2024 FACULTY

Born in Athens, Ohio, and brought up in Akron, Dominic Antonucci, Assistant Director, attended the Nan Klinger School of Dance and the School of American Ballet.

He performed with American Ballet Theatre from 1991 to 1994, joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1994 as a Soloist and was promoted to Principal in 2003. He was appointed to Ballet Master in 2009.

Dominic danced all of the leading male repertoire and was particularly prominent in the ballets of Sir Peter Wright and Sir David Bintley. He has staged Sir David Bintley’s Take 5 on the National Ballet of Japan as well as teaching and rehearsing that company in Ashton’s Cinderella.

Layla graduated from The Royal Ballet Lower and Upper Schools, and later returned to qualify as a Royal Ballet School Vocational teacher. Layla also gained a BA Hons degree and Dip HE at London Studio Centre.
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During her Ballet career, Layla performed with The Royal Ballet, Kirov Ballet, English National Ballet and Scottish Ballet in works such as Alice!, Cinderella, Nutcracker, Cheating Lying Stealing, Sleeping Beauty, Rubies, Carmen, Swan Lake, Giselle, Nutcracker, Jeux, and Romeo & Juliet. Layla created the role of ‘The Bird’ in Hart’s Peter and the Wolf and danced ‘Liberty Bell’ in Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes European debut. Further credits in Theatre, TV, Film & Commercial work include ON THE TOWN (Japan); Meg in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (West End); NUTCRACKER & THE FOUR REALMS (Disney); MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN; ERTU CULTURE ident; STREETDANCE; POTO 25TH (Cinema/DVD); MARGOT (BBC); MARRIOTT HOTEL campaign; FILTH & WISDOM (Madonna); BALLET RUSSES; PETER AND THE WOLF (B.B.C.); POIROT - ‘THE DUMB WITNESS’ (I.T.V.); RAGGED CHILD (UK/USA/Canada); OLIVER! (Edinburgh Festival); SOUTH BANK SHOW (I.T.V.); OLIVIER AWARDS (ROH); VAN CLEEF & ARPELS/ROH (Buckingham Palace); CONDE NAST AWARDS.

Layla has been teaching for 24 years at establishments including The Royal Ballet School; Central School of Ballet; Urdang; Hammond; Danceworks; Pineapple; W.A.C. Layla teaches open classes for professional dancers and has taught company classes for An American In Paris and On the Town. Layla has taught/adjudicated in Australia, Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Africa and is a regular judge for The Dance World Cup. She choreographs for dance schools and coaches pre-vocational students privately, with many going into professional training/work.
Layla founded Dunsford Performing Arts in 1999, directing annual courses and workshops, employing industry experts. She currently runs her own classes and teaches all year groups weekly at Central School of Ballet.

Anna trained at the Deborah Capon College, and is currently studying for her MA at Rambert School.  She was also heavily influenced by her time training and working in America where she was represented by Terpsichore Entertainment in New York and worked within theatre and television.
Anna went on to train as a teacher, gaining her qualifications up to Fellowship status with the ISTD.  Anna is currently the Director of Anna Morgan Dance, which delivers teacher training courses and qualifications.  In addition she has taught at prestigious schools such as the Royal Ballet School and Performers College, and has been on the Ballet faculty at Bird College since 2016.  Anna is an adjudicator for the British and International Federation of Festivals and All England Dance, is on the Advisory Board for the TIRED Movement (Trying to Improve Racial Equality in Dance) and has adjudicated and lectured throughout the UK and internationally.

Anna’s choreography has been seen all over the world, including creating original work for Bailar Al Sol in the US and enjoying choreographic residencies at Moulin Belle in France and Andanza Puerto Rico.  Most recently she has  co-choreographed the critically acclaimed 'Black Beauty' for United We Dance International at Sadler's Wells.

Anna remains deeply committed to elevating the culture of Dance, both in educational settings and the professional industry. Her vision encompasses dancers attaining standards of excellence within a more compassionate, inclusive, and progressive dance community.

