Staff

DANCE TEACHER - Principal

Cheryl Heuston

Cheryl trained at London Studio Centre, graduating in 2004 after touring with the Jazz Company.

After leaving dance school, Cheryl performed on ‘Top of the Pops’ and MTV’s ‘The Fridge’ as well as dancing in several Pantomimes and Corporate Events for Dance reality and Manic Productions.

Cheryl then went on to dance in production shows on cruise ships for HireNotes Productions and Vegas based, company CBG.

As a choreographer Cheryl has choreographed production shows for HireNotes and Manic Productions and worked as an assistant to Gail Davies of CBG, assisting and performing in ‘100 years of Magic’ at the London Palladium.

Cheryl has taught in schools around the Swindon area and taught Musical Theatre for the Ceccetti Summer School at Arts Educational.

Cheryl has been running MAD since it began in September 2013.

DRAMA TEACHER

Jackie Lawrence

Jackie Lawrence has a degree in Drama from Goldsmiths College, University of London and teaches children across Wiltshire in groups and one to one. She is passionate about helping children grow confidence through drama and to have fun learning new skills. 

Jackie’s groups and individual students have recently won accolades for their work in devised theatre, monologues and duologues. 

Jackie Lawrence is also an experienced broadcaster, presenter and writer.

Singing and Tap Teacher

Gemma Forde

Gemma has just graduated from Wilkes Academy of Performing Arts after doing three years of rigorous Musical Theatre training. She gained a double distinction* diploma in Musical Theatre and also passed her Grade 8 LCM exam with a distinction and 98%.

Whilst at Wilkes Academy, Gemma was trained by many industry professionals, including Jo Scanlan and James Doubtfire - who also train the British World Champion tap team "Tap Attack". She was given a part in 'Dancer's Inc's' workshop for a touring theatre show called "Radio Broadway"; and she was a company member in the musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" which was performed at the Swindon Arts Centre in May 2017, as well as performing in three Wilkes Academy end of year shows.

Before her three years at Wilkes Academy, Gemma attended Swindon Academy of Dance for 12 years and finished all her ISTD tap exams gaining high distinctions in every exam. She also took exams in Modern and Ballet gaining Advanced 1 and Intermediate respectively. Whilst at Swindon Academy, she had the opportunity to do many dancing and singing festivals, where she was awarded many medals and trophies and also, on multiple occasions, got through to the All England Semi-Finals and then the All England Finals - one particular year coming in third at the finals for a tap group and getting to perform on multiple West End stages.

Over the years, Gemma has been trained in many styles of dance including Tap, Lyrical, Ballet, Jazz, Commercial, Ballroom, Modern, Latin and Contemporary; as well as many styles of singing: Musical Theatre, Pop, Jazz, Swing, Classical and Rock.

Gemma has been teaching singing at MAD since Christmas 2015 (as well as teaching musical theatre at Camp MAD and doing private singing lessons) and she loves every second! She is very excited to start teaching tap too starting this September

Boys Street Dance Teacher

Banxy

Banxy is a veteran in UK hip hop dance. Having trained at Swindon Dance, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and the London Studio Centre, he has spent the last sixteen years teaching and performing across the UK and abroad. 

High-profile projects Banxy has been involved with include dancing and choreographing Jonzi Ds Me Vs the City and Aeroplane Man tours, choreographing breakdance sequences for the BBC TV series Travels with my Tutu with Deborah Bull, Principle Dancer at the Royal Ballet; and teaching and rehearsing  the ground performance dancers at the Millennium Dome celebrations.
He has appeared as a dancer in many TV shows, live events and music videos, including George Michaels Spinning the Wheel.

Banxy has been heavily involved with Swindon Dance throughout his professional career and was commissioned to perform at their 25th Anniversary Gala. Most recently he appeared in the BBC Blast programme as part of the Big Dance event in Trafalgar Square, and gained second place in the Battle of the Desert competition in Almeria, Spain.
 
Banxy toured his first full length production Busk: Kings of the Sidewalk extensively to packed houses throughout the UK in the Autumn of 2007 and 2009, and when not touring delivers extensive education and outreach to a wide variety of ages and abilities throughout the UK.

Contemporary Teacher

Gemma Bush

Gemma trained at London Studio Centre, majoring in Contemporary dance, she graduated in 2006 after touring with their third year company, Intoto.

Gemma’s dance career has been long and varied. Upon graduating Gemma worked as a freelance contemporary artist for Future Cinema and then for Channel 4.  Gemma went on to perform as a dancer and singer/dancer on cruise ships including Costa, Pacific Venus and Saga Cruises, travelling worldwide.

Gemma has a wealth of teaching experience, which includes; teaching Contemporary at Stonar School and Liberatus. Commercial classes for K4Kim Dance in Bath and Modern, Tap, Ballet and Jazz at various schools in Wiltshire.

As well as having a Foundation Degree in Dance, Gemma is a qualified Personal Trainer with qualifications, including:

Level 4 Specialist Qualification in Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Level 3 certificate in Exercise Referral

Level 3 Personal Training

Level 2 Studio Cycling qualification

Level 2 Gym instructor

ETM

Gemma teaches Circuits, Body Conditioning, HIIT, Group Cycling, Functional Fitness, Core Stability, and stretch classes.

We are very excited and lucky to have Gemma as part of the MAD Team and hope to have her teaching even more classes for us in the future!

GUEST SINGING TEACHER

Emily Apps

She studied on the BA(Hons) Musical Theatre course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich, London (formerly Trinity College of Music) and graduated with First Class Honours.

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Teaching Assistant

Jasmine Harrod

Jasmine is a senior student at MAD, She is 17 years old and in the second year of her A-Levels at St Johns School.

Jasmine has been dancing singing and acting for many years and is one of our company members.

Jasmine assists in Ballet, Modern and Tap classes on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday Evenings and at the Saturday Stage School.