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Our Academy
Our passion is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all students to learn the disciplines of dance, taught by a team of caring and dedicated teachers whose commitment and enthusiasm aims to motivate and inspire every child.
We encourage all our students to reach their own potential from their very first step to their final bow and help to build their confidence and allow them to explore and share a passion in dance.
With the Principal Miss Kim an expert Mindset Coach for dancers and the Vice Principal Miss Melissa an expert in dance biomechanics and nutrition, our dancers mental & physical wellbeing is always at the forefront of our training.
Our Faculty
Our Principal - Miss Kim
From the early age of 3, Kim followed in her mum’s footsteps and began her dance journey and performing at the Rainbow School of Dance under the guidance of Mary Forrester in Portsmouth, Hampshire.
After enjoying a young career of performing in many professional shows, pantomimes and TV commercials, at sixteen Kim moved to Essex to complete a three-year intensive course at the prestigious ‘Performers Dance College’ training in all aspects of Musical Theatre.
Upon graduating Kim began her career working as a singer/dancer for various cruise liners around the world and after many years of travelling Kim returned to the UK to work as a choreographer and it was during this time Kim embarked on the idea of her own production entitled ‘Divas’. This production took Kim to southern Spain where she continued to work for the next 3 years.
In 2009 Kim sadly lost her mum very unexpectedly and this spurred Kim to make the decision to return to the UK and reignite her passion for teaching. In 2013 after completing further qualifications and teaching for various schools and a vocational dance college, Kim pursued her lifelong ambition of opening her own dance school to train the next generation of dancers.
Kim is always striving to better herself and in 2022 became licentiate trained with I.S.T.D.
Kim is also a mindset and transformation coach for young dancers and is trained in NLP, Counselling skills and many other qualifications. As an expert in this field, she has a huge passion for the wellbeing of her dancers and making significant contributions to the world of dance.
“P.H.A.D was the obvious name choice for the dance school in memory of my Mum. She inspired me not only as a dancer, but to also work hard and be dedicated to succeed in life”
Other Work Credits Include –
Mental health lecturer for ISTD, The Dance Business conference and Rosina Andrews.
Vocational Teacher at MPAA
Chat Show Presenter for 'VIVA TV'
Dancer on ITV1 for various programmes such as 'GMTV', 'Big Breakfast' and 'Talking Telephone Numbers'
Advert for Ford Cars
Opening Ceremony of Euro 96 alongside ‘Simply Red’
London Fashion Show with 'Joe Pasquale'
Opening Ceremony of World Rugby League alongside ‘Cliff Richard’
West End Tour 'Evita'
West End Tour of the original 'Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat'
Peppermint Patty in 'Snoopy' Directed by Nigel West, Choreographed by Stephen Mear
Singer/Dancer on Airtours Cruises & Carnival Cruises
Entertainment Executive for large Holiday Company - Cinque Ports Leisure
Head of Ballet, P.B.T., Pointe Work Assessor, C.A.T.S Creator
Vice Principal - Miss Melissa
Melissa began dancing at the age of 3, training in the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus at a local ballet school in Hoddesdon. It was assisting in younger classes that made Melissa realise she wanted to teach dance.
In 2011, she began her ISTD teacher training in the Imperial Classical Ballet and National Dance at Penny Meeking’s Teacher Training College in Royston, Hertfordshire.
This gave her the opportunity to volunteer at several dance schools in the area, gaining invaluable experience.
Melissa joined the PHAD team in 2013 and quickly became a firm favourite with the students and has since added other qualifications with the Progressive Ballet Technique training.
Melissa also wrote a unique Pre Pointe class assessment for the school, as well as co-creating C.A.T.S (Class Assistant Training Scheme) alongside Miss Kim.
In 2021, Melissa was eager to learn more about anatomy to improve herself as a dance teacher. Due to lockdown restrictions, she had a little more time on her hands and began a 6-week course with the Philip Cutts School of Dance and Sports Medicine.
The more she learned, the more she grew and gained knowledge in the anatomy of the body, the biomechanics of how it moves, the neurodynamics of how to make it move, and so much more. Melissa uses this new knowledge to help the students to have a greater depth of understanding of their body and how to be the best version of themselves.
