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The Teachers

 

Sinead Loughnane - Dance Principal

I started my training at The Leeds Dance Academy under the direction of Cynthia Carr Ex-Chairman of All-England, Diane Sugden-Garth – I.S.T.D Examiner and Sharon A Jones- ARAD LISTD. At the age of 16 I attended Stella Mann College in London on a 3 year Dance performance and teaching programme, where I gained 4 teaching qualifications with Distinction. RAD ballet, ISTD Modern, Tap and National. At 18 I won a scholarship to dance in Athens Greece so after Graduation I travelled to Greece to perform and teach.

My next post was teaching in the world famous Joan Denise Moriarty School Cork, Ireland. This School was home to Irelands first National Ballet Company and had a fantastic reputation. I was extremely proud to be a teacher within the school for 3 years, a brilliant experience.

I decided to return to England to further my Teaching Qualifications and taught at The Sally Weichardt Academy in Oxfordshire. This particular school had 500 students and I along with the principal were the main teachers within the academy. I also taught at Theatre Express Theatre School where after 2 years I became Manager and Dance principal with the responsibility of training other dance instructors within the Theatre School.

In 2001 I opened my own Dance academy in Hardingstone, Northampton with 30 students and now in its 14th year the school has grown to have over 300 students attending and we have expanded to many areas in and around Northamptonshire. I have a wonderful talented teaching staff that are extremely committed to the Academy and always maintain a high level of standard within the academy.

In 2014 I was elected onto the Regional Advisory committee of the Royal Academy Of Dance Midlands and East of England region. I am extremely proud to be able to enhance the training of both students and Teachers through courses and teaching practises and help shape the education of students and Teachers.

We also became an Approved Dance Centre for the I.S.T.D Level 3 Diploma in Dance Instruction and Level 4 Diploma in Dance Education in Modern and Tap.

This means individuals can train within the Academy to become teachers and will be given the opportunity to learn with highly experienced and creative staff, who will shape their future careers.

Dance Experience

I performed in many shows in Leeds and participated in all-England championships winning at various different subjects. I also won the prestigious Ruby Ginner award 2 years consecutively and many choreography awards. I toured Hungary at the age of 14 with a Dance Troupe and Youth Orchestra and we competed in a national competition where we came second, first went to the host nation Hungary and third place Germany. At 18 I won a scholarship to dance in Athens Greece whilst still at Stella Mann College and I also won student of the year for gaining my ISTD Tap Teaching Certificate a year early in my Second year with an extremely high Distinction. Stella Mann herself said I was a most promising dancer and a joy to watch.

I performed in many shows in London several at the Bloomsbury Theatre and performed in several pantomimes taking the lead role. I travelled to Greece and danced on a contract for 9 Months and was also offered contracts in Italy, Portugal and New Zealand. I decided that my passion was in Teaching so decided to return closer to home to further my teaching qualifications.

Past pupils of mine have attended professional colleges such as Bird Dance College,London Studio Centre, The Centre for performing arts, The Royal Ballet School, Italia Conti, Bodyworks, Roehampton University and The Royal Academy of Dance. Many of which are still performing in dance shows around the world or Television such as Holby City, Casualty and Emmerdale.

I believe in hard work and dedication and have watched as my Academy has grown in strength over the last 14 years achieving high results in Dance exams and Competing at National level.

I look forward to the next 16 years!

Gemma Seaford - Lamda Coach and Dance Teacher

My dance training began at the age of 3 years old in Northampton. I studied The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) Ballet, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) Modern, Tap, Greek and National at the Mayhew School of Dance. Once I had started dance training I began to have Speech and Drama lessons, studying the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts syllabus in Acting, Verse and Prose Speaking, and Mime.

From the age of 5, I began competing in dance and drama festivals around the country and was lucky enough to compete and win at All England level in more than one genre. My first interest in professional work contracts started from the enjoyment of competing on stage, once I started to audition I was fortunate to work both locally and nationally in many different types of stage shows from the age of 10 years old.

After completing my education and further education in Northampton, I was cast in a play to perform at The National Student Drama Festival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, from there I was invited to show the play at the Edinburgh Fringe festival within the Pleasance venue, where we received critical acclaim and many awards. Once this experience had ended I began a degree course at the Birmingham School of Acting where I achieved a BA Hons Degree in Acting/Musical Theatre. After completing my degree I took and passed with Honours my Associate Acting Diploma from LAMDA.

Shortly after I began teaching dance and drama across the county and began my dance teacher training. I worked towards my Foundation in Dance Instruction and afterwards my Certificate in Dance Education with Jayne Wing at Pirouette Academy in Leicester. During the time that I studied within this school I was invited to join the faculty. As my training came to an end I found myself teaching dance and drama to a huge variety of schools across the county. Some of my teaching roles have included delivering curriculum dance and drama classes in mainstream primary schools, teaching dance and LAMDA drama within the private school sector, taking students through GCSE Dance at Caroline Chisholm School, teaching specialist classes for students that have a range of disabilities, and delivering projects in community based projects.

I have been with Sinead Loughnane School of Dance for 8 years and enjoy every aspect of teaching. I believe that I have been truly fortunate to work with so many different children of varying ages, backgrounds and abilities and I always find something new to impress and interest me from my students at each session. It is a privilege to help any child achieve their potential.

Anna Mair- Dance Teacher

I began my training in the Lake District at the age of three, where I attended RAD ballet lessons. After moving to Northamptonshire I then joined the Kilburn School of Dance in Wellingborough learning RAD Ballet, ISTD Modern, Tap, Greek and National as well as free jazz classes. I was lucky enough to consistently qualify to the All England Dance Finals while at Kilburn which gave me great performance experience in a competitive environment. I have also recently completed my practical National and Greek DDI exams at Kilburn gaining a high Distinction in both.

