Abigail Cova – RBS DDT, RAD (RTS)
Abigail Cova is the Principal and founder of Marble Hill Dance Studio. She is an RAD Registered teacher of Classical ballet with a Diploma in Classical Ballet & Related Subjects.
Abigail started dancing in Glasgow at the age of 7 with Bernadette Sloane. She successfully auditioned for the Scottish Ballet’s Junior Associate programme and went on to full time training at Scotland’s premier dance school, The Dance School of Scotland,where she performed in many shows. In 1992 Abigail became one of the first students to attend The Royal Ballet’s new senior associate programme in Birmingham.
Abigail furthered her dance training in London from the age of 16 where she attended Central School of Ballet. During her time here Abigail won scholarships to the Vaganova Summer School and Gloucester Seminars and danced in many choreographies by Christopher Gable, Michael Barret Pink and Didi Veldman and performed with the touring company British Gas Ballet Central.
Abigail went on to dance with The Ben Love Dance Company, The Scottish Ballet performing La Fille Mal Gardee and in Aida with Harvey Goldsmith at Earls court. She completed her teacher training with the Royal Academy of Dance in 2005 and continues her professional development with the Royal Ballet School and the Royal Academy of Dance teacher training courses.
Robyn Holder – NDPA Performing Arts (Dance), BA Hons
Robyn is from Grahamstown in South Africa, it was here that she started dancing at a young age. After moving to London in 2005, Robyn began her training at Marble Hill Dance Studio under Abigail Cova and then continued her training at Lewisham College. Robyn graduated from the London Contemporary Dance School in July 2013 where she worked with choreographers including Sasha Roubicek and Theo Clinkard. It was at LCDS where Robyn developed particular interests in Contact Improvisation, improvisation for performance, choreography, teaching and dance for film.
Robyn is a freelance contemporary dance artist and a founding member and dancer for ‘Feet off the Ground Dance’, a company that performs Contact Improvisation in unusual contexts. More details can be found at: www.feetofftheground.co.uk
Robyn has taught at Marble Hill Dance Studio since 2009 as an assistant and teacher for all ballet grades, nursery classes, contemporary, choreography and body conditioning. Robyn is also a teachers assistant and cover teacher at Chelsea Ballet School.
Angela Terence – BA Hons Acting
Angela trained on the Foundation Acting course at Arts Ed London and then the BA Hons Acting course at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
She works as a professional actor on stage and screen. She has had the opportunity to work at theatres such as The Royal Court, The Gate & The Hampstead Theatre. And television programmes such as Wallander (UK version with Kenneth Branagh), Endeavour, Doc Martin and The Suspicions of Mr Whitcher. Prior to her professional training Angela attended the BRIT School for 4 years. And belonged to many amateur theatre companies in Surrey and South London from age 9.
She believes the fun and confidence that performing gives you serves you well in all professions and areas of your life not just for those who wish to pursue performing careers. Having an awareness of the voice, your breathing & the body and how to use it properly can greatly increase your confidence and the way you deal with social situations.
Alice McDermott – RAD, BA Hons Ballet
Alice grew up in Jersey, Channel Islands where she started dancing at the age of 5 studying ballet, tap and modern dance in the RAD, IDTA and ISTD syllabi. Over the years, Alice has enjoyed participating in showcases with principal dancers of the Royal Ballet and competing in local festivals and national competitions. In 2016, she was successful in winning a bronze medal at the Bloch Dance World Cup Finals.
Alice moved to London in 2017 to begin her studies at the Royal Academy of Dance. She is now in her final year of studying for her Bachelors degree in Ballet Education and the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Dance program. In addition to her studies and working as a tutor at Marble Hill Dance studio, Alice is also part of The Semaphore Ballet Company where she enjoys performing and collaborating with local artists.
Alice Tagliento – BA Hons Ballet
Alice began dancing at the young age of 3 years old. She originally trained in ballet and contemporary dance at her local dance school in Italy (Arke Turin). From a young age Alice travelled as she wanted to deepen her knowledge and train with some of the world’s top dance professionals such as teachers and dancers from Martha Graham Dance Company. She moved to London to join Rambert School and during her training she had the chance to work and perform works by Darren Ellis, Jenna Lee, and Didy Veldam, to mention a few. In 2017 she was awarded a First Degree BA hons in Ballet.
Alice danced with Rambert Company in 2016 at Sadler’s Wells in Mark Baldwin’s The Creation and performed at the Barbican in April 2017 in On with the Dance, a piece choreographed by Arielle Smith to a composition by Danyal Dhondy. She joined Michael Clark Company in 2017 and since then she has had the opportunity to perform and teach nationally and internationally for students in Australia, Germany and United Kingdom. More recently, Alice performed for Gucci Milan Fashion Week in 2018 and appeared on BBC 4 in the broadcast of “To a simple rock and roll song” by Michael Clark.
Alice enjoys performing, but she also loves to share her knowledge and offer her experience to younger students. One of Alice’s cherished accomplishments is to see her students understand , grow and enjoy dance.
