Miss Miranda Beard

Miss Miranda’s dance tuition began at Stapleton School of Dancing under Miss Short, who founded the school in 1942. Miss Short had a large dance school producing many successful dancers and teachers. Miss Miranda continued her training at Bristol College of Dancing where she achieved her RAD Teacher Certificate with Distinction.

As well as training to become a teacher she also enjoyed a successful professional career. Her first summer season was based in the Isle of Wight with Jimmy Tarbuck under leading choreographer Phil Winston. The second summer season (also the Isle of Wight) as Head Girl was with Les Dennis, choreographer Jan Lynton. The third summer season on the Isle of Man was as choreographer for stars Jimmy Cricket, Stan Boardman and Sonia. She also danced at Bristol Hippodrome with Max Bygraves.

Miss Miranda was also joint owner/choreographer to a dance troupe called ‘Split Level’ whose credits include numerous shows for ITV and the BBC and numerous one night performances with various artists.

As Miss Short grew closer to retirement, Stapleton School of Dancing only offered Ballet and Tap. Miss Miranda introduced Modern and Jazz back onto the timetable which has grown with popularity over the years. In 1990 she took over the Stapleton School of Dancing (SSD) from Miss Short. Between 1990 and 2003 she continued her teacher training under Miss J Hockaday, gaining four Associates in Ballet, Modern, Tap and National. She built upon these foundations by attaining my Associate Diploma, Licentiate and Licentiate Diplomas in Ballet, Modern and Tap. She then went on to achieve her Fellowships in Modern and Tap, which is the highest qualification awarded by the ISTD, of which only a very few gain.

Miss Sam started dancing with Stapleton School of Dancing at age 3. Through the school she took part in numerous examinations, shows, demonstrations and festivals which all worked to prepare her for a career in dance.  At 18 she left Stapleton to attend full time training at Stella Mann College in Bedford, under the direction of Mary Breen. While at the college Miss Sam was taught by numerous West End performers and choreographers as well as examiners M Shea and E Keunen.

Upon completing her three year Performance course, Miss Sam achieved a Level 6 NQF in Professional Musical Theatre. She also worked to continue her ISTD qualifications in preparation for her teaching career and gained her Advanced 2 Tap, Advanced 1 Modern and Intermediate Ballet as well as her F.D.I. teaching qualifications in Modern, Tap and Ballet.

Miss Sam then embarked upon her varied and successful performance career by joining the Jean Ann Ryan Production Company, a leading name in cruise ship entertainment.  This took Miss Sam all over the world and gave her the chance to work with an extensive range of people, including Liz Imperio (Choreographer to Madonna/Jessica Simpson), Michiko Wilson (an ex-Rockette), one of the lead choreographers and performers of Tap Dogs, and a trained Geisha! It also gave her the opportunity to learn aerial skills, poi work, roller skating, scuba diving, white water rafting and even try bungee jumping!

Within the Jean Ann Ryan Production Company Miss Sam worked her way up from original cast member on the Norwegian Pearl to Dance Captain on P&O Arcadia, allowing her to gain managerial and choreographic experience.   Miss Sam has also worked for Showstoppers Worldwide, under the direction of Paul Walsh (original Choreographer for Take That), performing in various casinos across Europe as a company member and soloist artist. Shorter contracts include a summer dancing across Turkey and a Christmas contract in Birmingham performing a ‘Swinging Sixties’ show.

In her spare time Miss Sam continued teaching and had the privilege of working at Stella Mann Lower School, Bedford; Sylvia Bebb School of Ballet and Theatre Arts, Bedford; Cork Art Studio, Cork, Ireland; Joan Denise Moriarty School of Dance (founder of Irish National Ballet) Cork, Ireland and periodically returned home to teach at Stapleton School of Dancing.

Miss Sam joined Stapleton School of Dancing full time when she entered into partnership with Miranda Beard in April 2009 and is enjoying developing her managerial and teaching skills. Miss Sam is also currently studying for further professional and teaching qualifications and has recently achieved her Advanced 2 certificate in ISTD Modern and National, as well as her Diploma in Dance Education in Modern, Tap, National and Ballet, under the direction of Miss Judith Hockaday. She is now embarking on her Licentiate qualifications and is completing her RAD Ballet CBTS qualification through distance learning.

