DIRECTOR
Sarah Bell
Sarah started dancing at the tender age of three and hasn’t stopped since! She studied dance at school and college and completed a degree in dance at Bretton Hall Arts and Education College. After completing her degree, Sarah went on to diverse performance contracts for numerous companies in the UK and abroad in contemporary, commercial and cabaret styles. She also gained Arts council funding to tour her own work.
She began teaching in 2002 for Stagecoach in Dulwich and shortly after started teaching and choreographing in schools and community settings around the UK. In 2005 she started her role as Rutland Dance Coach teaching in the Rutland schools on behalf of Rutland School Sports Partnership and RYDA was born soon after.
Through this role she plays a major part in Spotlight Dance Festival, now in it’s 21st year with partner Chris Thomas which has given hundreds of young people and adults from Rutland the opportunity to dance in a professional theatre venue. Sarah has been resident choreographer for the last 5 years at Uppingham School choreographing full productions of ‘Grease’, ‘Legally Blonde’, ‘Oliver’ and ‘Working The Musical’ as well as assisting with drama and physical theatre productions.
She continues to teach and choreograph in many settings and can occasionally be seen head and shoulders above the rest, stilt walking! Sarah is a passionate teacher, choreographer and event organiser and very proud of Rutland Youth Dance Academy.

Kayleigh
I started dancing when I was 6 and started dancing at RYDA when I was 9. I have always loved performing and showing my emotions through movement.
Alongside dancing, I am an actress and trained at East 15 Acting School on the World Performance course. On my course, I trained in dance styles from around the world such as Balinese Legong and Kecak dances, Bharatanatyam and various African dance styles.
I have been teaching dance since Spring 2023 and am so grateful for the opportunities I have been given and the people I have met along the way.

Lucy
I started dancing when I was in school, I started my dance journey with RYDA and participating in many competitions and spotlight.
After leaving school I was lucky enough to be accepted into Addict Dance Academy in Leicester where I completed my qualifications over six years there training. I trained in many styles over these years including Latin, jazz, contemporary and commercial dance.
Since graduating I am now actively participating in many auditions as well as teaching in Rutland and the surrounds.
I cant wait to dance with the RYDA gang!

Hanna
I didn’t start dancing until the age of 16 when I fell in love. Soon after discovering my love for performing I went on to complete a BTEC in performing arts before moving to London to train professionally and graduate from The Centre Performing Arts College in 2014.
Since then I have worked for many prestigious companies in the UK and abroad working as a dancer, actor, illusionist, fire artist and stilt walker.
I have now been teaching and choreographing for 5 years and can’t wait to start my journey here at RYDA

Isabelle
I’m Isabelle Edwards, and I’m currently pursuing my degree in performing arts at SMB. I have a Level 3 Extended Diploma in performing and production arts, and I’m in my second year of completing a degree in dance.
My journey in dance began at the age of 16 when I enrolled in a dance college course. Before that, I spent several years in my childhood learning gymnastics and even participated in competitions. I also had the opportunity to teach gymnastics for a year.
Recently, I’ve been teaching dance for almost a year now for several different companies, and it’s been a very exciting experience!

Sasha
Sasha started ballet at the age of 4 in Stamford and later went on to do modern, tap and hip hop. She later went onto professional training and spent a year studying Musical Theatre at Bird College before continuing her training at Addict Dance Academy. Here she gained a First Class Honours in Performing Arts (Dance) and expanded her skills in a range of styles. These included Ballet, Tap, Tech Jazz, Musical Theatre Jazz, Commercial, Hip Hop and Latin.
From there she spent a year teaching in a multiple range of styles at different schools as well as her own open class. Sasha then went on to complete a 6 month contract on a boat in a dinner show in Cyprus. Here she gained work experience as a performer in various different styles. Sasha can’t wait to pass her experiences onto the next generation as well as her passion for choreography.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Chris Thomas
Chris will be joining our team from Jan as our Assistant Director. Chris has been involved and supported RYDA since we started, but we’re very happy that he will be coming on board in a more formal capacity to help with some of the communications with you all, the background admin, helping develop our team ethos and working with all our teachers to help them prep for all our performances throughout the year.
