Our Team
Miss Fleur LISTD
Principal
Miss Fleur trained as a child with local dance schools and when she was 11 years old went to Pattisons Dancing Academy in Coventry as a full time boarder. It was here that her real love of dance developed with the many shows and performance opportunities given to the students while they studied, including appearances on stage and television.
At 16 she left Pattisons and successfully auditioned for a 3 year teacher training and performer’s course at Leeds Dance College, under the direction of Cynthia Carr, an ISTD examiner, adjudicator and renowned teacher. During the following 3 years she gained her Associates in Ballet, Tap and Modern with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD).
On leaving college Miss Fleur was keen to perform and after auditioning for professional contracts, she worked in Portugal on the Algarve, at the then, well known “Michaels” in Albufeira.
But her love and passion for children and teaching soon brought her home and it was in 1992 that the Fleur Elizabeth Academy opened its doors, starting with 80 pupils!
Over the years the Academy has grown and flourished under the positive and enthusiastic direction of Miss Fleur and her dedicated staff. Miss Fleur continues to develop her teaching skills and has trained to ISTD Licentiate standard. Many of her senior pupils go on to train professionally at Colleges across the country and gain amazing dancing contracts in theatre, television and cruises.
She also chairs and organises the Yorkshire Teachers Group, an ISTD area group designed specifically to train and support qualified teachers young and old. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Jean Campbell Award for services and contribution to ISTD Ballet.
Miss Fleur’s ethos and passion continues to be the inspiring and innovative teaching of children, giving them the life skills required to be the best they can be along with happy life affirming memories of dance class!
Miss Jess AISTD
Vice Principal
Miss Jessica first started dancing at the Fleur Elizabeth Academy of Dance at age 3. Her love for dance grew in her 15 years with the Academy and she left at age 18 to go to Preston College of Dance for 3 years. Here she gained lots of fantastic performance experience such as dancing at Blackpool Children in Need, London World Skills and the world biggest dance event, Move It. She also gained her ISTD teaching qualifications in Ballet, Modern and Tap and since leaving Preston College has become a qualified teacher of Acrobatic Arts. She successfully auditioned for MSC Cruises and worked as a dancer in the theatre, where she spent 3 years travelling around Europe and South America, gaining invaluable performance experience. Miss Jessica was Dance Captain for 2 of those years which stood her in good stead for her teaching career. She has now been back with the Academy for over 3 years where she has loved choreographing for shows, preparing the children for ISTD exams and brought fresh ideas and enthusiasm.
Miss Toni AISTD
Dinky Dancer Teacher
From an early age Miss Toni attended a local dance school and it was from there that she discovered her passion and love for dance. At the age of 16 she was fortunate enough to be accepted at The Hammond School, Chester, where she studied all genres of dance and musical theatre. She enjoyed the most fantastic three years and after successfully achieving her teachers qualifications in R A D Ballet and ISTD Ballet and Modern, Miss Toni was ready to embark on her professional career.Over the next eleven years Miss Toni enjoyed a wonderful and exciting dance career which took her not only around the U.K but to many other parts of the world. From pantomimes to summer seasons, casino's and cruise ships, she lead a varied and fulfilling professional career. In 2005 Miss Toni returned home to concentrate on her teaching, and it was then that she discovered the Fleur Elizabeth Academy. “From the moment I walked into Miss Fleur’s school I knew this was where I wanted to be. The discipline and kindness, the technical standard and respect of the students and of course the inspirational teaching of Miss Fleur, spurred me on to become the best teacher that I could.” Nine years later and Miss Toni still looks forward to going to work!!“The students are a joy to work with, from the little babies to the senior girls, we always have such fun whilst enhancing and improving our dancing skills. We are one big happy dancing family and I hope this continues for a very long time."
Miss Leanne
Dance Teacher
Miss Leanne began dancing at the age of three taking her IDTA exams in ballroom, latin and disco. She found her love of contemporary dance at her secondary school in Beverley and was then thrilled to be chosen to take part in the Yorkshire Young Dancers scheme at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Here she developed her knowledge of a number of different contemporary techniques including Cunningham, Graham, Limon and Release, as well as taking weekly ballet, pilates and creative classes to supplement her training. After gaining a first-class honours degree in choreography from Dance City in Newcastle, she went on to do a PGCE at the University of Brighton. Whilst at University, Miss Leanne worked at Stagecoach Theatre Arts as an Early Years dance and vocal coach. She has since had a wealth of experience in secondary schools delivering BTEC dance courses to both secondary and post 16 students. Miss Leanne is passionate about teaching and excited to be joining the Academy.
Miss Claire
Receptionist
Claire Ledgard joined the Academy in September 2013, as a receptionist to support the staff at our very busy branches.
Miss Claire has danced all her life, latterly as a senior with Miss Fleur. Her daughter Bethany graduated from the Academy at 18 years old!
Miss Claire’s full time job is as a school teacher at Ainthorpe Primary in Hull. In her previous job she taught after-school dance clubs and was very successful at Rock Challenge entering many winning teams!
Dance has always been her passion and she is thrilled to still be a part of the Fleur Elizabeth Academy. Along with Miss Nicola they make a great team and are a valuable support to the teaching staff, particularly at big Academy events like shows and exam days. Her energy and organised nature ensure that parents, pupils and staff are well looked after!
Miss Nicola
Assistant Teacher and Receptionist
Being the sister of the Principal, Miss Nicola has been involved in the Fleur Elizabeth Academy of Dance from the very beginning.
In the early days she worked with the adult section of the school, on reception, teaching them and dancing with them in shows! But for the last 10 years she has been the Saturday girl!
However, Miss Nicola’s background is not in dance. After leaving school, she trained to be a nursery nurse and worked for many years in local Primary schools and currently works in a nursery school. This links perfectly to her reception work on Saturdays, supporting Miss Fleur and Miss Toni with the 'babies' of the school. Miss Nicola’s passion lies with quality early years education and she strongly believes that when provided with a safe, caring, meaningful environment with positive role models and passionate teachers, all children will reach their full potential and flourish. This is never more evident than at the Fleur Elizabeth Academy of Dance.
Saturdays at the Academy are busy and often frantic, but are fun and fabulously rewarding – Miss Nicola is an integral part of a very strong team nurturing and supporting the new children and their parents, with their first steps into the Academy.