Adult Ballet & Pilates Summer Course

Joshua Tuifua

Ballet technique – Improvers Class

Josh is a Thoroughbred of the Royal Ballet…

Discovered by an RBS outreach programme at the age of 9 in Westminster; by the time he was 10, Josh was a full time student at White Lodge. As he entered the school a year ahead of his age, he completed a total of six years at the Lower School in Richmond Park spending his final year as Head Boy.

After graduating from White Lodge, Josh spent two years studying at the RBS Upper School in Barons Court where he had the opportunity to participate in a school exchange with students from Paris Opera School in Nanterre.

On graduating from the Upper School, Josh became a member of the Royal Ballet performing as a Soloist for 16 years.

Josh is now a qualified teacher and a dedicated pioneer, advocating for accessibility to the arts and dance across social arenas…….

Josh is proudly a patron to:

Project Dance: A company for young dancers run by young creatives.

STEPPS: A mental wellbeing charity focusing on mental health for dancers.

Dance with Sonia Brown: a dance school in Berkshire, UK dedicated to facilitating mature dancers from any socio economic environment.

Josh has also developed a long term relationship with Prior’s Court, a Berkshire based residential school for young people with complex autism to progress CPD for existing dance teachers and to offer first hand practical placements for dance teachers in training.

Clare Freeman-Sergeant

Ballet Technique – Intermediate Class

As a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dance, Clare is delighted to have joined the Faculty of Education in August 2021 as a Lecturer in Dance Education. In her role as Lecturer, Clare teaches a variety of modules across a range of the Faculty of Education’s programmes of study, including undergraduate university-validated programmes and professional awards.

Prior to joining the Faculty of Education, Clare gained extensive international experience teaching RAD and non-syllabus ballet in a wide range of socio-cultural settings. Clare is also a Fellow of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (Imperial Ballet), holds an MA in Ballet Studies from the University of Roehampton, a PGCert in Performance Teaching (HE) from Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is a Fellow with Advance HE. Clare’s research interest and current field of study is Choreomusicology, which looks at music-dance relations and explores ways of discovering how these relationships may be revealed through examining their shared interdisciplinarity.

Damien Lee Stirk

Ballet Technique – Advanced Class

Damien is a highly motivated professional dancer, actor, and classical ballet teacher with over two decades of performing and teaching experience across esteemed international dance and theatre companies.

In 2011, he graduated with distinction from the Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma (PDTD) at the Royal Academy of Dance and remains a regular guest teacher with the RAD.

As the founder and director of The Dancers Studio London, Damien provides dancers with opportunities to train in some of the city’s most inspiring and renowned dance spaces, fostering creativity, excellence, and technical growth.

In addition to his teaching and leadership, Damien continues to perform as an actor with The Royal Ballet, appearing in many of the company’s major repertoire, including Don Quixote, La Bayadère, Manon, Romeo and Juliet, and Swan Lake.

Damien’s dedication to both the artistic and educational aspects of dance continues to inspire and elevate dancers of all levels.

Wendy Jardine

Pilates

Since 2009, Wendy has taught Pilates to dancers.  She creates and presents courses to ballet teachers in the principles of Pilates, too, so teachers can use the knowledge in their teaching. 

Wendy is trained to Master Level and has been teaching Pilates since 2007. She uses Pilates to empower dancers in all of their movement.  Pilates gives them the conscious awareness of their strengths and imbalances and equips them with the tools to self-care, rebalance and avoid injury.  They enhance and improve their strength, mobility and flexibility, by knowing how and where every muscle is, and why each muscle group makes a move, big or small, or is a deep stabilising muscle. By isolating, engaging and feeling, which muscles are creating what, the dancers can consciously call upon them in their training and performance, which takes their work to another level.  Within these sessions, which flow from one move to another, the dancers learn how to use their breath to stabilise, connect and relax.  This tool enriches life skills, exam technique and is deeply calming.