Sophie Ware
Sophie began dancing at the age of 2 and has been involved with the school for as long as she can remember. She gained her RAD Advanced 2 at the age of 17 and is now a fully qualified teacher obtaining 96% in her ballet teaching exam , the highest ever recorded at Laine Theatre Arts! She will be graduating from Laine’s in the summer, although pupils will be glad that she will continue to teach at Suzanne’s .
Rachel Ware
Rachel started dancing at the age of 3. At the age of 9 she was accepted into The Royal Ballet School Junior Associate programme. Rachel won Gold at the All England Ballet Finals in 2003 and also won the Janice Fullman cup for the highest overall mark throughout all the sections. At 11 Rachel was accepted into the Royal Ballet School where she trained full time for 5 years and graduated in July 2008. During her time at the school Rachel performed with the Royal Ballet Company at the Royal Opera House in the Sleeping Beauty (2004) , Swan Lake (2005), and The Nutcracker (2006). Rachel was also selected to take part in a BBC1 documentary with Darcey Bussell titled ‘Magic of Swan Lake’. After graduating from the Royal Ballet School Rachel won a full scholarship to the English National Ballet School and performed with the English National Ballet Company at the Royal Albert hall in their production of Swan lake. She was chosen to be featured in the BBC production titled ‘A year in the Life of English National Ballet’ which was shown in the spring of 2011 on BBC4. Rachel is currently teaching our ballet technique and pointe classes.
Hayley Taylor
Hayley began dancing locally at the age of 8 and soon began supplementing her classes by attending the London Junior Ballet at weekends. At 16 she was awarded a full scholarship for the London Studio Centre. Hayley toured the country with ‘Images of Dance’ before embarking on her teacher training with the RAD. Now fully qualified, Hayley teaches ballet, contemporary, jazz and Pilates here at Suzanne’s and is also regularly invited back to teach at London Studio Centre.
Sarah Hewitt
In addition to attending classes at a local dance school, Sarah also trained with the London Junior Ballet and the Royal Ballet Senior Associates, and took courses with the English National Ballet. She continued her training at the Arts Educational School in Tring where she gained her Teaching Associates qualification in ISTD Modern and Cecchetti Ballet as well as a diploma in dance. Sarah then attended London Studio Centre for a year before enrolling on the RAD Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies course which she completed in 2006.
Jo Roberts
One of Jo’s earliest memories is of learning to dance. She studied all styles of dance but enjoyed the modern style most of all. at 19 she joined a dance troupe called ‘The Movement Academy’ which was sponsored by Nike and performed all over the UK, including several TV appearances. Jo began teaching after leaving the group and now teaches streetdance for under 10s. She has recently opened a pre-school street/jazz class for ages 2-4 which is proving to be very popular! Jo thoroughly enjoys teaching her little streetdancers and watching them grow into confident young performers.
Helen Locke-Williams
Helen worked as a writer for Mother & Baby magazine for many years before deciding on a change of career. She started her own playgroup where she ran a toddler dance class and went on to qualify as a secondary school teacher. She now combines her love of ballet with her valuable expertise on babies and children to teach our up and coming Baby Ballet, 4 year olds and Rising 5s.
Joanne Pratt
Jo is a qualified NNEB nursery nurse and has many years of experience caring for and teaching young children. Before she moved to London she ran a successful dance school and child-minding business in Scarborough. She has now been in London for just over a year and is thoroughly enjoying her time here at Suzanne’s. She works every morning at Suzanne’s Little Stars playgroup, where the children dance, sing and have a wonderful time with the wide variety of toys and activities that are on offer to them. Jo also teaches our popular Tiny Tap class, introducing our youngest pupils to the fun of tap dancing.