Emily has been dancing since the age of two and a half years, beginning her training in Nailsea with Mrs Jennie Nelms. She continued her ballet training with Ruth Lewis and the Bristol School of Dancing (Clifton), where she completed all major ISTD and RAD exams, including Advanced 2 Tap and Advanced 2 Modern exams (passed with Honours) and Advanced 1 ballet.

Emily began her career as a Professional Dancer dancing in a show in Disneyland Paris, where she worked for 8 months. She danced in a show called 'Animagique' performing as Sleeping Beauty in a show 6 times a day! She also had the chance to play some other well known characters including Raffiki (the Lion King), King Louis (The Jungle Book), an Elephant (from Dumbo!), and to operate many of the puppets and kites which were used as props in the show.

Emily is a qualified RAD teacher, gaining her CBTS in 2011 as well as her Modern D.D.I Exam and is now working towards her Tap D.D.I. She still takes regular Advanced Ballet classes with Ruth Lewis, and other regular dance classes in the Bristol area. She also continues to perform and choreograph annually with the Bristol University Dance Society. Emily enjoys teaching on a freelance basis for a number of local Dance Schools in Bristol and choreographing solo and group dances for local productions and Eistedfodds. She is delighted to have the opportunity to teach for Stapleton School of Dance.

Miss Rachael Brierley

Rachael began her dance training in Manchester at the age of 15 studying a variety of genres, before focusing her attention to the art of teaching Classical Ballet, at the Royal Academy of Dance, London. Here Rachael trained under many well respected RAD examiners and ex-professional dancers, gaining her BA (Hons) Ballet Education and her RAD RTS.

Rachael has performed as part of a touring company in the North West of England and more recently has appeared on Disney Channel UK’s High School Musical - Make It Happen as a professional dancer.

However Rachael’s passion for Classical Ballet lies in teaching this art form. Rachael has also choreographed for a variety of events, in particular for charity gala’s. Rachael’s most recent and exciting adventure is the setting up of the RAD system at a prestigious performing arts school in North Carolina, USA. Rachael is currently teaching in the Bristol area and also delivers festival and examination coaching in London, where she also still takes class - the pointe shoes are not to be hung up just yet!

Katherine began her dance training at a very young age. She attended the ‘Robinson Read School of Dance’ from the age of 2 – 18. She completed her British Ballet Organisation exams in Jazz and Tap and reached ‘Advanced Two’ level for ballet.  She was a Junior Associate with The Hammond School and a British Ballet Organization Jazz Scholar. She was a member of a youth dance company run by Merville Jones (founder member of Phoenix Dance Company) as well as a finalist at the ‘All England National Dance Finals’ competition at the Peacock Theatre three times a finalist at the’ Miss Dance of Great Britain’ competition at The Blackpool Winter Gardens.

Katherine went on to study a BA (Hons) in Acting: Musical Theatre at The Central School of Speech and Drama undergoing a professional training at degree level, studying a comprehensive array of plays and theatre. Whilst at Central School of Speech and Drama she was the dance captain for all five of the professional shows.

Katherine has performed at significant venues including the Folger Theatre, Washington DC and on the Olivier stage of the National Theatre as Oleg, the female lead, in the world premiere of ‘Bedbug’. She has appeared as a dancer in several music videos, has featured in short films and a BBC 2 comedy series.  She played the principal girl in the pantomime of ‘Robinson Crusoe’ at the Leatherhead Theatre and was a dancer and choreographer for numerous educational DVD’s and resources.

Katherine is currently employed teaching GCSE Dance at The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and London Contemporary Dance School, both of which are specialist performing arts schools in London.  She also teaches GCSE Dance at a private dance school in Woking.

