Faculty
Guest Teachers
Dance Engine classes are taught by industry professionals and will cover classical ballet, conditioning, repertoire, pas de deux, contemporary and musical theatre.
Summer Term Guest Teachers
Darren Parish
Darren first trained with Jennifer Johnson before studying at The Australian Ballet School. He enjoyed a successful career dancing with the Queensland Ballet, Dortmunder Ballet, Bonner Ballet, Basel Ballet, Gothenburg Ballet, Royal NZ Ballet, English National Ballet, Arena di Verona and Scottish Ballet.
He was nominated for Young Australian of the Year (Arts) 1988, received the Cadbury Arts Award 1991, and Gothenburg Ballet Male Award (Sweden) 1996.
As guest Notator for The Royal Ballet 2006-09 he collaborated on their production of Sleeping Beauty and works by Wayne Macgregor - Chroma, Nimbus and Infra. In 2011 Darren was invited as Ballet Master and Notator for The Australian Ballet Company assisting on Graeme Murphy’s Romeo and Juliet and staging Glen Tetley’s Gemini. 2012 saw him stage Ashton’s Les Rendezvous for English National Ballet School and for The Royal Ballet School 2015. Worldwide - other productions include Carmen, Nutcracker, Coppelia, Cinderella and One Act ballets plus The Snowman West End.
Freelance teaching has taken him to Ballet Companies, Vocational Schools and Dance Projects Internationally. He has held teaching posts at Elmhurst, The Laban Institute and Showa University. Through the Sir Frederick Ashton Trust, he was involved with La Fille Mal Gardee and The Dream for the RAD. For dance organisations he has taught for the BBO, RAD, ISTD, as well as Open classes at Danceworks and Pineapple. Associated with the Genée International Ballet Competition 2010 and 2015 – and their Dance Challenges in London and the Benelux. He co-founded 123 Move in 2016, an Honorary Member of the BBO 2017 and a Trustee of The Royal Academy of Dance 2018-22.
Olivia Holland
Olivia is a former professional ballet dancer and trained at the Royal Ballet School in London. She danced professionally with the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Northern Ballet, before travelling to New Zealand from the UK in 2015 to embark on a new chapter beyond her dancing career.
Olivia has over 10 years in the teaching field and is a qualified ballet teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance after completing the Professional Dancer’s Postgraduate Teaching Certificate in Sydney, Australia.
Since leaving her ballet career, Olivia has been on a journey to rediscover her path within movement which led her to study with BASI Pilates on the Global Comprehensive Course in London. She has experience teaching in some of the leading Pilates studios across London and now runs her own Pilates For Dancers Workshops designed to help dancer’s gain strength and awareness of movement through Pilates & ballet coaching.
Future Guest Teachers
Elaine Holland
Elaine trained at the College of the Royal Academy of Dance and she then went on to perform professionally in both classical and contemporary companies attaining soloist level before embarking on a teaching career that has spanned the last 30 years, initially in New Zealand before returning in the UK in 1992.
Elaine taught at many vocational schools including being Head of Ballet at Laine Theatre Arts for 12 years, Artistic Director for the Dance School of Scotland and Legat School of Dance.
In 2017 Elaine took up a post at the Conservatorio de Danca de Vale do Sousa in Portugal teaching vocational students aged 10-18 and developing the curriculum.
Elaine has been an examiner of the Royal Academy of Dance since 2000 as well as a summer school faculty member. She continues to coach throughout Europe and in the UK.
Tania Fairbairn
Tania trained at the Arts Educational School, Tring and The Royal Ballet School’s Teachers' Training Course under Valerie Adams. She gained a BPhil (Hons) in Dance and Contextual Studies at Durham University and has studied Sports Science with Stonebridge Distance Learning.
Tania has danced with Alexander Roy’s London Ballet Theatre, Northern Ballet Theatre and Scottish Ballet before moving to London's West End musicals where she performed in the stage productions of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘42nd St', and ‘On Your Toes’.
As an internationally renowned classical ballet teacher, Tania continues to share her passion for dance pedagogy through her caring and nurturing approach.
Andrew Stevens
Steven trained at the Legat school and dance professionally with various companies including Ballet de Wallonie, Ballet of Flanders and was a Soloist with Slovene National ballet.
Steven danced in choreographies from Ashton, Cranko, Cullberg, Balanchine and Petipa amongst others.
Steven has teaching diplomas with the Russian ballet society and Legat Foundation where he is also an examiner. He specialises in Pas de Deux courses.
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