PRINCIPAL : Joanne Craven AISTD, RAD, AIDTA
I began my dancing career at the age of seven, which in comparision to some of my pupils is quite old ! I spent my years leading up to this attending gymnastic classes, however when the opportunity to go dancing was offered there was no holding me back !! I regularly attended dance classes each week even to the point that my teacher used to collect me from school on her way to the studio, and my Mum swears to this day that our car went on automatic pilot when I went dancing as I was there so much !
At the age of sixteen I left school and followed my enjoyment of dance and went on to attend Theatre school where I successfully achieved all my higher level examinations and graduated with Teacher Status with the Royal Academy of Dancing for Classical Ballet and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing for Modern Theatre and Tap.
Whilst attending college I worked at various part-time schools within the Manchester area teaching all dance genres to all ages and abilities. As a result in 1992 I decided to ventured out on my own and opened my own dance school............the rest is history !
Assistant Teacher : Katie Cheetham
Katie Joined the school in September 2009, and initially began her work with us as a Teaching Assistant. Katie completed her training at Merseyside Dance & Drama Centre where she achieved Dance Teacher FDI standard in Modern & Tap. She is currently studying to further her professional development in Dance with the ISTD.
Katie is currently responsible for classes taking place on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and will teach ISTD Modern, Tap & Jazz medals.
We welcome her to Heatherlea, and hope she will pass on her love of dance and enthusiasm to the pupils.
Teaching Assistant : Samantha Tracey
Samantha began dancing when she was 3 years old and has attended classes on a regular basis since this time in fact she has never been away !
She currently assists me on a Saturday and primarily works with the younger members of the school, who assume she is part of the furniture as she is always there ! To her credit all examinations she has taken in her dance career to date, Sam has achieved extremely high results.
In September 09 Sam began attendance at Preston College where she studies full-time. On graduation from Preston College she will be a fully qualified dance teacher.We wish her well in her ambitions !