I went on to train professionally in 2007 at what is now the Trinity Laban Centre, where I studied contemporary and ballet for two years on the degree course, gaining a Diploma in Dance Education. I then completed my degree at Bird College in 2011, where I was able to develop my skills in Musical Theatre and Commercial Jazz as well as Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, Singing and Acting.

After Graduation I stayed in London and whilst there I was able to appear in music videos for Kate Nash and the DJ Madeon, appear in adverts for Burberry and The Body Shop as well as freelance dance performances. I was lucky enough to travel to Germany to perform in the Hamburg Christmas Spectacular and most recently I lived in New York from September-December 2014, training at the Broadway Dance Centre on their International Student Visa Programme. Whilst there I mainly focussed on Lyrical Contemporary and Commercial Jazz, learning from world renowned choreographers in these genres. BDC taught me professionalism and how to be the best dance version of myself that I can be. Whilst there I worked with the charity Live Vest Inside, promoting their international event ‘Dance for Kindness’ as well as appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America and in Bray Entertainment’s ‘A phony Celebration’ holiday video.

After returning from New York I continued to teach street dance in schools around the county, then joined the Sinead Loughnane Academy in May this year. Since I started teaching at the Academy I am excited to have begun training towards my Modern and Tap DDI and DDE with Miss Katherine. I am delighted to be working with the talented students at the Sinead Loughnane Academy and am excited to help guide them to reach their dance potential.

Miss Katherine Werrell – LISTD Modern & Tap, DDI & DDE Modern Theatre and Tap Dance Approved Tutor

I started my training at The Sally Weichardt Academy, Abingdon, Oxfordshire in 1994 focusing on ballet and then I was introduced to Modern Theatre and Tap Dance. I continued my training at The Centre Performing Arts College, Charlton (now Rochester) under the direction of Karen King. I completed three years at The Centre gaining my Performance / Teacher Training Diploma and a completed portfolio for ISTD Tap & Modern FDI (Foundation In Dance Instruction) now Diploma in Dance Education alongside various vocational graded examinations and invaluable audition technique.

I performed in various shows with The Centre Performance Company between 2004 and 2006, including performances at The Greenwich Theatre, Bloomsbury Theatre –West End and The Cochrane Theatre, Holborn. I also performed as a dancer for The Saturday Night Project for Channel 4 and through The Centre Agency danced for The Deep & Beneath Project at The Roundhouse Theatre, Camden in 2006 an educational production set as a prequel to Cunningham’s “Ocean”.

Whilst performing and auditioning I returned to my training as an ISTD dance teacher and decided that this was my true passion. Completing my full DDE Modern and Tap qualifications whilst attending The Linda Sweetzer Teacher Training College, Maidenhead. I was head of Modern at the Sally Weichardt Academy between 2005-2007 and I started teaching for The Sinead Loughnane Academy in 2008. I am now responsible for ISTD Modern and Tap syllabus up to Advanced level, Intermediate and Senior Contemporary and RAD Ballet grades. I also choreograph various competition solos, duets, trios and groups for the school.

In 2013, I started teaching at Creative Academy, West Wing Arts Centre in Slough. My role at the college is to train the students in ISTD Intermediate – Advanced 2 Modern and Tap, free tap and also tutor the third year students to gain their DDI Modern qualifications.

I then decided that I wanted to further my teaching qualifications and returned to The Linda Sweetzer Teacher Training College to gain my ISTD Licentiate Modern in 2013 and Tap in 2014. Since gaining these qualifications and tutoring DDI at Creative Academy I decided that tutoring the ISTD DDI and DDE qualifications in the Northampton area was my next challenge and, after a lengthy process myself and Sinead Loughnane were please to announce The Sinead Loughnane Teacher Training Centre open in Summer 2015.

Next stop ISTD Fellowship Modern & Tap!!

I am delighted to be a part of The Sinead Loughnane Academy and have seen it grow over the years to be a creative, nurturing and excellent standard of Dance Academy. I look forward to many more years at the Academy and I am thrilled to be part of the team.

Soeli Parry - Musical Theatre and Guest Teacher

I started dancing at the age of 3 at my local dance school in Wales, taking various exams and doing various festivals. I represented Wales for ballet at Miss Dance when younger and went on to be a junior associate at The Hammond Ballet School, Chester. At 16 I moved to London to attend the Arts Educational Schools course in musical Theatre, after 3 years of training I left with my Degree equivalent in theatre and a dream job in Fosse.

I have performed on tour and in the west end in various shows for the past 15 years, including Mamma Mia, Wicked, Footloose, Cinderella, Evita, Barnum playing Cha Cha in Grease, Dance Captain on High school musical 1 and 2, and singing in the rain. I've recently retired from the stage to have my son who was on tour onstage until I went on maternity leave. I came across Miss Sinéads wonderful school and I believed that I would help shape the future of the Musical Theatre department in the Academy.

I am able to draw on my previous teaching experience from Masterclasses at Stella man and LSMT London to baby ballet and drama coaching. I have also recently taken a wicked workshop for the RAD Midlands and East of England area and hope to continue this relationship delivering courses throughout the country. I'm teaching locally for various Dance Academys and on Saturdays I teach musical theatre at the Sinead Loughnane Academy Performance Academy where I hope to be able to impart some helpful industry tips and advice to my lovely students, who have a bright future ahead of them. I will also be able to prepare them for auditions and impart my knowledge of casting agents and professional choreographers.

It is wonderful to be training the stars of the future and I look forward to watching their talents evolve at The Sinead Loughnane Academy and also being part of the Teaching staff at the Academy.

quotes"A fantastic dance academy that brings out the best in your child in a relaxed, friendly environment"

Lisa Farbon

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