Who we are

Millie is a freelance inclusive dance teacher and administrator based in Kent. She graduated from Canterbury Christ Church University with a degree in Dance Education in 2021 before starting her career in inclusive dance. Alongside her work with Parable Dance, she is a Dance Artist at DanceSyndrome as well as Founder and Artist Director of Tessellation Dance, a company which provides dance sessions for people with disabilities and older people. 

Annie graduated from the University of Surrey in 2009 with a BA Hons Dance and Culture Degree. During her time at university she discovered a strong interest for inclusive dance, and she has been working as a freelance dance practitioner since 2011.

Annie has worked with Magpie Dance since 2006 first as volunteer then a trainee, finally becoming a facilitator in 2012. With Magpie Dance, she has worked with a range of dance groups including the juniors, youth, adult, and community classes as well as in health care settings. She has taught contemporary, Zumba and creative dance classes and delivered sessions for Sainsbury’s Active Kids, as well as working on inclusive dance projects in Kent and Sussex where she lives.  

Since 2012, Annie’s main focus has been on teaching in the community and inclusive settings. Annie has delivered on numerous projects across the South East as a freelancer, facilitating weekly sessions for SEN students in a mainstream school that culminated in a performance for the rest of the school. She has also worked for Rounded Rhythm, where she assisted on delivering inclusive dance sessions. As well as delivering numerous sessions in the community,  she also choreographed a musical for a hospice in Brighton to raise much needed funds. 

In 2013 Annie completed a one year internship in Trinity Laban’s Learning and Participation department (Dance). Annie’s professional experience includes assisting, co-leading and leading inclusive dance sessions and CPD sessions as part of the department’s outreach work and classes at the Trinity Laban including children’s creative dance classes for children 4-8,  adult and youth contemporary classes. Annie was the Dance School Co-ordinator (Maternity cover) at The Royal Academy of Dance in 2014.

Annie strongly believes in the positive impact dance in the community can have on people’s lives. She believes that the arts should be for everyone and believes that dance at its core is inclusive. Her practice and delivery style is fun and playful, and she strongly believes in people’s ability to push themselves and move to the best of their ability. Annie has received both a Jack Petchy Leader Award (2016) and YEAUK Best Teacher (2019) for her teaching.

Annie is the Founder and Director of Latitude Dance

Kimberley is a freelance dancer, choreographer and teacher. As a dancer she has worked in a variety of settings and venues for stage, outdoor festivals and site-specific performance; predominately in contemporary dance, but also physical theatre. Kimberley is a Candoco Artist, which includes teaching for Candoco Dance Company on a national and international basis.

Kimberley has her own inclusive contemporary dance company, Subtle Kraft Co. The company's work centres around relationships in their various forms and from a variety of perspectives, in particular through live performance and film. https://subtlekraft.co/

Photo Credit: Roswitha Chesher

Katharine is a freelance dance artist and teaches a variety of contemporary and creative classes across Sussex and London. She graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2015, with a Postgraduate Diploma in Community Dance. Following this she completed a Specialist Diploma Choreological Studies from Laban and performed with TenOverSix Dance Company. Katharine specialises in inclusive practice and is a facilitator for Magpie Dance. She has also worked as a freelance dance teacher for Arts Odyssey, Trinity Laban and Rounded Rhythm. Prior to this she assisted with inclusive dance classes in Newcastle and London, including a placement with Candoco Dance Company. She was awarded the Jack Petchy Leader Award (2020). Katharine also has specialist training in Dance for Parkinson’s and is co-founder of Dance for Parkinson’s Brighton. She has been on the committee of Sussex Dance Network and has been involved with a variety of artistic projects in Sussex, including exploring the interface between dance and photography. www.katharineleroux.co.uk

Georgia holds a BA (Hons) in Ballet Education from the Royal Academy of Dance, where she studied to become a dance teacher. Georgia has always aspired to educate and make a difference in student’s lives, and is extremely passionate about doing so through her career in dance teaching. 

She encourages students to be themselves and aspires to educate generations of students to express their ideas and have freedom over their creative choices. As well as working as a freelance dance teacher amongst the community, Georgia is also a founder of her company ‘GPCreatives’ offering bespoke creative dance workshops in schools. She says “My aim is to help students realise their creative potential through the art of dance”. 

Georgia was nominated last year for a One Dance UK award for ‘Rising star teacher 2018’ and felt overwhelmingly proud to be surrounded by artists which have inspired her throughout her studies and continue to. Georgia aims to continue to develop her skills as a community dance artist and inspire students around the world, with aspirations of travelling to meet and learn from other dance artists. https://www.gpcreatives.com/

Holly is a community dance artist based in Brighton. Since graduating from London Contemporary Dance School in 2002, she has worked in a variety of educational and community settings in London and the South East. Holly has a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education, Secondary) as a Dance Specialist and has worked in Secondary schools delivering KS3, GCSE, BTEC and ALevel Dance in established dance departments, as well as delivering extensive extra curricular dance offerings and performance opportunities for Students. 

Holly is the founder and Artistic Director of Creative Dance Club, Brighton. Offering creative dance and contemporary classes, themed school workshops, after School and Holiday Clubs to children aged 4-11 years, to find their inner creativity through a holistic and inclusive approach. As well as this, Holly co leads Head-Strong and Spot:Light youth dance groups as well as the junior and senior contemporary dance technique and pre-school dance classes in Ringmer.

Holly offers inclusive dance workshops within the community and currently works with Grace Eyre in Brighton on their weekly active lives sessions.

Megan is an associate artist who is new to Brighton and the Parable Dance team. Megan who recently moved from Birmingham, was an assistant and dance lead for ‘The Future Shift youth dance company’, a dance company for young people identifying as disabled, who have a passion and talent for dance. She balanced this with an administration role at Argent College, Ruskin Mill Trust; a specialist educational provision focusing on practical therapeutic education. Where she delivered work experience to students focusing on practical skills to aid their future employment.

Megan has been dancing from a young age and has a strong interest in how movement can unite people of all backgrounds. She graduated from Rambert School in 2018 with 2:1 BA (Hons) and went on to study with Biennale Di Venezia College Danza in Venice, directed by Marie Chouinard; performing in a reworked version of ‘Set and Reset’ by Trisha Brown and ‘Dance Me to the End of Love’ by Alessandro Sciarroni.

Since then, Megan has worked across many facilitator and teaching roles, working with disabled and non-disabled dance artists. In 2021, she gained her Associate teaching qualification with the Associate Board of Dance (ABD) devising creative and choreographic tools to be used within the ABD graded syllabus’. From 2021-2023 she was dance lead and assistant for the Critical Mass Dance Collective; a dance collective with an integrated cast of people identifying as d/Deaf, Disabled and non-disabled performing at mega events including Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony and Birmingham International Dance Festival 2022 & 2023. Megan has also delivered for Shropshire Inclusive Dance (SiD) for the Darwin Dancers, an inclusive dance collective, to create a performance piece championing co-creation for SiD’s 2023 summer showcase.

Megan is excited to be joining the Parable Dance team, continuing to create inclusive, welcoming and safe environments for young people to engage with and explore their love of dance.

Josie is a community dance artist and yoga teacher based in Worthing, West Sussex. Since graduating from the University of Roehampton fifteen years ago, Josie has expanded on her work in community arts and wellbeing teaching across Sussex, Surrey and London.

Josie spent many exciting years in the Dance department at The BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon, before running the Community Arts department at the college. This work brought around many exciting community projects, from directing workshops and shows for families at Camp Bestival, to facilitating dance and theatre education work in Pondicherry, South India. Other projects included work with the charity MIND, Chickenshed Theatre and SLiDE Dance.

