Information about Natalie - Streatham instructor -

(11 reviews)

Personal Description::

I began dancing at the age of five at Susan Robinson's School of Ballet, specialising in ballet but also adopting tap, jazz and modern techniques into my movement vocabulary. Whilst training here, I was part of a winning ballet group at the All England Dance Finals in 2009 and received many awards in various competitions around the South of England.
I progressed onto vocational training at the age of 16 (having completed by GCSEs with 8 A*s, 2 As and 1B) and graduated from the prestigious Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in 2013 with a First Class BA Hons degree. During my training, I performed classical and contemporary repertoire at The Linbury Studio Theatre (Royal Opera House) and The Lilian Baylis Studio Theatre (Sadler's Wells) on multiple occasions, as well as in collaboration with Central St Martin's School of Design in King's Cross. In addition, I was part of a contemporary piece choreographed by Mark Baldwin, the ex-director of Rambert Dance Company, in my final year at Rambert School.

Since then, I have performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford-Upon-Avon/Edinburgh), The English National Opera ('Madam Butterfly' at the London Coliseum) and Mark Bruce Company (2016 tour of South West England). Furthermore, I have performed in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on two occasions. My commercial experience includes music videos for Vaults and Clare Maguire, a clothing promotional video for the brand Bruta, a commercial for H and M and a commercial for Danone, filmed in Kiev.

I also have choreographic experience, having created a number of contemporary pieces performed during my time at Rambert School as well as a solo that I premiered at Footprint Dance Festival 2015 (Roehampton University). I have choreographed three times on the over 60's performing group, Chronicles, turning one of these projects into a dance film named Saved by Beauty during lockdown. I have choreographed solos for students competing at Youth America Grand Prix and for those auditioning for vocational dance schools. Furthermore, I created a five minute long contemporary piece with twelve dancers in the space of three hours for a gala performance.

In 2016, I completed a Masters degree for which I focused on dance for Parkinson’s and achieved a Distinction. I now teach dance full time and freelance all around London working with students 2-80+ years old.

In my spare time I enjoy yoga, pilates, reading, cooking and cross-stitch.

Dance Instruction/Teaching Experience::

I first pursued regular teaching nearly seven years ago and drawing upon my varied dance experience, I class myself as a freelance dance teacher of a variety of disciplines including contemporary dance, ballet, pointework, creative dance/improvisation, body conditioning, tap and modern.

I currently teach at:

Rambert School
The Place
DanceWest
Trinity Laban
Precision Dance
SNTS London
Step Change Studios
Private tutoring via First Tutors and my own website **Removed By Admin**

Past experience includes:

Rambert
Ballet Boost
Mark Bruce Company
London Studio Centre
English National Ballet School
Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Royal Academy of Dance
BBO Dance
Susan Robinson School of Ballet
Susan Handy Dance
Musical Moving
Monarch Studios
Woking Dance Space

Teaching Approach::

I pride myself on my professionalism in all of my pursuits and so, preparation is very important to me. I always ensure I have clear ideas of the class content and aims (perhaps in collaboration with the student/s in question) and am easily able to adapt and mould these ideas around the space I am in/the student at hand/the moods on the day/the needs of the class.
Having trained full-time in both ballet and contemporary, I utilise the combination of the principles of these techniques in all that I teach. I aim to equip my students with the necessary strength and stability to protect their bodies, whilst encouraging freedom of movement, expansiveness and the challenging of their perceived capabilities.
I like to work my students hard and to push them to continually improve, yet I am sensitive to fluctuations in energy and that each student knows their body best. It is vital to me that I create an open environment in which my students feel comfortable to express themselves to me. I hugely enjoy sharing my physical knowledge with my class participants and working together, we can create a space where everyone can leave the class feeling fulfilled. And of course, there's always guaranteed fun and laughter!