Senior Summer School

Amy Thacke
Ballet and Repertoire Faculty

Amy Louise Thake trained in Hertfordshire before joining the Royal Ballet Upper School,
graduating with a DipHE in Dance Performance in 2004, having gained distinctions in all
major RAD examinations and winning the Barbara Fewster Cecchetti Scholarship in

On graduating, she toured with Images of Dance before joining the National Ballet
of Ireland from 2005 to 2010, where she performed soloist and principal roles in
classical repertoire, including Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and The Nutcracker, and
created roles in works by choreographers Morgann Runacre-Temple and Ludovic
Ondiviela.

Amy has been a longstanding member of Yorke Dance Project, as a dancer and, more
recently, as Assistant Rehearsal Director. Her most celebrated works include the title
role in Kenneth MacMillan’s Isadora (2023) during the MacMillan Celebrated season at
the Royal Opera House, Sea of Troubles (2016), and Martha Graham’s solo Deep Song
(2025), which received five-star critical acclaim. She has had numerous works created
and reworked by the late Sir Robert Cohan, including Nymphaes (2015) and Twilight
(2016). Further highlights include work with The Royal Opera in Turandot (2017),
collaborations with the Cohan Collective and Dane Hurst, and guest artist appearances
at Staatstheater Bonn, Germany.

Alongside a 22-year performing career, Amy has 17 years of teaching experience in
dance, fitness and Pilates across vocational, pre-professional, and community settings,
including London Studio Centre, The Royal Ballet Lower School, and Yorke Dance
Project. As a Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teacher with a Level 6 qualification,
she brings a keen understanding of anatomy and movement mechanics to her practice.
Her approach encourages individuality through focus-point concepts, ensuring that
every student experiences success, appreciation, and personal joy in movement and
creation – nurturing the whole person as well as the dancer.

George-Murray Nightingale
Ballet and Repertoire Faculty

George-Murray Nightingale is a British ballet artist with 12 years of professional onstage experience. Throughout his career so far, George has performed soloist and principal roles as a company artist with leading international ballet companies including: English National Ballet, National Ballet of Romania, Royal Ballet of Flanders, The Australian Ballet and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures. He has also appeared as a guest artist with The Royal Ballet, including performances celebrating the 60th Anniversary of The Australian Ballet.

During his time with The Australian Ballet, George performed 14 consecutive seasons at the Sydney Opera House and has performed extensively across the world in leading classical and contemporary repertoires.

Now based in London as a freelance ballet and contemporary artist, George is developing his own choreographic voice alongside his performing career. In 2026, he worked as a guest rehearsal director for Ballet Mar and was named an Artist in Residence at The Lowry, where he has been developing original contemporary ballet works. He also frequently collaborates with the Royal Academy of Dance.

George shares both his studio and onstage life with his husband, Yipeng Xu, who is a dancer with Scottish Ballet.

Belinda Roy
Contemporary Technique and Creative Faculty

Originally from Canterbury, Belinda graduated with a first-class BA (Hons) in Ballet Education from the Royal Academy of Dance in 2019. She also gained a Distinction in becoming a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Dance and received the Iris Truscott Scholarship in her final year. Belinda then went on to complete an MA in Dance Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, whilst being a member of Transitions Dance Company. It was from this experience that she decided to combine both her teaching and performing career paths.

Belinda teaches ballet, contemporary and creative dance to a wide range of participants in private dance schools and community settings in and around London for organisations such as Rambert and the RAD. She is passionate about helping participants explore their creative potential whilst simultaneously improving their technical ability and confidence.

Belinda is also a freelance contemporary dancer and has performed internationally in stadium events, for television and in theatres including the Royal Opera House.

Belinda’s experience of teaching and performing culminates in fun, challenging and rewarding dance lessons, where the students will feel supported in a safe and positive environment.

