Our Team

FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL

Sophie founded SGDA in 2011 with the belief that excellent dance training and genuine care for children should always go hand in hand.

An Affiliated Teacher of The Royal Ballet School, Sophie trained vocationally from the age of 11 after performing with National Youth Ballet as a child. Her own experiences shaped the way she wanted to teach, with strong foundations and high standards, but always seeing the child before the dancer.

Sophie has a particular passion for early years dance education and supporting children as individuals. She believes there is no single route through dance and no single definition of success. Whether a child dances once a week or has ambitions for vocational training, they should feel known, challenged, supported and proud of their progress.

VICE PRINCIPAL & RAD Ballet Lead

Lucy has a pretty special connection to SGDA because she started here as one of our very first students.

After going on to train full-time at The Hammond, she returned to SGDA as a teacher and now leads our RAD Ballet programme as Vice Principal. Lucy has over a decade of teaching experience and has prepared many of our dancers for RAD examinations.

Lucy is calm, encouraging and incredibly detail-focused. Alongside dance, she is also a qualified Pilates instructor, bringing her knowledge of strength, alignment and body awareness into the studio to help our dancers train safely and confidently.

COMMERCIAL, JAZZ, LYRICAL & EARLY YEARS

Niamh brings a huge amount of professional performance experience to SGDA, along with the energy and warmth that make her classes very much hers.

After training at The Hammond, Niamh spent several years performing internationally as a dancer, singer and aerialist with Carnival Cruise Lines. She later became Dance Captain and Dance Supervisor, working with casts and creatives from across the world.

Back at SGDA, Niamh teaches across our programmes, specialising in Commercial, Jazz and Lyrical alongside our youngest dancers. She loves helping students become confident performers while encouraging individuality, musicality and personality in their dancing.

ACRO, JAZZ, TAP & LYRICAL

Rebekah brings over a decade of teaching experience and a huge breadth of knowledge across dance and acrobatics.

A former Royal Ballet School Associate, Rebekah trained at The Hammond and Performers College and holds ISTD teaching qualifications alongside Acrobatic Arts certification. Her experience includes teaching, choreography, competition coaching and professional performance.

Rebekah is a technical and enthusiastic teacher who knows how to challenge dancers while giving them the tools and confidence to succeed. At SGDA she specialises in Acro, Tap, Jazz and Lyrical, with a strong focus on safe technique and individual progression.