The Wimbledon Village School of Ballet

Wimbledon Village
School of Ballet 2012

Our Staff:

	Michelle Townsend - Principal Michelle received full time ballet training at The Bush Davies School in Sussex from the age of 13 years where she was awarded the Advanced RAD (Royal Academy of Dancing) ballet certificate and Advanced ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing) certificates in ballet, modern, and national dance. She also holds the ISTD teaching Diploma. As a student, Michelle was selected to dance in Sir Anton Dolin’s production of “Giselle”, touring with the Genee Ballet Company. She also toured the UK and abroad in full length productions of “Swan Lake”, “Sleeping Beauty”, and “The Nutcracker” with the Vienna Festival Ballet. Michelle performed many times at the Wimbledon Theatre unaware that Wimbledon would be the setting for meeting her husband and raising her two sons! Michelle has taught ballet for 19 years and joined The Wimbledon Village School of Ballet in 1993. She has coached several children to attend the prestigious Royal Ballet School Junior Associate programme. She currently teaches the senior students of the school and runs the administration.
	Fiona Keeble - Principal Fiona started her dance training at the Laine Theatre Arts, Epsom, completing her studies at The Hammond school, Chester,with a diploma in teaching.She reached Advanced level in ballet,modern and tap dance.After 10 years of professional dancing around the world, Fiona settled in Northern Italy where she spent 6 years teaching dance at the Marisa Faccio School, Ventimiglia.. In 1996 Fiona returned to Britain to marry her husband John and have daughter, Jessica and son James. She continued teaching ballet, tap and modern at the Margaret Dixon school of dance, Sutton. In 2002 she met Vernie Stilwell and has been happily teaching at the Wimbledon Village School of Ballet ever since.When Vernie decided to retire in December 2007 Fiona joined Michelle Townsend in partnership and looks forward to a successful future.
	Serena Horden - Ballet Teacher Serena was born in Yorkshire and moved to London after dancing professionally in Europe and England working in theatre, film and television. She has her Advanced Ballet and Modern certificates and holds her ISTD DDE teaching diplomas in these disciplines. She is also qualified in RAD and IDTA. Having taught for over 20 years, she has choreographed and created shows for children at Kings College, Epsom Theatre, Kingston College and Surbiton Assembly Rooms, raising money for Anthony Nolan Trust and the Born too Soon Campaign. She has taught students who have progressed to full time dance college. Serena is enjoying teaching at Wimbledon Village Ballet School.
	Hannah Lockyer - Teacher Contemporary Hannah is a freelance dance artist who trained at Roehampton University and Trinity Laban, gaining a BA (Hons) in Dance Studies and a Post Graduate Certificate: Dance in Community. Since graduating Hannah has taught for many internationally recognised dance organisations such as Sadlers Wells, London Youth Dance and Rambert Dance Company. Through freelancing for such organisations, Hannah has taught in various settings including youth clubs, primary schools, secondary schools and community centres to a wide range of ages and abilities. As well as this Hannah has recently been teaching GCSE dance, BTEC dance and A level dance at a secondary and sixth form school in Guildford. Alongside her teaching, Hannah likes to choreograph and perform working on various dance projects.
	Ann Booth - Pianist Ann Booth is a graduate of Trinity College of music, London and has combined a career as a piano teacher and accompanist with raising four children. Playing for Adult Education ‘keep fit’ evening classes and teaching adult piano classes led to playing for ballet classes at Pineapple Studios, Covent Garden and ballet and tap classes at Chelsea and Kensington Institute as well as teaching class singing at various London schools. Since retiring from school work Ann now concentrates on playing and singing in choirs, accompanying at the Wimbledon Village School of Ballet, teaching piano and babysitting 6 grandchildren aged 2-6yrs!
	Ben - Pianist Ben Ward was born in Hertfordshire and studied Maths at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he played in several concerts and had his introduction to choral accompaniment, leading to a more musical than mathematical life. He has worked as a pianist and teacher for eight years, accompanying (and occasionally conducting) for choirs and choral societies, ballet classes, theatre groups, school choirs, opera singers and instrumentalists. He has performed as an organist, a classical guitarist, a rock keyboardist, a piano accompanist, and a concerto soloist. He holds the Associated Board’s diploma in piano performance with distinction. His current teaching practice spans all ages from six to mid-forties, and all standards. He is interested in all styles of music, and in encouraging students to achieve a variety of goals, whether they are interested in passing exams, playing with others, or just having fun making music.
	Sef Hill - Pianist Sef studied at the Royal College of Music in London where he won the Kaye Wheeler prize for piano accompaniment and was awarded Dip.R.C.M. in both performance and teaching. After leaving college he spent a year with the Bush Davies School as one of their full-time ballet pianists. There he was introduced to West End musical director Anthony Bowles who encouraged him to pursue a career in musical theatre. Sef went on to play in "Me and My Girl" (West End), national tours of "Evita" and "Kiss Me Kate", was assistant musical director for "Lady Be Good" (Crucible, Sheffield), "Bertie" (Alex, Birmingham), and toured Germany as musical director for "A Slice of Saturday Night". He eventually decided to return to dance accompaniment, spending six months with Birmingham Royal Ballet before returning to live and work in London. In recent years Sef has played for company class for Ballet Rambert and at the Barbican for Michael Clark Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Phoenix Dance Theatre. In addition to The Wimbledon Village School of Ballet, he plays regularly for a variety of other children's ballet schools, The Cecchetti Centre's F.D.I and C.D.E. (teacher training) classes at London Studio Centre and for contemporary ballet classes at Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden.