London 2018
I feel that it is my responsibility as a dancer, teacher, and studio owner to always educate myself and develop in order to provide the best dance training at In Step. Over the summer, I trained at the Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for my third time since finishing full time dance training. I am very fortunate to have learned from outstanding professionals in the industry who have all influenced and inspired me. Learning first hand from these professionals really contributes to the development of our dance school and this is something I am very passionate about. I trained in ballet, contemporary, jazz, and street dance styles each day with phenomenal dance artists.
Below are just some of the dance artists who I had the pleasure of learning from this summer.
Elly Braund
Elly trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, graduating in 2011. She then joined Richard Alston Dance Company as an Apprentice and has danced for the Company ever since, completing her MA in Contemporary Dance 2015. During her time in the company, Elly has danced many roles, touring to dance festivals around the world, including Context: Diana Vishneva Festival (Moscow) and Schritt_macher Dance Festival (Aachen and Heerlen) and Fall for Dance (New York). In addition to Richard Alston and Martin Lawrance, Elly has performed in works by Martha Graham, Gary Lambert, Kerry Nicholls, Merce Cunningham (Dancing Around Duchamp staged by Jeannie Steele) and Joseph Tonga (Unease). Alongside performing, Elly is regularly involved in teaching workshops and technique classes.
Gavin Eden
Gavin trained at London Studio Centre, touring the UK with the Jazz Dance Company in his final year. His theatre credits include Addams Family The Musical, 42nd Street, Paris, Pablo Bronstein: Historical Dances in an Antique Setting at The Tate Britain, Hairspray, We Will Rock You, Cats, ‘One Man’s Dream II’ - Tokyo Disneyland, ‘Nixon in China’, ‘The Mikado’ and Carmen for English National Opera. Theatre Rites’ ‘Mischief’, and Shall We Dance at Sadler’s Wells.
Gavin danced with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and roles include the original cast of Edward Scissorhands as Kevin Boggs and Gerald Monroe. Gobstopper, Cupid and cover Fritz in Nutcracker UK Tour, and Cygnet in Swan Lake World Tour. Gavin can be seen in the films ‘Beyond the Sea’ and ‘Swan Lake 3D’. He has also appeared on “The Paul O Grady Show’ and ‘So Graham Norton’ for Channel 4 and ‘The Naked Commercial’ for Sanex. He has also worked as an Assistant to the director, staging “Cats” for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
Liora Goldwater
Liora Goldwater is a professional dance artist working in the disciplines of Contemporary Dance and Ballet. She trained at Northern Ballet School and then at the London Contemporary Dance School gaining a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. During her training, Liora performed with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Manchester City Ballet. She also performed pieces by Kerry Nicholls, Richard Alston, Jan de Schynkel, and Stephen Petronio.
Liora was a founding member of the dance company Made by Katie Green. She performed with the company in the UK and Europe and was a part of the company's educational outreach programme, taking dance into various schools and colleges. She has also performed on various projects including those for Charlotte Spencer, Laura McGill, and Akane Abe. Liora teaches Ballet, Pilates and Vinyasa Flow Yoga around central London
Melody Squire
American-born choreographer Melody Squire is known for creating visually stimulating work as well as her innate storytelling ability. Her versatility across dance genres makes her a choreographer in high demand, working extensively in film, television and theatre. As a performer, Melody has worked with numerous artists including Madonna, James Blunt and pop promo for Beyoncé. Notable choreography credits include: Selfridges, the Corrs, SYTYCD UK and Tiger Bay the Musical. Melody is the founder and artistic director of Sol Dans Company, an award winning contemporary dance company. Melody is passionate about dance education and teaches regular classes at Pineapple Dance Studios and Italia Conti, as well as master classes worldwide.
Amy Butler
Amy studied at London Metropolitan University, graduating with a first class honours in Performing Arts. She then went on to complete a Higher Certificate at The Place in 2007. Presently, she is studying for an MA in Developing Artistic Practice at London Contemporary Dance School.
Amy joined Stopgap Dance Company in January 2013, touring internationally. Since 2014, Amy has been developing an inclusive yoga practice with the company. Amy is also rehearsal director for Akram Khan Company, specifically for the piece Chotto Desh and is an inclusive arts practitioner for Joss Arnott Dance Company. She has performed for Akram Khan Company for the 2012 Olympics, Enrique Cabrera (Aracladanza), Helene Blackburn (Cas Public), State of Emergency, Highly Sprung, Ascendance Rep., Jonathan Poole, Motionmanual and Balbir Singh. Earlier this year she acted as a choreographic consultant for Highly Sprung during their creation Tree.
Her choreographic work includes 'Slide with the Sun’ performed and toured by SG2, 'Outside Spaces, Inside Places' for Ascendance Rep., two short works for Three Scores and most recently 'Composition in Time' for Ramallah festival in Palestine. In 2011, Amy was awarded the Lisa Ullmann Travel Scholarship fund enabling her to complete an Integral Yoga qualification at the IYI India. Amy's teaching experience has seen her work for Greenwich Dance Agency, Northern Contemporary Dance School, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Yorkshire Dance, RAD, Trinity Laban and many international companies.
Christophe Jeannot
Christophe Jeannot is a former principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company, with which he performed in the USA and abroad from 1998 to 2005. He received his dance training at the Conservatory of Nantes in France and the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers. He then went to New York to study at The Martha Graham School. While in New York, he also performed with the Pearl Lang Dance Theatre and the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, among others. After returning to Europe, he performed in the musical The Lion King in Paris, and worked with companies such as Compagnie Kossiwa in Nantes and Compagnie Thor in Brussels.
Teaching credits include The Martha Graham School, Tapei National University of the Arts, Trinity Laban Summer School, Free Art Fusion in Warsaw. He is on Faculty at The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris as well as at the Conservatoire Régional de Nantes, France
Simeon Qsyea
Simeon Qsyea is founder and director of BirdGang Dance Company a hip hop theatre company based in London. Simeon trained at The Urdang Academy and the London School of Contemporary Dance. His versatile training has meant Simeon has had a wide range of jobs from theatre to film, contemporary to street dance and musicals to music videos. Simeon found commercial success with George Sampson, JLS, & Nigel Lythgoe's hit show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, which lead on to a host of other credits including BAFTA Awards Ceremony, MTV Awards, MOBO Awards, T4 on the Beach, Brit Awards, The next stepa, The Dumping Ground and more. Most recently Simeon has been directing and choreographing a circus show "The magnificent melodic machine" and a theatre production "Stripped” staring TV and theatre performer John Partridge. He has also worked with many established artists such as Ella Eyre, Dizzee Rascal, Will.i.am, Pink, 50 Cent, Alexandra Burke, Elias, Hexstatic, Boxettes to name a few. In addition to his choreography, Simeon is a skilled director. He directed and choreographed his first film "Shadow Men" for The Merce Cunningham Dance Company, teamed up with TV star Lamar Johnson to direct a concept film called Shade. His love of directing films started to draw up a catalogue of work that began making the rounds in UK and worldwide at film festivals with success from Wingspan, Take Off and Fallen. Simeon has taught at many dance colleges in the UK, including Pineapple Performing Arts School, Boogie Zone, Greenwich Dance Agency, Jonzi D productions, Sadler’s Wells, as well as workshops across Europe and worldwide