Upon leaving the BRIT school, Josie worked for Rambert as an animateur, facilitating for them on their education programmes. As a freelance teacher, Josie has also worked with Dance Umbrella and the Learning and Participation department at Laban, as well as teaching adult groups in her local community.

When not in a dance studio, Josie teaches yoga, with a real interest in how yoga can be made to feel more accessible. She teaches a wide range of participants of all ages and blends her knowledge of inclusive practices in dance with her passion for yoga, meditation and breathwork. Alongside several qualifications in yoga teaching, Josie also has a PGCE in secondary dance from the University of Brighton and a postgraduate certificate in Dance Movement Psychotherapy from the University of Roehampton.

Anna works in movement, as a performer, choreographer and teacher. She is fascinated by humans and the moving body, and constantly curious about the connections that are to be found between movement and all aspects of life. Anna has worked extensively within inclusive arts, predominantly for Stopgap Dance Company; leading workshops and choreographing in collaboration with the British Council in Albania, Algeria, Cairo, and for Granada International Festival. Anna is a central collaborator in multi-sensory performance company BitterSuite, with recent performances at The Royal Opera House, The Roundhouse and RichMix in London, at Wilderness Festival, and in leading workshops for SENSE UK’s inclusive sensory exploration projects for deaf-blind artists

Andrea is a community Dance Artist, Producer and with a BA honours in Dance Studies from Middlesex University. She is also the Engagement and Outreach Manager for Corali Dance Company, managing a range of engagement, training, mentoring projects. She has also facilitated a number of community dance projects in Sri Lanka, Thailand, China and Nepal and most recently went on a cultural exchange impact project in Ghana with Awareness Through Dance.  Andrea founded her own dance company, which she ran for over 10 year working in relationships with local charities. Andrea has worked as a Dance Artists for organisations SLiDE, Royal Academy of Dance, B.Supreme, Lyra and Oval House Theatre on various participatory and professional work. 

Nikki graduated from Greenwich University with a BA hons in Primary Education in 2011. Her love of working with young people with disabilities drew her into education, with a particular interest in movement due to the joy that it evoked in children and young people, so she decided to make PE her specialism within her degree. 

During this time, Nikki found Magpie Dance which combined her passion for dance and inclusivity together and she started volunteering for them in their youth sessions. She then completed their Inclusive Dance Professional Training course.

Nikki gained her Qualified Teacher Status in a local mainstream Primary school where she taught for 5 years, and has also worked as a freelance facilitator with Magpie Dance since 2011. Nikki’s work at Magpie Dance has covered all age groups that the charity works with (ages 3-70+), delivering sessions within their regular community classes, holiday schools, education settings, health sector and performance opportunities. 

Nikki is very excited to be joining the Parable team! 

Born in Penang, Malaysia and of Chinese heritage – Charlene moved over to London at the age of five where she discovered she had congenital scoliosis, with fused lower lumbar vertebrae. She fell in love with dance in her teens. Charlene went on to gain a scholarship and trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance coupled with 10 years of martial arts - Shoalin Kungfu alongside other interests such as Capoeira and Poi Spinning, all brushed with her love affair of fine art and circus.

In 2010 Charlene founded Sardines Dance (sardinesdance.org) a collective of exceptional, inclusive contemporary dance artists whose works extends to those with profound and multiple learning disabilities in various settings, from that of a relaxed community sharing to a national televised platform.

Over the last 20 years Charlene’s passion has driven her to become a vibrant and versatile choreographer, performer, educator and consultant with prolific experiences within inclusive as well as intergenerational work in the arts and dance industry. She brings mature heartfelt depth and social and ethical integrity to all she does, to motivate, achieve, and communicate successfully through her art to audiences of all backgrounds and ages.

Charlene’s drive to bring connection through dance, movement and music for social inclusion and acceptance, have led her to gain extensive experience working with large inclusive community groups. These tend to be intergenerational across the UK and internationally in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Her work has been performed and created for various outdoor platforms, such as high energy carnival parades, formal mass movement celebrations and slightly more intimate site-specific spaces.

