North West: Vicky Sheard
Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton, Bury, Cheshire, Cumbria, Halton, Knowsley, Lancashire, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Sefton, St Helens, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Warrington, Wigan, Wirral, Isle of Man

Vicky has been a teacher and head of dance in secondary education and sixth form for 13 years. She is an associate director of Homegrown Dance Theatre, an organization promoting excellence in dance experiences for children and young people across Cheshire and its surrounding areas. Vicky has also spent some time working for Cheshire County Council in a temporary role as Curriculum Advisor for dance and worked as a GCSE examiner for the written paper. She is also qualified as a Lead IV for BTEC performing arts: Dance Level 2.

Vicky loves traveling, and makes sure that she sees the sunshine and a new place every year!

Contact Vicky vicky.sheard@ndta.org.uk 

West Midlands: Rachael Alexander
Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Sandwell, Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Solihull, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire

Rachael is the YDE School Dance Coordinator for Worcestershire where her work involves training PE teachers to deliver successful dance lessons and providing support to specialist dance teachers in the County. Rachael also leads and choreographs for the Worcestershire Youth Dance Company (W’ire), and teaches GCSE and A-level dance at Worcester Sixth Form College. 

She has worked in the West Midlands for eleven years following training at The Laban Centre. During this time she has choreographed and performed with regional dance companies, led county youth dance companies in Warwickshire and Staffordshire, worked as a Dance Artist in Residence and as a rehearsal director. She has led numerous dance classes and workshops for people of all ages and abilities and has delivered sessions at Worcestershire Dance Teachers Association conferences and at NDTA conferences. She also choreographs for Vamos Theatre Company.

Contact Rachael rachael.alexander@ndta.org.uk

East Midlands: Karen Bailey
Derby, Derbyshire, Leicester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Rutland

Karen has a B.Ed in Dance from Laban and an MA in Education and is currently working as a Learning Advisor for Dance in Northamptonshire.

As part of her current role she is involved in promoting the delivery of high quality dance in Northamptonshire and hence has a network of dance practitioners. She holds network meetings to disseminate good practice, cascade initiatives and ascertain the CPD needs of the teachers. Recently this network has been opened to dance teachers from neighbouring counties due to demand for support from teachers who have moved into new areas from Northamptonshire.

Karen has a passion for dance and wants to give children and young people the opportunity to engage in high quality experiences.

Contact Karen karen.bailey@ndta.org.uk

North East: Charlotte Mumby
Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesborough, Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar & Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton on Tees, Sunderland

Charlotte is Leader of Dance at The Blyth School, Community College, Northumberland. She completed a PGCE in Dance Teaching at The Royal Academy of Dance after graduating from the University of Northumbria with a BA(Hons) in Dance. Charlotte has lead GCSE Expressive Arts, BTEC First Certificate in Performing Arts, year nine Bronze Arts Award and A-Level Performance Studies.

She believes that it is important to contextualise the Performing Arts beyond the confines of the subject itself, and that performance can be utilised to repress perceived gender inequalities, celebrate cultural diversity, raise awareness and promote equal opportunities for all.

In Charlotte’s current role she has provided opportunities for young people to interact with industry professionals by introducing guest artists to enrich and inspire her students. This has led to residency projects with Rambert Dance Company, Ludus Dance, Virtual Motion, and Appetite Chinese Dance Company. Through work with DanceCity (National Dance Agency for the North East), during the past three years The Blyth School has become a centre for excellence in dance. The Blyth School was the first school in the North East with a Foundation Training Programme for young people from the area, which feeds into the CAT programme.

Outside of the classroom Charlotte has worked with local authority initiatives to develop Performing Arts across curriculum boundaries, the Annual Blyth Bedlington Dance Festival, now in it's third year, brings together dancers from local feeder schools, private dance schools and community groups to give students an opportunity to perform and experience different genres of dance. In September 2007, with the support of the Schools Sports Partnership, she established Blyth Schools Youth Dance which toured local feeder schools throughout July 2008. Charlotte enjoys staying in touch with current practice and is enthusiastic to share and develop this knowledge in collaboration with others.

South West: Sue Whitford
Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Isles of Scilly, North Somerset, Plymouth, Poole, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Torbay, Swindon, Wiltshire, Channel Islands

Sue trained at the Laban Centre for 4 years and since then has taught Dance in both the Private and State sectors through all phrases to HE Level and is an examiner for AQA in AS/A2 Level Dance. Sue was a co-founder and artistic director of Cornwall Youth Dance Company for 15 years and is a board member of The Works (Dance & Theatre Cornwall) and Dance South West. Currently she works as a Freelance Dance & Education Consultant throughout the South of England delivering bespoke training in Dance in Education and more recently the new Creative and Media Diploma.

Contact Sue - sue.whitford@ndta.org.uk

London: Jessica Johnson
Barking & Dagenham, Barnet, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Richmond upon Thames, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, Westminster

After graduating from Middlesex University with a BA Hons in Performing Arts: Dance, Jess completed a PGCE at Chelsea School Brighton University. She then worked at Northfleet School for Girls in Kent for 5 very enjoyable years. Jess is now Head of Dance at The Jo Richardson Community School in Dagenham, East London. Barking and Dagenham is a very active and inspiring Borough, with a very supportive network and Jess looks forward to working with teachers from across the London region. She prides herself on ensuring success for all through Dance.

Wales: Rebecca Roach
Wales

Rebecca did her Dance Degree at the University of Surrey and her PGCE at the University of Brighton/Chelsea College. She has been a teacher of Dance for 11 years (KS3, GCSE and A Level), Head of Dance Department for 7 years and for the last 3 years has been Head of Performing Arts and Sport Faculty at Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Rebecca is passionate about Dance and Dance Education – and believes ‘The Arts’ are a really important aspect of a child’s education and experience.

Contact Rebecca - rebecca.roach@ndta.org.uk

Scotland: Viv Taylor
Scotland

After graduating in 1987 from Dunfermline College of Physical Education in Edinburgh where she specialised in the Arts, Viv moved to Kent. She spent several years teaching Physical Education and Dance in Kent schools, was an active committee member of Kent Dance Association and administrator for Kent Dance Enterprise where she helped organise the Kent Dance Festival in 1999.

In Scotland, Viv worked as Dance Development Officer for City Moves in Aberdeen and was administrator and choreographer for ‘Build a Performance’ for the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.

In 2003 Viv moved to the South of France where she spent 6 years teaching community dance.

Now back in Aberdeenshire, Viv is visiting teacher of Physical Education in the primary sector and is passionate about developing the profile of dance in Scottish Education.

Outside Europe: Catherine Tully
Outside Europe

Catherine has been involved with dance for over 36 years and has taught for over 22 years, both in the United States and Japan. She has worked at both the high school and university level, as well as in the studio. Holding a BA in Exercise Science and Fitness Management, she has studied dance under teachers such as Maria and Marjorie Tallchief, Inessa Alexandrovich (Bolshoi trained) and various faculty at Hubbard Street Dance Company's Lou Conte Dance Studio. Catherine has a strong background in Ballet, but has also studied Irish Step Dance, Jazz dance and Russian character dance. In addition to her dance and teaching career she is an award-winning freelance author and has written articles for Dance Teacher Magazine, Dance Spirit, Highland Dancer, American Fitness and IDEA Health and Fitness Source. She is also a dance photographer and lecturer.

Catherine's blog:

http://4dancers.wordpress.com