NBS

The Faculty

The Principal, Patricia McDonald FRAD, LISTD, has some forty years experience in training dancers for professional careers in the fields of classical ballet and commercial theatre. She is a fellow of The Royal Academy of Dance for which she is also a vocational examiner, which has given her a broad knowledge of professional dance training and standards worldwide. She reconstituted and re-launched the school under its present name in 1977 and subsequently led it through the process of change and development to its present internationally recognised status. In doing so she has attracted, and in turn had the help of, a dedicated team of highly qualified and talented teachers and musicians, each being an established specialist in one or more of those fields of dance, music and drama, covered by the courses on offer at NBS.

Some on the faculty have had years of professional stage experience on which they can draw to prepare their students for the physical and mental demands of their chosen career. Others have the technical expertise and theoretical knowledge, which they can impart to the student and give a deeper insight into the range of dance styles and disciplines and their history which is so crucial to a creative approach to dance. Yet others have biological expertise and understanding of the physical and mental demands of the dance profession, so as to be able to prepare the dedicated would-be dancer to meet them. The academic faculty is assisted in the day to day school programme by an experienced team of administrators, technicians and other support staff.

All work together at Northern Ballet School to enable the aspirant student to become the artistically accomplished, technically skilled, well educated and assured performer or teacher demanded by the theatre dance industry of today and tomorrow and which is the hallmark of the NBS graduate.

The Faculty are:

Patricia McDonald
FRAD LISTD
Founder Principal

Philip Radcliffe
BA (Hons) Arch, Dip TP
RIBA, MRTPI
Administrative Director

Tracey Baxter
Jazz Teacher
Choreographer

David Bradford
MusB(Hons)
Vocal Studies Tutor

Eric Carpenter
Cert Ed. QTS
Head of Jazz Theatre Dance
Boys Tutor

Sarah Dickinson
BA (Hons)
ARAD (Advanced Teaching Diploma)
LISTD AISTD FIDTA
Dance Teacher

Jenny Eley
BA Lib & inf, Cert Ed.
Librarian

Helen Francis
ABSM ARCM LRAM
Vocal Studies Tutor

Jacqueline Gray
Cert Ed.
NBS Teaching Diploma
RAD Teaching Cert., FISTD AISTD
ISTD Examiner
Dance Teacher

Simon Gray
(ex Scottish Ballet)
Dance Teacher

Hayley Johnson
RSA SNVQ
Pilates Instructor

David Johnson
Drama Teacher

Barbara Marsden-Smith
Cert Ed.
FISTD
ISTD Examiner
CDE Modern and Tap
Dance Teacher

George King
BMus (Hons)
Vocal Studies Tutor

Simon Lea
B.Mus (Hons)
Accompanist

Kate Lewis
Registrar

Kerry Livingstone
MA (Ballet Studies), BA, BA (Hons)
LRAD, AISTD
Course Co-ordinator

Gavin Meredith
BA (Hons) MMus
Accompanist

David Needham
Cert Ed. QTS
AISTD, ANADT
Head of Productions
Dance Teacher, Choreographer

Peter Parker
(ex Principal, Northern Ballet Theatre, Ballet du Rhin)
Dance Teacher

Shannon Parker
(ex Principal – San Francisco Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, Ballet du Rhin)
Dance Teacher

Crispin Radcliffe
Assistant Course Co-ordinator

Sarah Radcliffe
ARAD, RAD Dip. PDTC
Tutor

Lisa Rowlands
ARAD
RAD Teaching Cert.
Dance Teacher

Darren Suarez
BA (Hons)
Contemporary Dance Teacher

back to content top