Jacob Wye
Contemporary Technique and Creative Faculty

Jacob Wye joined Ballet Black in 2012 and Rambert in 2017, performing works by Hofesh Shechter, Wayne McGregor and Ben Duke. After training at the Royal Ballet Lower School and Central School of Ballet, he appeared as “Siegfried” in Peaky Blinders and in music videos for Jessie Ware and Years & Years. He performed in The Marvels and Beetlejuice 2, Longchamp’s Strand Event, was assistant choreographer for Hermès Brides De Gala immersive event, and was a part of the choreography team for the Commonwealth Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, creating for and rehearsing over 800 dancers. A regular guest artist for the Royal Ballet and Opera’s Linbury Stage projects, he featured in the dance and text plays, “The Limit” (Lemons, Lemons, Lemons by Sam Steiner) and Ruination (Lost Dog). Recently making his west end debut, Jacob played The Dignitary, in Tegan Summers Theatrics production, Mozart Her Story. Jacob created the role of The Reflection in Kim Brandstrup’s “Echo/Narcissus” and performed at The Theatre De La Ville in the trio, “Mixtape” a new work from Liam Francis. Supporting many creation processes as collaborator, Jacob has worked alongside Jess & Morgan and Fallen Angels and has created original work for Graduate Students around England and in China. He is also ambassador for Chance to Dance- the Royal Ballet and Opera’s outreach program. Jacob is currently Associate Choreographer for Ballet Black and a Cheshire Dance Trustee.  

All students will participate in classical ballet technique and contemporary technique classes in the morning, followed by repertoire and choreography/creative sessions in the afternoon. Each class will be approximately 1.5 hours in duration.

To get a feel for what a day at the Senior Summer School looks like, see our example timetable.

Please note, this course does not include pointe work.

Students should be between ages 11 – 25 to attend this course.

Senior Summer School students should currently be studying the Vocational Graded ballet syllabus Intermediate up to Advanced 2, or the equivalent, and therefore be familiar with the ballet terminology and phrases at Intermediate level or above. There is no audition, selection, or elimination process. Students will be grouped by the Artistic Team according to their age and the information provided on their application relating to their Grade in ballet and other dance experience. Please ensure your application is accurate.

Students can be studying the RAD ballet syllabus or another ballet syllabus, and are not required to have RAD Membership to be eligible to attend the London Summer School. Please review our syllabus vocabulary if you are unsure what level they are currently studying.

Are you studying Grade 2 – Inter-Foundation ballet, or equivalent? See our Junior Summer School.

Monday-Friday: 9.45am – 5pm
Saturday: Hours vary

A full timetable will be included in the final Information Pack sent to all attendees following the closing date.

Students will have a short morning and afternoon break with a longer lunch break in the middle of the day.

On the day of the theatre trip, there will be a later finish and on the Saturday, hours will vary for the open day.

Students must bring a packed lunch each day as this will not be provided. Snacks and drinks will be available for students during the breaks. All dietary requirements should be submitted at the time of applying.

The Summer School will be held at our purpose-built studios in London.

Royal Academy of Dance
188 York Road
London
SW11 3JZ

See helpful information on how to find us here.

As part of the Senior Summer School students will attend an evening performance at one of London’s top dance theatres with dinner provided at the RAD beforehand. Please note, coaches will be provided to escort all students to the theatre and parents must collect students under 18 from the theatre after the show. See further details about the performance below:

Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures – The Car Man

Thursday 13 August 2026, 7.30pm

Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TN

Matthew Bourne’s award-winning The Car Man is back! Loosely based on Bizet’s ever-popular opera, The Car Man has one of the most thrilling and instantly recognisable scores in New Adventures’ repertoire.

The familiar 19th Century Spanish cigarette factory becomes a greasy 1950s garage-diner in the American Mid-West where the dreams and passions of a small-town are shattered by the arrival of a handsome and enigmatic stranger. Fuelled by heat and desire, the inhabitants are driven into an unstoppable spiral of greed, lust, betrayal and revenge.

Matthew Bourne’s vivid storytelling combines with one of the most passionately dramatic scores ever written, with music by Terry Davies featuring Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite (after Bizet’s Carmen), to create a dance thriller like no other.

The Car Man will ignite your senses and leave you breathless.

One tuition award will be presented to a student (at any level) who has shown significant improvement at the RAD Junior Summer School. The award is one week’s tuition at an RAD Summer School in 2027 or 2028.