In September 2023 Melissa was promoted to Vice Principal and works closely alongside Kim in the running of PHAD and has stepped into her new role with ease and excitement.
Miss Emma
Emma began dancing at a very young age attending the same dance school in Portsmouth as our Principal, Kim.
At the age of 18, Emma began her dance career on the Isle of Wight as a dancer at a prestigious Holiday company before moving to Clacton on Sea, Essex where she spent the next 6 years working her way from Dancer to Dance captain for the largest Holiday Park company, Park Dean Resorts.
Emma was also the choreographer for the Pantomime at the Princess Theatre in Clacton on Sea in 2011 working alongside X-Factors Marcus Collins.
In 2010 Emma finished working in the Holiday sector and retrained as a Zumba instructor, adding Kids Zumba in 2011, Zumba Gold in 2012 and Zumbini training in 2014. She is one of the most successful Zumba teachers around, as after 10 years her classes are still very popular.
Alongside her Zumba, Emma also runs her own successful Character Parties business and is very popular in and around the area with non-stop bookings.
Head of Early Years
Emma is now back in the dance world bringing her years of wealth and experience of working with children to PHAD and has helped develop the unique PHAD Kidz programme and is now Head of Early Years in the school.
Our children love Miss Emma as she has infectious energy and creativity in the classroom and no child ever leaves without a smile.
Tap, Modern, Contemporary, Musical Theatre and Street
Miss Alannah
Alannah has been dancing since she was just 4yrs old and became a student at P.H.A.D in 2013.
Since joining P.H.A.D she made huge progress and was the first student to win the Pamela Hebberd Academy of Dance School cup.
Alannah performed in many local productions and summer schools and went on to complete a 2-year course at Harlow College studying dance.
Alannah continued to also train at PHAD to complete her ISTD exams and went on to study at Anthony Clifford Dance College and Jackie Barnes to complete her ISTD DDE Modern and Tap.
In 2021 Alannah began teaching at PHAD and has gone from strength the strength in the past 3 years, not only producing winning work for our students, but also embracing new challenges as she now teaches, Tap, Modern, Street, Musical Theatre and Contemporary classes.
Miss Erin
Erin aka 'Titch' started her dance journey in PHAD at the age of 7 and spent the next 9 years working incredibly hard, entering various competitions and exams and was also awarded the School Trophy winner in 2016.
In 2022 Erin embarked on a two year foundation course at Performers College, Essex in which she graduated with fabulous results.
During her final 6 months at Performers, Erin auditioned at various Dance colleges and after being offered numerous placements she decided to accept a place at London Studio Centre where she has now begun her 3 years degree in Performing Arts.
Erin is thrilled to be joining the teaching team in which she herself trained, ready to inspire the younger generation, and they are super excited to have 'Titch' as their teacher!
Tap, Modern & Ballet
Tap, Modern & Ballet
Miss Aimee
Aimee has danced for 21 years since she was 4 1/2 years old.
Continuing her Dance studies at the Colchester institute she completed her course with a level 3 diploma.
Aimee knew that becoming a professional dancer was not in her story but knew she wanted to be able to inspire and encourage others in the world pf dance was which is why she took the route of becoming a dance teacher instead.
Aimee’s dream and aspirations for the future is to become a qualified Dance Teacher in all genres to help inspire the younger generation not just to dance but to also encourage them to have more confidence and to use their voices powerfully.
“I would also love to accomplish a deeper understanding with the mind and how it works throughout everyday life particularly in dance”.
Jenny
Jenny has been working as an Administrator at PHAD since October 2022 and also has a daughter as a student in the Clacton branch.
Jenny brings a wealth of experience to her position having worked in a variety of administrative roles for over 20 years. Despite having no dance background Jenny has been able to utilise her organisational skills and experience and apply them to the inner workings of the dance school with a particular focus in the areas of new enquires/enrolments and festival organisation. Jenny is keen to learn more and expand her remit to other areas of the school.
Administator
Coming up at P.H.A.D
Dates for you diary.