Conservatoire for dance and musical theatre
Faculty: Academic

Academic

Dr. Jane Carr PhD, ARAD, FHEA  Head of Academic Studies

Jane worked as a ballet dancer before studying dance in higher education. She was later a founding member of quiet, an artists’ group that collaborated on multidisciplinary performance works during the 1990’s. She received a BA and MA in Dance Studies from Laban and a PhD from Roehampton University in 2008.

Jane worked Morley College in Southeast London to develop opportunities for adults and young people to participate in dance before teaching in Higher Education at Trinity Laban, Central School of Ballet and the Universities of Lincoln and Bedfordshire where she led the School of Media and Performance.

Dr Carr has remained research active, developing upon her doctoral research into embodiment to publish in the field of dance and performance and to lead projects – most recently an Arts Council of England funded development of choreographic practices. She currently serves as a member of the executive committee of The Society for Dance Research and is finalising the co-editing of a book on Safeguarding of Creole Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Gwen Goodman BA (Hons), MA, PGCE  Academic Studies Tutor

Gwen trained initially in ballet in Edinburgh and at The Rambert School. She went on to study at Laban, graduating with a first class honours degree in Dance Studies. She danced, taught and choreographed professionally with Springs Dance Company. Later, Gwen returned to dance studies, obtaining an MA from Edinburgh University. This led to teaching about dance in relation to history and culture at undergraduate level at Edinburgh’s Telford College and De Montfort University. She has also taught Labanotation at Laban.

 

Simon Gray   Musical Director and Academic Tutor

Simon Gray is a musical director, pianist and composer with over twenty years of experience. Simon’s musicals include Daisy In Disguise (Vital Theatre, New York) and The Scarlet Letter (Edinburgh Fringe and Theatre Harrisburg, PA). He has written music for TADA! Youth Theatre and Theatre 167 both in New York City and his songs have been heard at 54 Below, The Zipper Factory and Birdland. With Raymond Bokhour he wrote The Glorious Death of Comrade What’s-His-Name. He is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York where he won the 2007 Harrington Award for musical theatre songwriting.

Before moving into teaching, Simon was a freelance music director and pianist. He was assistant MD on the original West End production of Pageant (Vaudeville Theatre) and on Bless The Bride (King’s Head). Other music direction includes the Asian premiere of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Kuala Lumpur), Mapp and Lucia (Greenwich Theatre), Newsrevue (Canal Café Theatre), George’s Marvellous Medicine (Birmingham Stage), Lucky Nurse (Finborough). Simon played keyboards on the UK tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, and was rehearsal pianist for Wonderful Town (Grange Park Opera), Hello Again (Bridewell), Killing Rasputin (Bridewell) and Candide (National Theatre). He has accompanied Cassidy Janson, Poppy Tierney and Samantha Mercer in cabaret. He has played on Silversea Cruises and was once an audition pianist for Cats in London. Simon read music at Cambridge University. He is a former student of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama junior department and an alumnus of the National Youth Music Theatre. He studied conducting with George Hurst at Canford and the Estill Model with Anne-Marie Speed in London. He has held teaching positions at Italia Conti and Havering College. Simon joined Bird College in 2016.

Leanne Steel BA (Hons), MSc, FHEA   Academic Tutor

Leanne graduated from the Trinity Laban MSc Dance Science programme in 2018. During her studies she investigated the relationship between hypermobility and proprioception for her thesis project. Before studying her master’s degree, Leanne studied dance vocationally at London Studio Centre and then completed a BA in Dance Performance at Middlesex University where her passion for dance science began. As an active member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS), Leanne also volunteers as part of their Promotions Committee which involves the creation and sharing of social media content. Since graduating, Leanne has worked as a Graduate Intern in both the Dance Science and Health department at Trinity Laban and now also works as a Module Leader and Lecturer on the BSc Dance Science programme. Leanne currently teaches Dance Science and Fitness Health and Safety to the first-year students studying at Bird College.

Steve Trill Diploma in Professional Music Studies  Musical Director and Academic Tutor

Steve studied at Goldsmiths College, University of London, taking a Diploma in Professional Music Studies. Soon after college he collaborated on writing his first musical, ‘Georgie’, which went on to receive two subsequent productions. As a recording musician he has played on albums and co-produced for pop and musical theatre artists, including the Olivier nominated lead in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Gus MacGregor. Orchestration and arrangement work followed, which alongside writing continues to be a favoured area of his work. He has served as Musical Director on many productions, more recently including Legally Blonde, Parade, Sister Act, Hairspray, A Chorus Line, The Wizard of Oz, Seussical the Musical, Our House and Rent at theatres across the region, and is regularly hired as a pit musician for local productions.
Steve is currently the resident Musical Director for the Orchard Theatre’s summer youth productions. He has worked on productions at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, on cruise lines, and theatrical tours including Beyond The Barricade, one of the UK’s longest running musical theatre concert tours.

