced many principle and soloist roles by various choreographers such as Macmillan, Balanchine, Bintley, Tharp and Ashton. He toured with BRB worldwide from NYC and Chicago to Tokyo and Cape Town. Steven retired from being a soloist at BRB in 2016, completing the RAD professional dancers teaching course, joining Tring in 2018.

Rachel Muldoon Rachel trained with the Royal Ballet School, and Body Control Pilates. Her career spans over Musical Theatre, Dance, TV and Film. Credits including; , Chicago, Grease, , Notre Dame de Paris, Kylie, Robbie Williams, Little Mix, Principal Dancer with McOnie Company, X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, Mamma Mia 2, Returns, Ready Player One and ‘Kiki Dee’ in Rocketman. Rachel has been teaching Pilates for six years and believes that every dancer should practice this technique for their own maintenance, rehabilitation and an understanding of the body to enjoy a long and successful career.

Richard Norris

Richard has a BMus (RCM), studying piano for 5 years with John Barstow and accompaniment with Ruth Gerald. He started working at Tring in 2002, then in 2005 he travelled to Japan to work with Errol and Olivia Pickford, returning and continuing at Tring 2 years later. As well as writing, arranging and performing music for many Tring dance shows, he has written 2 full scale ballets for London Children’s Ballet, performed at the , and Northern Ballet’s Puss In Boots (2009), which was screened on CBeebies. He also plays regularly for the RAD Genée Competitions and YBSS.

Christine Reynolds M.A. Choreography DIP RBS (TTC) ARAD (Adv) AISTD (CB,NB) Christine trained at the Royal Ballet School White Lodge and gained her teaching diploma at the Royal Ballet Upper School. She has worked for 40 years as a classical ballet teacher, choreographer and director in dance and musical theatre. In 2000 she completed an M.A in Choreography. She has worked at Tring Park for more than 20 years which includes 6 years as Head of Outreach, managing the Reach4Dance community programme, funded by the DfE.

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David Rhys

David trained at the Royal Ballet Upper School. He danced with both the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet before joining Matthew Bourne's New Adventures performing in his acclaimed production of Swan Lake. David also enjoyed many West End musical credits as well as dancing with opera companies and many other cabarets, TV and pantomimes. He retrained as a teacher with the RAD, gaining Distinction, and has taught on many of their teaching and summer courses. More recently David has directed and choreographed many award winning musicals. David is also a qualified RFU referee and Personal Trainer.

Stephanie Ann Rosenheim (ARAD, PDTD)

Stephanie trained in Australia before joining the . Moving to Europe, she joined the Stadttheater Bern under François Klaus where, as Principal, she danced Juliet, Desdemona, Clara, Solveig (Peer Gynt), Ariel (La Petite Sirene) Sacrifice (Rite of Spring) and many others. She then became a founding member of Compagnie Ballet d’Art Francois Klaus.

Stephanie graduated with Distinction from the RAD Professional Dancers’ Teaching Diploma before joining Tring Park. In 2014, she was appointed Ballet Mistress for The National Youth Ballet and she also teaches for external Associate courses as well as International Ballet Summer Schools.

Desire Samaai

Desire Samaai was a principal dancer with , London City Ballet and Northern Ballet Theatre. She retired from the stage in 2007 and was appointed Ballet Mistress with Alberta Ballet Company in Canada and also guest teacher with Alberta Ballet School. On her return to the UK, Ms Samaai taught for Central School of Ballet’s R.A.D Vocational Program and was a guest teacher at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. In 2011 she joined Tring Park School as a full-time ballet teacher and in 2015, she was also appointed Head of the Classical Ballet Academy.

Lee Shiel (GLCM Hons, PG Cert)

Lee studied Piano, Organ and Violin at The (Graduating with Honours) and a Post-Graduate Piano Performance Certificate. As well as performing for various recitals and concerts, he was involved in Music Theatre, and also worked as Organist / Choirmaster in the London area. He later went on to work full time at the RAD, and also played for many ballet schools in and around the London area. Lee moved to Leeds in 2012 to work as a pianist for Northern Ballet, and Northern School of Contemporary Dance, before starting at Tring Park in 2017. Lee enjoys Triathlons and occasionally rides a unicycle in his spare time.

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Rob Thomas BMus (Hons) DipABRSM Rob studied Music at Kingston University and began playing for ballet in 2005. He joined Tring Park School in 2016 and plays for ballet and contemporary classes on two days per week, as well as playing for the School's CBA and TPA programmes, and Holiday Courses. Since graduating, he has been involved with a variety of dance schools, choirs and theatre groups, and occasionally plays the organ for weddings and church services. In 2014 he achieved a DipABRSM in piano performance. He regularly plays for three choirs in and around Abingdon, and is also the répétiteur for Oxfordshire Youth Music Theatre.

Gillian Toogood FISTD

Gillian’s professional career progressed from Malmö State Ballet, to six years at the , working with, amongst others, Erik Bruhn and Sir Kenneth Macmillan. Gillian toured extensively, performed at the Bolshoi, and danced in Ashton, Balanchine, Bournonville and Cranko ballets. Returning home she joined London City Ballet. Since professional retirement, Gillian taught the Cecchetti Associates, choreographed and taught the Cecchetti Scholars, becoming, in 2010, chairperson of the Cecchetti Scholars Committee. Gillian choreographed for Chelmsford Ballet Company and spent 11 years as Artistic Director. She is an ISTD Fellow and a Cecchetti Ballet examiner.

Michelle Underwood B A (Hons) Michelle studied classical music at Middlesex University under the tuition of Daniel Phipe. After graduating Michelle worked as a freelance dance accompanist playing for RAD, Cecchetti and ISTD exams alongside teaching piano and class music in primary and secondary education. Michelle has also played in an eclectic range of jazz, funk and reggae bands on both keyboards and electric bass. Michelle joined Tring Park in April 2009 as a full time dance pianist and has since become an accomplished percussionist for Contemporary dance.

Phil Watkins

Phil graduated from The , London with a GRSM (Hons) degree and an LRAM diploma in piano teaching before embarking on a varied career as a piano teacher, freelance pianist, cellist and composer. After completing an MA in ‘The Composition of Music for Film, Television and Theatre’ at Bristol University he joined The Royal Ballet School, London where he worked as a full-time pianist for six years. He has composed the scores for several short films and travelled extensively as a keyboard player on cruise ships. Phil joined Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in 2013.

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Sarah Wildor Sarah Wildor was a Principal dancer with the Royal Ballet Company. Roles included Juliet, , Manon, Anastasia, Cinderella, Sugar Plum Fairy, Ondine, Swanhilda (Coppelia) Titania (The Dream), Lise (La Fille Mal Gardée), Sarah also created the title role in Sir Matthew Bourne’s production of Cinderella and ’s for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She has also starred in On Your Toes in London and Japan after which followed several other stage acting roles. Sarah attained the Royal Ballet School PDTC Diploma and Trinity Laban’s Diploma in Dance Teaching and Learning. Sarah is also a qualified Pilates Instructor.

Caroline Winter BA (Hons) Head of Dance Pianists

After beginning her career accompanying choirs, ensembles and soloists during her school years, Caroline went on to gain a BA (Hons) degree in music from Canterbury Christ Church University, majoring in accompaniment. Upon leaving Canterbury she played for several dance schools before finally joining Tring Park in September 2003, becoming Head of Dance Pianists in 2009. She is an accomplished dance pianist and has composed and performed music for various shows, exams and competitions at Tring Park. Most recently Caroline was Musical Director for the Killigrew Drama Society, St Albans, for their annual productions.

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