Past and present
Lauren Cunningham (Paolini) started her first dance classes at our Armadale Danceworld branch at age 2. Lauren showed promise and a great work ethic from the get go and went right through our training academy to Senior level and was a fabulous teaching assistant. She trained at Dance for All in Edinburgh and during that time started teaching for Miss Saunders. Lauren was a natural teacher and performer. Lauren was also selected to represent Scotland as a member of the national team in Florida, USA. Danceworld had two former pupils in this national team. Following on Lauren had a very successful performing career as a singer/dancer on various cruise liners travelling the world. During one of her breaks between contracts she returned to Danceworld like she always did and helped out teaching. Our streetdance team had qualified for the World Championships and one of our dancers had to withdraw, Lauren stepped in to help out and that was the year we won the over 18’s UDO World Streetdance Championships under coach Reiss Dunn.
Lauren later returned to Danceworld after a fabulous performing career and took up where she left off teaching again, becoming our new coach for the Jazz and Lyrical competition teams. She is a born leader, motivator and excellent teacher and coach. Her teams have had success after success in Scotland and the UK and have won bids to the World Championships in America. Lauren is now one of two managers at Danceworld and gives her all to this role. She is what Danceworld is all about, we say dream – believe- achieve and Lauren is a testament to this. She gives everything she does 100% and totally believes in the training academy and ethos that is Danceworld.
Kayleigh Wishart started her first Danceworld classes at our Bathgate branch. Instantly Kayleigh’s love for dance was apparent. When Miss Saunders started our elite programme within our training academy Kayleigh was one of the first chosen. She was also an excellent teaching assistant with natural ability nurturing our little dance minds and inspiring them whether it was in Ballet, Tap, Jazz or Streetdance. Kayleigh was one of our original street dancers who was part of our squad who won the UDO World Streetdance Championships under coach Reiss Dunn. She developed at an accelerated rate and was offered a full-time college place going straight in as a second year (which is to be commended). Kayleigh finished her training with a BA honours degree excelling in creative choreography especially in Contemporary Dance. She has excellent communication skills with both younger and our older students.
Kayleigh has continually added qualifications to her teaching skills and heads our Acro team and Contemporary section. Due to her talent for teaching, love for Danceworld and her desire to keep developing she was an obvious choice to become one of Danceworld’s two managers. She also has fantastic media skills and a work rate that is second to none. Kayleigh has been a result of our elite training academy and shows dancers that through hard work, dedication and a love for dance dreams can come true.
Lucy Bryce joined Danceworld after returning to Scotland from Canada aged 8. From her first class at Danceworld we could tell how much she loved ballet and was an excellent and gifted student. She gained a scholarship for the Prestigeous Dance School of Scotland and then went on to study dance at the Royal Conservatoire. Lucy then attended London to complete her Royal Academy of Dance teacher training which she passed with flying colours.
Miss Lucy became Danceworld’s youngest RAD ballet teacher. She was shortly promoted to our Head of Ballet in charge of all our tiny ballerinas, all RAD grades, Elites, Adults and Vocational/Pointework ballet dancers. Lucy has had 100% in all exam entries and continually does CPD and courses to improve her already very high standards. She recently completed the Progressive Ballet Training adding to her already extensive knowledge. Miss Lucy is a very talented and popular teacher. Her secret weapons are the rapport she has with her dancer’s, her first class teaching knowledge of her craft and her stunning creativity in everything she does for Danceworld.
Seonaid Clelland joined our Bathgate branch age 4 taking classes in ballet tap and jazz. She became one of our Elites due to her hard work, talent and commitment. Seonaid was always driven and wanted a career in dance. She was an excellent teaching assistant too. Miss Seonaid trained for 3 years at Dance for All in Edinburgh and taught for Danceworld before and after her full-time dance training. She worked for 5 years at a large dance school in Glasgow but as soon as a position at Danceworld came up she knew where she wanted to be. Miss Seonaid has been an asset since returning to us. She has gained even more teaching qualifications in ballet, tap, jazz, commercial, musical theatre and acro and heads our Little Footsteps Programme which is so popular.
All her classes are very imaginative and pupils learn core skills like sharing, working together and building confidence through fun and learning. All Miss Seonaid’s classes are always well planned. She takes great pride in all the work she produces, and her admin skills are right up there with her teaching skills so no matter whether she is taking charge of one of our community events etc it is done thoroughly and planned perfectly.
Hollie Russell began her first classes with us as a tiny at our Broxburn branch. She was so shy that her mum had to come in to class with her. From a very early age it was apparent that Hollie had a natural gift for all styles of dance. Hollie was a natural teaching assistant and all the teachers spoke of how good she was with children. She was always studious and never missed a dance class. Even doing her Standard Grades and Highers (where she gained all A’s) she had perfect attendance at Danceworld and she is our only pupil to have Distinction from Grade 1 to Senior level in all her ISTD/RAD exams.
Miss Hollie also exceled in streetdance and is now one of Danceworld’s competition team coaches. Her crew adore her and she has such a great way with her students. They totally respect her and always work their best for her. Hollie is Danceworld through and through she started as a baby and has never stopped. We love her passion and are very excited for her future. Her team Illusion have previously won bids and competed at the UDO World Championships.
Amy Harkness began her first classes at the age of two at our Whitburn branch. Miss Amy was painfully shy and wouldn’t speak but just loved to dance. Amy had great rhythm and timing from a vey early age and showed really natural ability. To help her with her shyness we suggested that she became a teaching assistant and this is where her personality began to flourish. Technically as a dancer it was all there she just needed more confidence. On her final two years before she went on to full-time training her dancing just got better and better. She was so focussed and everything fell into place. She was offered several places at prestigious colleges down South. She chose Performers and trained there for 3 years. On her graduation year everything closed down due to the corona virus. She took a teaching job at a big ballet school as she had just gained her teaching qualifications. On her return to Scotland she came back where she belonged.
Miss Amy teaches jazz, commercial, hip hop, tap, musical theatre and is a coach for one of Danceworld’s streetdance competition teams. Miss Amy’s choreography skills are unreal for commercial, jazz and hip hop. Our students are so lucky that Amy can use all that she learned in London and pass this on to our students. She is famous for her big warmups and drills. I would say Amy’s secret weapon is her eye for detail. She is a fantastic “cleaner” of a dance and this is something that not many can do really well. This is the first year of her team competing and we know they are going to smash it. She is so proud of her dancers, and they love having her as their coach.