Anthony Pappano BA Hons, Mphil PGCE  Head of Accompanist Department, Academic Tutor

Anthony studied piano and voice at Trinity College of Music. After his training at Trinity he became involved in many recording projects, producing, composing and working as a session musician in the club/dance/jazz music scene. One of the most successful projects was on the first two albums produced the UK group Down To The Bone, that had success in the UK and also in the USA. Alongside this, Anthony continued to develop as a pianist, accompanist and in teaching, and became the organist at St. Peter’s Church in Holborn, London. In 2000, he returned to higher education and was later awarded an MPhil from Brunel University in solo jazz piano. He became a member of staff at Bird College in 2002, and accompanies classes for ballet, tap and singing, and also teaches music theory. As an accompanist, he works regularly at the English National Ballet for class and rehearsals (Strictly Gershwin, Manon) and performs regularly in concerts with vocalists in both the classical and popular genres. Anthony is also a solo piano recitalist in jazz and Latin inspired music.

Tina Krasevec BA (Hons), M.Sc.  Academic Tutor

Tina Krasevec decided to pursue her passion for contemporary dance after reading Sociology and Philosophy at the University in Slovenia. Tina has a BA Honours from The London Contemporary Dance School and MSc in Dance Science. She has performed nationally and internationally with a variety of companies. Tina is currently a dance technique tutor at Trinity Laban and a lecturer on the BA Dance Education Program at the Canterbury Christ Church University and Bird College.

Anita Wadsworth MA [Dist] PGCE   Academic Tutor

Anita was a founding member of StopGap dance company where she first encountered an inclusive approach to dance and teaching that now underpins her practice. In 2013 she co-established SLiDE dance company, delivering dance projects across a range of community settings. She has an MA in Choreography from TrinityLaban and her current research interest is in the concept of choreography as care, explored through one-to-one performance and public interventions.  Anita has previously taught at Urdang Academy and The Royal Academy of Dance and has led dance projects for organisations such as The British Library, Apples and Snakes, DanceWest and the V&A. She is currently on the faculty for bbodance where she leads modules in dance history and career development as well as supporting students with their pedagogic research and practice.

Vivienne Saxton   ISTD Coordinator

Since graduating from the Royal Ballet School Teachers’ Training Course, Vivienne has run her own school and has worked at the Bush Davies Schools, the Royal Ballet School, Stella Mann College and Bird College. She has an MA in Ballet Studies from the University of Surrey, Roehampton and has taught and lectured worldwide.

Vivienne is currently Director of Dance for the BA(Hons) Musical Theatre Performance course at Momentum Performing Arts Academy and the ISTD Coordinator at Bird College. She is involved in the development of the teacher training qualifications at the ISTD and is on the Panel that devised the Level 6 Diploma in Dance Pedagogy.

Vivienne is a Fellow and Lead Examiner for the Imperial Classical Ballet Faculty, responsible for examiner training and standardisation, and an Examiner for the National Dance Faculty. She was Chair of the Imperial Ballet Faculty from 2010 until 2019 and also served as Vice-Chair of the ISTD Theatre Faculty Board and as a member of Council.

Reena Bhattacharjee MFA, BA (Hons)  Academic Tutor

Reena trained at the Royal Academy of Dance, graduating with a BA (Hons) in Ballet Education, as well as achieving further qualifications with the Imperial Society for Teachers of Dancing. After qualifying, she began working as a freelance teacher and sometimes performer – including dancing in the London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony. As a ballet teacher, Reena is currently on the regular faculty of many organisations – the Junior School of ballet company Ballet Black, the Sylvia Young Theatre School, and the Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) programme at Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance. Additionally, she also runs her own school in London (En Pointe). Reena completed a Masters of Fine Arts in Dance Science (with Distinction) at Trinity Laban in Greenwich in 2022, part of which included a year-long research project looking at the sleep of professional ballet dancers and how this related to their workload and mood states. Since her Masters, she has lectured in Dance Science, ballet teaching & pedagogy, and other academic subjects at Trinity Laban, the Royal Academy of Dance, Bird College and Momentum Performing Arts Academy (MPAA). She also holds the role of Academic Lead at MPAA.