Miss Sarah, after teaching freelance for several years, took over the Swanmore arm of Roynon in 2009 which at the time ran on Saturday mornings. It now runs over 60 classes per week over 6 days in a range of dance, drama and music styles for all ages and abilities and supplies a range of other services including events performance and delivery of lessons in local schools. Miss Sarah first started dance at the young age of 3 and trialled her first class wearing welly boots! After gaining ISTD Advanced 2 in Tap and Modern and Intermediate in Ballet, she decided that her passion was within teaching rather than performing. She has trained to teach Ballet, Tap, Contemporary and Modern but her specialty lies within Tap in which she holds her full ISTD DDE and was carried out under the watchful, experienced eye of Virginia Wilkinson (which she “will be eternally grateful for!”). She is extremely passionate about the running of the school and to ensure that it has a professional yet friendly atmosphere that provides a positive experience regardless of whether a student is in one or many of its classes. Miss Sarah has been pivotal in organising fundraising events for charity, including the thousands of pounds so far donated to local children’s cancer charity, Abby’s Heroes. Miss Sarah continues to add to her teaching qualifications and also holds Acrobatic Arts and Progressing Ballet Technique teacher status. Miss Sarah feels honoured to run Roynon Performing Arts and is very proud of how far it has come…
Gary (Mr. Munday) facilitates musical instrument teaching (guitar, bass, ukulele, percussion) and also organises marketing and press enquiries for the performing arts school. He studied at the BRIT school (London) in music and then an additional course in business. After obtaining a degree with emphasis on the sociology of music, he went on to obtain Qualified Teacher Status in Winchester. He is the founder and caller of Swan Samba, a fusion drumming and dancing band – Roynon’s largest and fastest growing class. His original music compositions have been featured on local and national radio and has gigged at hundreds of venues in the South of England.
Miss Emilie started dancing at the age of 3 and has been in love with it ever since. She has studied in many different genres of dance but her favourite is tap and contemporary. Miss Emilie has taken exams with both ISTD and IDTA, the highest exam taken being her intermediate in both tap and modern. She also took part in other classes such as ballet, pointe work, jazz and limbering. She then furthered her dance education at college where she received a distinction* in a level 3 btec diploma in Dance. Alongside this, she took her ISTD DDI teaching qualification, which is when she began her journey teaching at Roynon. This means that she has a lot to offer to the Roynon students in the short space of time in which she has been with us (since September 2018). Miss Emilie loves dance routines that draw upon excitement and passion and loves to see a dancer connect with the audience. She also loves choreography which inspires and shows confidence.
Miss Victoria is the singing teacher for Roynon Performing Arts. She trained at Trinity College of Music and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is also an Accredited Singing Teacher for Vocal Process. As a performer, Victoria has gigged around the country and internationally in both the classical and musical theatre repertoire as well as being a session singer and featured artist on various pop tracks. Victoria is also an award winning director of musicals and ran a highly successful Level 3 course in Musical Theatre at HSDC for seventeen years, helping students to achieve places at prestigious dance and drama conservatoires. Former students of this course are currently performing across the world on cruise ships and in the West End in lead and ensemble roles in Waitress, Dear Evan Hansen, Kinky Boots as well as directing Mary Poppins, Matilda and Soho Cinders. Victoria is an Associate Lecturer at Winchester University and the University of Chichester working as a vocal coach on the MT and Acting courses.
Miss Laura trained under Biddi and Rona Allen at Sarisbury Dance Centre gaining ISTD Advanced 2 Modern and Tap, Advanced 1 Ballet, RAD Intermediate Ballet and ISTD Intermediate Cecchetti Ballet. At the age of 17, Miss Laura took over Sarisbury Dance Centre which later became Laura Dunkley School of Dance & Performing Arts. Miss Laura gained her ISTD Ballet Associate under the late June Rycroft at ISTD Headquarters and then gained her DDI in Ballet, Tap & Modern. After selling her school in 2015 Miss Laura moved to Cornwall to teach Ballet & Jazz for Italia Conti Penzance. Now with a young family and back in the area, Miss Laura is delighted and excited to be joining Miss Sarah and her faculty.
