The College - Teacher Profile

	Penny Meekings trained at The Arts Educational School. She completed the three year Dancers Course, and later worked in both Theatre and Television. After around six years in "The Business" as lead dancer, choreographer and rehearsal director, the satisfaction of teaching outweighed the performing and Penny switched to full time teaching at all levels. Her teaching experience has enabled her to travel widely, guest teaching internationally and at some of the finest colleges in the UK.She founded Penny Meekings Dancing Academy in 1981, specialising in teaching children physiological and social development in dance. In 1989 she became an Examiner for The Imperial Society Of Teachers Of Dancing (Modern Theatre Dance and Tap Faculty) and currently examines at all vocational levels. 1999 saw the creation of The dance College which later in 2004 was among the first to be awarded an "ISTD Approved Centre for Dance". Using her extensive experience in teaching, her commitment to the need for quality teachers and her passion for dance have enabled her to move with the times. She has seen students through their Associate Exams, their FDI and CDE qualifications and is now set to deliver the New Diploma for Dance Instruction and Diploma for Dance Education qualifications necessary to meet the demands of today's market.
	Jackie Styles trained at the Penny Meekings Dancing Academy as a child and went on to study dance full time at West Street School in Covent Garden. Her training gave her a strong love of classical ballet, having studied Royal Academy, Cecchetti and Imperial Syllabi. Her stage experiences include performances with the Sadlers Wells Youth Ballet and Cork City Ballet. In 1992 she became a partner in Splitz School of Dance (formerly Penny Meekings Dancing Academy) and enjoys teaching children of all ages and running her own school. Jackie has freelanced at many other schools and colleges, teaching classical ballet. In 2002 she became a Fellow of the ISTD and in 2005 a member of the ISTD Examining Board.
	Eduardo Martinez Yañez studied at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Estudio Profesional de Gimnasia y Danza (Mexico) and is a Fellow in the National Dance Faculty for the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD), England. Winner of the “Helen Wingrave Scholarship” given by the ISTD National Dance Faculty, he now lives in London. He has taught at the National University of Mexico and in several private dance and academic schools in Mexico City. He also ran his own very successful school of dance in Pachuca City (Mexico). A former professional Mexican folk dancer, he has taught and choreographed as a guest teacher in the UK at “The Wells Summer School with Dancers of the Royal Ballet” organized by Francesca Filpi, “Corraine Collins Dance Studios”, “The Dupont Dance Stage School”, “The Center”, “King Slocombe School of Dance”, “ISTD Imperial Ballet Faculty Days of Dance”, “Del Toro Dance Studios”, “The Sussex Summer School” and he is currently teaching Tap at the Junior section of Bird College. His professional activities as a dancer, teacher and artistic director have taken him around the world and he has worked in Mexico, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Malta, England and Scotland.
	Sarah Turnbull is the person you are most likely to speak to when you contact The dance College. A secretary with over 20 years of experience, Sarah manages the administration of The dance College and is on hand to help prospective, current and past students with anything and everything. She works part-time, juggling the demands of The dance College with the demands of her two young children - so the best time to contact her is between 10am and 1pm, Monday to Friday.