Sarah Gittins is an award-winning business mentor, coach and author.  She launched The Dance Den to help other performance arts businesses find balance whilst growing a successful school. Since 1999, she ran her 330+, multi venue school, successfully selling it in 2023.  Once stressed and struggling to cope, she knew there had to be a better way and transformed how she ran her school. A straight-talking mentor, someone who really has the t-shirt in many colours and years of experience. Creator of the start, scale, steer studio system she now helps hundreds of studio owners across the world grow their business on their terms so they can get more profit, time and balance in their life.

Michela trained at the London Studio Centre and Aterballetto (Italy). She was the recipient of the Outstanding Female Modern Performance Award as Miss Roach in The Midnight Bell at the 2021 National Dance Awards. She was also nominated for Best Contemporary Dancer at the Critics’ Circle Award 2012. Michela is currently an Associate Dance Practitioner with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures.

She has also taken part in several research and development workshops for the National Theatre and has choreographed for music videos and short films by emerging artists as well as regularly teaching dance classes and workshops.

Nathan trained in the Midlands in all musical theatre and dance disciplines along with his initial teaching qualifications.  As a performer he appeared in several pantomimes at the Birmingham Hippodrome alongside several contracts for Celebrity and Princess Cruise Lines.  Upon returning to England and settling in London, Nathan has performed in a range of regional productions including ‘Copacabana’ and ‘Hello Dolly’ and various trade shows and TV commercials.  He has toured the UK in the national tour of ‘Copacabana’ and Europe in the Irish dance show ‘Spirit of the Dance’.  He also completed a season at the renowned Chichester Festival Theatre.  Nathan last appeared in the revival of the Broadway Musical ‘42nd Street’, albeit in German, in the city of Stuttgart.
 
Following his first passion, teaching, Nathan established himself as a successful jazz and tap tutor and choreographer working a several vocational schools including Arts Ed, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Bodywork Dance Studios and Sylvia Young Theatre School.  In 2008 Nathan joined the faculty of Urdang Academy, ultimately taking over the running of the degree programmes as Director of HE Programmes.  Nathan has also taught at many private dance schools and taught workshops across the country.  He has also delivered the ISTD teaching qualifications at various centres.
 
An experienced adjudicator, Nathan represents the British Federation of Festivals and is a trustee and Artistic Director for All England Dance where he chairs the Artistic Committee.  He currently teaches tap at Performers College in Birmingham and is the Managing Director for The Dang overseeing the strategic running of the academy and the artistic development of The Dang Theatre and Dance Syllabus.
 
More information can be found at www.nathanjamesdance.com.

Peter trained at the Australian Ballet School and London Studio Centre. He danced with companies including The Australian Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Queensland Ballet, K-Ballet, Opera North, Ballet Ireland, Royal Danish Opera, and Opera Queensland. He performed in productions such as Swan Lake, Coppélia, Don Quixote, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Madame Butterfly, The Little Mermaid, Petrushka (lead role), Rejsen til Reims, Turandot, and danced in the motion picture ‘The Phantom of the Opera’.

Peter studied Pilates with Andrew Baxter in Melbourne and Conchita del Campo in London, developing knowledge he relied upon for rehabilitation and injury prevention throughout his training and dance career. He has been practicing Pilates for 25 years and teaching almost as long. Peter is a STOTT PILATES® Certified Instructor and has taught in gyms and hotels around London, performing arts courses, ballet retreats, and teaches private lessons primarily for dancers.

Yolanda is a professional vocalist, dancer, choreographer, actress and multi-skill performer who has experience performing in the UK and Overseas.

Performances include:
• Production shows
• Small scale theatre tour/tribute
• Weddings
• Stilt walking and fire
• Various corporate and commercial events (including arena show, boxing, adverts and Christmas lights)
• Working for companies such as House of Bonita Entertainment, Valcato, AREA51 and more.

Whilst her love and passion lies on the stage, she is also a fully qualified Level 3 Personal Trainer and greatly devoted performing arts teacher graduating with a BA Hons in Performing Arts (2:1) and a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).

Australian Born Dancer/Artist/Creative currently residing in London.

