Evening dance classes

Wendy O Dowd

Wendy started her full time Dance training at the Dance School of Scotland after being a junior associate at Scottish Ballet. She then continued her studies at Laine Theatre Arts. 

Her professional career as a dancer took her around the world as well as performing in London. Returning home, she embarked on her teaching career.

After continuing her teaching qualifications Wendy became a duel examiner for the ISTD in 2004 and has progressed to examining at Vocational and DDE level exams. Wendy is also on the teaching teams for both ISTD Modern and Tap faculties and has delivered student and teacher courses both in the UK and Internationally. 

Wendy has extensive teaching experience. She  has taught at many schools and full time colleges and currently teaches at Italia Conti, Bird College and Wilkes Academy.

Wendy has always had a passion for conditioning for dancers, injury prevention and rehabilitation which naturally led her towards Pilates and she became a qualified Pilates Mat teacher in 2019. Wendy is also a qualified RAD teacher and certified PBT teacher.

Samuel Lewis-Wright

Samuel started dancing at Timestep Academy of Dance aged 7, and hasn’t stopped since! Samuel went on to train professionally at Bird College, furthering his knowledge of dance and musical theatre, as well as his passion for the performing industry. As well as performing, Samuel is extremely passionate about teaching and enjoys not only the creative side of teaching but also providing a strong technical class for his pupils. Samuel is keen to inspire his students and is incredibly excited to be joining the GSA evening dance class team.

MA Performance Dance, BA (hons) Dance and Music, ISTD DDE, RAD DDTS RTS

Emily spent her early childhood in Australia and then moved to England. She is a creative artist working in both the dance and music sectors. She regularly choreographs for live shows and music videos working with a variety of artists and this has led to an international career choreographing for live shows. Her music video choreography sees her working for companies such as Sony Music, Dreamworks, Universal as well as working independently with singers and artists, and she has choreographed for live TV performances on CBBC . In recent years she has started working more with the medium of film and her piece "4.23" was featured in Alexandre Magazine for pieces of inspiring contemporary choreography. Live she has been privileged to create work for large scale productions at prestigious venues such as LANXESS Arena Cologne, IndigoO2, The Excel, Metropolis Halle Berlin as well as festivals and smaller venues both across the UK and abroad. 

Emily has a Masters degree in Performance Dance specialising in dance pedagogy as well as a BA (hons) Degree in Dance and Music. She is a Licentiate with the ISTD and has a level 5 Diploma in Dance Teaching Studies from the RAD. She has over 15 years’ teaching experience in state and private sectors, preparing young people for careers in performing arts, and coaching professional dancers. Throughout her teaching career she has been lucky to meet and nurture young performers both in her own dance school and at vocational schools and organisations, including Rambert, Italia Conti, GSA, Hampshire Dance and University of Chichester, as well as teaching workshops at various schools, colleges and organisations, GCSE Dance and private wedding dance lessons.

Music is intrinsic to both her dance practise and her life. She has created a career in music alongside that of dance and the two regularly cross paths. She is a multi-instrumentalist and has performed at venues around the country, the biggest of which include Buckingham Palace, Birmingham NEC and The Albert Hall as well as festivals and smaller music venues nationally. She regularly plays with an alternative rock band (Vocals and Bass Guitar), a ska band (Vocals, Piano, Saxophone) and a metal band (Vocals) as well as performing her solo work as a singer-songwriter on a variety of instruments. She composes music both for collaboration with dance artists and for her own choreography. Over the 2020/21 lockdowns she hosted and performed at a variety of online music shows/virtual gigs raising money for struggling music venues.