Katherine is currently a Team Leader and examiner for GCSE Dance Unit 2. She is also a moderator for GCSE Dance. For the past three years she has been an approved teacher of the Set Dance delivering teacher support sessions and acting as a freelance specialist teacher to schools nationally, teaching the set dance and choreographing Unit 3 performance pieces to groups of pupils largely in Years 10 and 11. She is also employed on a freelance basis by both Arts-Pool and Keynote Educational as a course leader for teacher and student conferences.

Katherine is looking forward to teaching GCSE Dance at Stapleton School Of Dancing. 

Julie has worked as a professional dancer and singer for the past 21 years. She trained at The South East Theatre School. West End and touring theatre credits include, original cast of "Mack & Mabel" at the Picadilly Theatre and at the Leicester Haymarket, "West Side Story" at The Prince of Wales Theatre, "Grease" choreographed by Arlene Philips, playing the part of "Cha Cha" both in the West End (Victoria Palace Theatre) and on the UK tour '96-98', the original cast of the UK tour of "Sunset Boulevard" choreographed by the infamous Peter Darling, where she also met her lighting designer husband Mark.

She was dance captain to Stephen Mear and played Lucy the Banjo girl in "Half a Sixpence" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, directed by Jude Kelly, and "Pickwick" choreographed by Gillian Lynne and starring Harry Secombe.

Julie cruised all over the world withThe P&O Cruises Stadium Theatre Company from '91-94', where her credits include "My Fair Lady", "Buddy", Nancy in "The Boyfriend" and Gertie Cummings in "Oklahoma".

 She has danced in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Tokyo, and spent much of her early career as a hair and fashion model, touring the UK and Europe for companies such as L'Oreal, Redken, Reebok, Puma, Ballantines Whiskey and car launches for VW Passat and Beetle.

She has also appeared in pop videos and TV appearances include The Royal Variety Performance, The Biz, Talking Telephone Numbers, This Morning. Julie has worked as a performer and choreographer for Cheltenham’s Focus theatre for 5 years, working on a variety of musicals, plays and cabarets at Cheltenham’s Playhouse Theatre, and was choreographer for Blue Parrot production’s “The Witches of Eastwick” at The Bacon Theatre, Cheltenham.

Julie recently obtained her FDI teaching qualifications in Modern and Tap and is a teacher on the Performing Arts degree course at Gloucestershire University. She has recently taught at Janet Marshall’s summer school and runs her own classes in Chalford, as well as singing a local band.

Julie is a very proud mum to Holly and Daisy and is very happy to be part of Miranda’s fantastic school.

Ruth trained at the Arts Educational School, Tring Park, and the Royal Ballet Upper School. She became a professional dancer at eighteen, performing with Stuttgart Ballet Company, Ivor Meggido’s Jazz Group and on various television shows including Second Generation.

As Artistic Director of Bristol Youth Ballet Company for 10 years, she worked with talented young dancers from all over the South West. Here she created many original works, including ‘The Snowman’ which was performed on Children’s Television and her famous ‘Cardboard City’ - aday in the life of the homeless, which was performed to a musical score of songs by The Beatles.

Ruth joined Stapleton School of Dancing in 2009 and teaches within the Senior School. Specialising mainly in Classical Ballet and National Dance, Ruth concentrates on the vocational training (Major examinations) of dancers aged ten years and upwards.  Development of the artistic flair, as well as the technical potential of the individual has always been her main focus.

Miss Jennie Morrison-Smith

Having

Having started dancing at the age of 3, Miss Jennie joined Stapleton School of Dancing in Minchinhampton, age 6, where she took her ballet, modern and tap grades. 

She completed her Diploma in Dance Instruction with Judith Hockaday, where she is continuing to study for the Diploma in Dance Education in Modern, Tap, Ballet and National dance.  As part of her continued professional development she will be studying for the RAD Ballet teaching certificate through distance learning. 

Miss Jennie has danced in shows in Stroud and Swindon.  Her passion for dance teaching began while assisting Miss Miranda, Miss Emma Weeks and Miss Alison and she now enjoys teaching two nights a week.

Miss Amy Norcombe

Amy began dancing with Stapleton School of dancing at the age of 3 years old and performed in many Stapleton School of Dancing shows while working her way up through the grades of ballet, tap and modern. When she left school Amy joined Dance Academy South West Dance College under the expert tuition of Kathy Plaster to gain further qualifications in dance, choreography and teaching. At college she has been taught  by many professional dancers  and adagio dancers, in particular, Zeph Gould who has had a major starring role in the musical ‘Cats’, ‘Wizard of Oz’ as well as many others.

Whilst at college Amy has appeared on stage at the Bristol Hippodrome as a dancer in the opera ‘Aida’ and Turandot. She also had the pleasure of working with the producer, Ellen Kent.

Amy has completed a two year course with Dance Academy South West and is currently studying to gain her DDI and DDE qualifications. She also now teaches several dance classes in the local area, which are very successful. Amy’s routines give children the opportunity to express themselves through dance and bring out their confidence.

“In September 2010 thanks to Miss Miranda and Miss Sam I was pleased to join the team of teachers at Stapleton School of Dancing, and it’s a pleasure to be working for my old school.”

Miss Kerri O'Mahony

Miss Kerri started dancing Ballet at the age of 3, progressing to Tap, Modern, Jazz and Irish by the age of 5.  Miss Kerri has entered many competitions around the country and Irish Feis, reaching the England finals at Sadler’s Wells.

Miss Kerri has danced in many pantomimes and shows including Cinderella with the Bristol Youth Ballet.

At 14 Miss Kerri started assisting in dance classes and went on to train at Bristol College of Dancing where she gained F.D.I and C.D.E. teaching qualifications.

For the past couple of years Miss Kerri has enjoyed teaching for Stapleton School of Dancing as well as others in Weston, Cheltenham, Cheddar and Downend, providing Miss Kerri the opportunity to develop her choreography skills with competition entrants and college shows.

Having trained for 3 years at the Hammond Ballet school, Chester. Emma Sage graduated with distinction in 1993, with teaching qualifications from the Royal Academy of Dancing and Imperial Society of Dancing.

Her dancing career flourished both UK and abroad, working with top choreographers Linda Crockett and Arlene Philips.

Emma’s roots brought her back to Bristol, teaching freelance around the Southwest and she became Ballet Mistress of Bristol Youth Ballet under Artistic Director, Ruth Lewis.

Emma became owner and principal of the Annette Adams school of Dancing, in 1995.
Over the years the dancing school has entered thousands of Children into RAD and ISTD Exams, of which Emma was proud to boast a 100% Pass rate.

Outside of the day to day teaching Emma also arranged, directed and choreographed Bi annual school productions.

Such of the calibre of students taught at the school many have gone onto Vocational dance schools, and professional dancing and teaching careers, UK and abroad.
Emma now continues to teach dance to various schools in the Southwest.

Miss Emma Tobitt

Miss Emma T started dancing at the age of 14 with Tina Kelly.  She went on to study at Bristol College of Dancing with Denny Wide and was taught by Miss Miranda Beard during this time.

Having gained her teaching qualifications, Miss Emma T danced professionally for the Daniel Dean Illusion Show as Head Assistant, also choreographing the dance routines for the large stage show.

After 3 years Miss Emma T decided to go back to teaching gradually building up part time work until 2004 when she had sufficient teaching duties to allow her to leave her office job.  Miss Emma T now teaches full time, freelance for various dance schools and organisations.

Her role in Stapleton School of Dancing is to choreograph and rehearse routines for the many dance festivals and Eisteddfods throughout the year.  Stapleton School of Dancing has been very successful in competitions, gaining many medals and providing dancers the opportunity to perform to an audience.

Miss Emma T covered Miss Miranda’s maternity leave on Thursdays at Minchinhampton for a period of 18 months, teaching Baby Ballet through to Grade 5. 

Miss Emma T is also a professional singer, performing in theatres across the country in the Number Ones Show.  She also sings with a 14 piece funk and soul party band called ‘Bring Down the House’.  Miss Emma T has found this experience vital to aid young people to develop their own performance skills.