Josh has had an extensive career throughout the Performing and Creative Industry. Having worked with some of the best dancers and creatives in the business, his work has taken him around the world. From the West End to UK Tours, International residencies as well as TV/Film. A few notable credits include Disney's NEWSIES The Musical, Mary Poppins The Musical, “Billy" in Billy Elliot The Musical, Harry Potter the Anniversary, The Royal Variety Performance, The Olivier Awards, BGT, and worked for artists such as Dermot Kennedy, Jason Derulo, Kelly Clarkson, and Kelly Rowland. His classes attract dancers from around the world where his choreography and influence is renowned.

Josh has been a faculty member and guest instructor with many of the largest dance events today. Including and not limited to headlining for Move It, HDI Super Convention, CYD? Super convention, ALDC (Abby Lee Dance Company), European Dance Meetings (Poland) and fallout Camp (Prague).

Paul “Steady” Steadman is a Movement, Artistic and Theatre Director and DJ, based in Birmingham. An internationally acclaimed choreographer and dance artist with a highly successful commercial career spanning nearly three decades, Steady is a two-time Guinness World Record holder and founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Flawless Entertainment. His commercial career features TV, film, and theatre, including Street Dance 3D 1 & 2, National Geographic and ITV’s Stepping Out, and was toured by Nike during their UK Freestyler tour.Other commercial credits include the Queen's Jubilee (featuring Kylie Minogue), ‘The Boys’ Hip Hop Theatre Production (an interpretation of Shakespeare’s ‘A Comedy of Errors’) at Stratford Circus Arts Centre, Children in Need, choreographing and touring with the English National Ballet, Adidas Originals Opening (Germany), Grand Prix (Bahrain), British Basketball League finals (4 years in a row), Chinese Youth Olympics (Hong Kong), London Paralympic Games and Commonwealth Games (Manchester).Steady’s vision is to inspire, and produce beautiful, thought-provoking theatre and short film, high quality education, training and sector consultancy. He’s part of the team behind the More than a Moment pledge, has DJ’d for events across the UK including at Birmingham Weekender, Heal Festival, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Festival and the UDO World Streetdance Championships. He’s currently Movement Director for the Young REP, Theatre Director at Stan’s Cafe and Creative Director for Eloquent Dance.

Paola Piccato trained at the Turin Dance Academy (northern Italy) in Ballet, Contemporary, and Teaching studies and has a diploma in Set Design from the Accademia di Belle Arti, Turin.
In Italy, Paola’s career shifted from dance to visual arts. She worked as assistant director for the Castello di Rivara Private Art Collection and as a freelance curator with an interest in performance artists.

After moving to London, she obtained a postgraduate certificate in “Dance in Community” at Trinity Laban. In London Paola worked extensively as a choreographer for the Wilton Music Hall, for the Scene in Time family events, with local schools, and delivering community dance workshops in adults’ settings.
She has taught Dance, Yoga & Gymnastics within a wide variety of setting, for over 20 years, in both Italy & the UK.

Paola began her employment with the Language of Dance Trust as a Language of Dance® teacher for their Dance Moves Projects, teaching the Movement Alphabet® syllabus in primary schools.

The Language of Dance® (LOD) is a unique approach to movement and dance, where symbols are used to explore and choreograph movement, and it was created by Dr Ann Hutchinson Guest MBE. After learning and studying the LOD system in great depth from the seminal work “Your Move”, Paola is now continuing Dr Hutchinson Guest’s legacy by creating an innovative LOD module that links visual art and dance through choreography. Paola believes in interdisciplinarity as a source of inspiration and thinks both disciplines can benefit from exchanging their approach to creativity.

In 2022, Paola was promoted to Outreach Project Developer for the Trust which involves developing new projects & leading our accredited certification courses.

Rhys trained at Laine Theatre Arts. He is currently the Dance Captain in the UK and Ireland tour of Hamilton.
Previously Resident

Director/Choreographer (Rock of Ages, UK Tour)

Swing & Cover Beast/Gaston (Beauty and The Beast, London Palladium/UK Tour)

Swing (Mary Poppins, Prince Edward Theatre)

Ensemble (Oklahoma, Chichester Festival Theatre)