Miss Chenny has always had a passion for dance, starting classes at the age of 2 and progressing through to advanced grades in both Ballet and Modern, as well as studying a range of other styles. She is qualified with an Acrobatic Arts Teaching Certification and two Diplomas in Dance Education (DDE) in genres Imperial Classical Ballet and Modern Theatre Dance. Chenny has almost 7 years teaching experience across a range of Pre-School, Infant, Primary and Vocational Schools, as well as choreographing award-winning shows at Titchfield Festival Theatre. She is thoroughly enjoying her work with Roynon Performing Arts and is looking forward to seeing what comes as a result of working as part of the Roynon teaching team.
Miss Danika trained in Musical Theatre and Arts Development at Chichester University, graduating in 2018 with a First Class Degree. She has danced since she was 3 years old and has recently moved from Somerset to Hampshire in order to pursue her dance teaching career and inspire more students in the process. She teaches Musical Theatre and Hip Hop as a speciality for a range of companies in and around Hampshire and West Sussex. Following some incredible experiences working alongside London professional choreographers and teaching for various theatre and dance schools, she is ready to share her passion for dance with Roynon Performing Arts.
Miss Charlotte began to study dance at the age of three with Suzanne Darleston-Jones and later drama with Genny Taylor. She went on to study her Dance Teacher Training Chichester College and professionally trained at 344 Dance in Bristol. Based in Bristol for five years, Charlotte taught extensively preparing students for exams, performances and produced shows for various dance and performing arts schools. Charlotte moved to the far East, based in Shanghai where she managed an international school dance and drama program which ran classes and produced shows to be performed around the city. On her return to the UK Charlotte went straight back to her cabaret routes and produced various cabaret and variety shows for her entertainment company “Presented by CK” which provides production, entertainment and stage/event management. Charlotte runs this alongside “Curtain Call” a production company based in Hampshire Charlotte produces, directs and writes pantomimes and productions. She loves working with young performers and is passionate about the arts and ensuring as many people as possible gain exposure and experience with performing arts as possible.
Miss Emma started ballet aged 3, tap & modern at 5. She enjoys performing & has taken numerous exams working up through the grades to vocational levels. In 2018 she started assisting in Acro classes & developed a passion for this genre. In 2019 she became a qualified Acrobatic Arts teacher, she’s also completed the Alixa flexibility course to compliment teaching. Emma is excited to be working with Roynon Performing Arts students, helping them to progress & learn to love being upside down as much as she does!
Siobhan Chown has been involved in the dance industry for most of her life… She trained in Watford with the eminent International Examiner Elizabeth Harrison from the age of 7yrs and, post A-levels, passed four Associate teaching qualifications before working abroad teaching dance and English in Lausanne, Switzerland. On her return to the UK, she worked at the ISTD HQ in the exams department and was promoted several times to eventually become Head of UK and International Examinations. During this time she was also teaching part time at her local dance school in St Albans and was awarded her Associate Diploma. She was then given the fabulous opportunity to take over the school so decided to leave her job in London and the daily commute, and devote all her time to developing the school – her dream job! Siobhan was Principal of ‘Let’s Dance’ in St Albans for the best part of 30years turning it from a school with just 100 students to one with 450 students, 7 staff and a timetable that offered over 100 classes per week. Siobhan’s association with the ISTD was further strengthened when she was invited to take on the role of Regional Representative for the ISTD in Hertfordshire in 2012. 2013 saw a massive change when Siobhan sold her school to one of her ex-pupils and along with her husband has now re-located to Wiltshire. She is now lucky enough to be able to use all her years of experience of running a dance school to help other dance teachers through her work as a Virtual Assistant specialising in Dance and is delighted to have joined the Roynon Performing Arts team.