Aisha Takao – Royal Ballet School DDT & BA in Ballet Mastery
Aisha began her classical ballet training at the age of 3 in her local dance school in Tokyo, Japan. She studied with the American Ballet Theatre summer programs beginning at the age of 15 followed by the Princess Grace Academy. At the age 18 she moved to continue her work at the Paliashvili Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Professional State Theatre; Corps De Ballet in Tbilisi, Georgia under the direction of Prima Ballerina and Director, Nina Ananiashvili; during which she placed overall 3rd in the Professional Group at the 2018 Rigas Pavasaris Competition.
Her work in Georgia landed her a position in the Corps De Ballet at Buryat State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Russia and the opportunity to tour in the 2019 national tour performing in: Vladivostok (The Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre), Khabarovsk, and Chita. Performed soloist roles: La Esmeralda Tambourine (variation), Big Swans (Swan Lake 2nd act) along with numerous performances in the Corps de Ballet including the world premiere of Talisman choreographed by Director Alexander Mishutin – nominated for the 2020 Golden Mask Award for Best Ballet Production (Moscow).
Aisha speaks English, Japanese and Russian and recently moved to London to earn her a Diploma of Dance Teaching with the Royal Ballet School while continuing her online course under a full scholarship with the prestigious St. Petersburg State Conservatory. Aisha loves the stage but also enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience to younger students particularly the musicality, story background and significance behind each variation.
Lizzie Woodford – BA Hons Dance
Lizzie was a student at BRIT School in London before spending three years studying for her degree in Dance at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
She started dancing at a young age and performed with the London Children’s Ballet, as well as in performances of Swan Lake and the Nutcracker for the English Youth Ballet at Woking and Wimbledon Theatres.
Lizzie performed as a dancer alongside Hugh Jackman in the Greatest Showman recreation that opened the 2019 BRIT Awards. In the same year, she was part of a dance troupe that reached the semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent.
Lizzie has a rounded training in a range of styles including ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and commercial. She has also trained at LIPA in singing and acting.She works frequently on her own choreography and enjoys leading with a creative approach within her teaching. It is important for her to encourage students’ ideas when learning and help to build their individually.
Muireann Ní Churnáin
Muireann began her career in dance in Corrib Dance Academy in Galway, Ireland aged 7. From a young age, her passion for dance was undeniable. She became a teaching assistant at the age of 15 where she discovered her desire to share her love for dance with others. Throughout her teenage years, she travelled to London, Cork and Dublin to take part in summer intensive courses to gain further insight into the world of dance and challenge her technique in other disciplines such as hip-hop, contemporary and musical theatre.
Muireann joined the dance company Youth Ballet West (YBW) in 2018. She performed in productions of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Paquita and helped choregraph original contemporary pieces for the company. Whilst in YBW, she toured with internationally acclaimed Irish theatre company Macnas.
She is currently studying the BA (Hons) Ballet Education course in the Royal Academy of Dance. She is also completing a Licentiate of the RAD alongside her studies.
Ballet is Muireann’s passion in life and her goal is to share the strength, determination and discipline she gained from the art with others. Her dance classes are a fun and motivational learning environment with focus on building self-assured and independent young dancers.
Nikki Mullins – BA Hons Musical Theatre
Nikki has trained in all aspects of dance from just 4 yrs old, with I.D.T.A. Nikki, then successfully got offered a place at the prestige Laines theatre arts in London where she completed a 3 year BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre.
Nikki has performed literally non-stop all around the world. Credits include Fashion Shows, Pop Videos, U.K. tours, USA tours, Japan, Afghan Tours, West-end and lots more.
Her favourite styles to dance and choreograph are Jazz and Commercial.
Maddie-May Stevens – BA (Hons) Professional Musical Theatre
Maddie-May began dancing when she was 4 at a local dance school taking part in jazz and tap classes, which is where her passion for performing began. She increased her mastery of a number of dance genres, starting her on a journey to become a triple-threat performer, adding singing and acting to her repertoire.
At sixteen Maddie-May auditioned and received a scholarship to BDC- a performing arts college in Bath, to further her dance, singing and acting training. The two years of training at BDC pushed her to expand her industry knowledge and gain technical abilities. Maddie-May received A*A*A* BTEC in dance and Musical theatre from her time studying in Bath, while also preparing her to audition further for leading performing arts schools in London. After auditioning successfully, Maddie-May received a full DADA scholarship to Laine Theatre Arts, which exposed her to training from industry professionals such as: Stuart Winters, Stuart Rodgers and Jo Goodwin. In her final year she undertook the degree course where she received a 1st class BA (Hons) degree in Professional Musical Theatre.
Throughout her time at Laine, she taught dance and theatre classes on a regular basis, which sparked her love of teaching. Since then, her passion for teaching the younger generation to develop their understanding of different dance genres and helping young dancers break down barriers to confidence has grown. Maddie-May aims to give every child an environment to flourish and thrive on their passion for dance and the creative arts, much as she had.