Photo credit: Chris Andreou

Jodie Cole is a choreographer, movement director, facilitator, producer and performer, and is lead artist at Jodie Cole Dance. Inspired by the healing powers of movement to cross social divides, she celebrates difference, uses movement to unite experience and brings performance to unexpected places.

She works internationally in communities, on large-scale site-specific projects, in theatre, and has extensive experience teaching in SEND settings. Jodie has mentored dance facilitators for the Royal Academy of Dance and is an MA Movement: Directing and Teaching graduate (RCSSD). She runs workshops and movement sessions for institutions across the UK and is trained to level 3 British Sign Language.   

In 2021 Jodie was appointed as Weston Jerwood Creative Fellow at Extraordinary Bodies for her leadership potential as an inclusive practitioner, where she continues to work as Co-evaluation Producer on the Connecting Communities project.

In 2022 Jodie Cole Dance created and toured Boogie Booth, a popup participatory dance experience with embedded BSL, funded by Arts Council England. In 2023 Jodie explored "Class, Collaboration, and Complex PTSD" as part of her Arts Council DYCP, and developed "Feel The Beat", a participatory dance show with embedded audio description that plays with sensory ways into dance, funded by Arts Council England.

Jodie is currently an associate for the Jerwood Toolkit promoting socio-economic diversity in the arts, she is also associate artist for 24/25 with Arts and Homelessness International exploring her experiences of homelessness in solo dance making, and she is Dance Ambassador with Matthew Bourne New Adventures at The Marlowe.

Photo credit: Hydar Dewachi

Hannah (she/her) is a freelance dancer, teacher choreographer, and rehearsal director based in London. Hannah graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire in 2022 and she is also an alumna of the National Youth Ballet (NYB). 

Hannah joined the NYB Beyond Ballet programme in 2022 where she begun developing her inclusive teaching practice through professional development and in person experience with Parable Dance as well as mentoring with Stopgap. Hannah has choreographed for the NYB All In! inclusive company in collaboration with Parable Dance and cherishes being able to share her love of ballet and choreography with this group. Alongside her teaching and inclusive work, Hannah performs in project based work, and tours internationally in Gandini Juggling’s piece ‘LIFE’. She has also rehearsal directed for choreographers such as Gerrard Martin, Neus Gil Cortez (NYB), and Otis Carr (The Royal Ballet autumn Draft Works). Through all her work, sharing the value of art and dance education with individuals and communities is of huge importance to Hannah.

Ross is a freelance dance artist who has recently graduated from Central School of Ballet. During his time at the school Ross worked with a range of professional choreographers performing in both classical and contemporary works. He also joined both Scottish Ballet and English National Ballet for student tour placements. Ross has always been passionate believer of inclusivity within dance and is a current member of Amici Dance Theatre Company. Along side his performing credits Ross is also interested in creating his own work. Most recently he collaboratively choreographed an inclusive dance piece with dancers from Parable Dance and NYB as well as having his student work selected for CSB's choreographic showcase.  

Hello, my name is Lily.

I have always liked acting and dancing. When I was at school, I was in the school plays. My favourite was the King and I. I was also Hero in Much ado about nothing for the Shakespeare in schools’ events.

I love going to Parable Dance and am very excited about being a Trainee Dance Artist.

Max has loved music and dance for a long time. He loves learning for new shows and performing on the stage. Max has been taking part in the Parable and National Youth Ballet (NYB) collaborative project and as a result has become a member of the NYB steering committee. Max is excited to be a Trainee Dance Artist.

Andrew has always loved music and dance and is pleased to have found himself in Parable Dance. He is very excited to be a trainee dance artist, a role he will very much enjoy as he wants everyone to be able to join in and be able to express themselves through dance.

Alongside dance, Andrew plays table tennis for the Great Britain Down Syndrome Team with great success. 

Based in Ashford/Kent, Molly works in SEND education as an LSA, helping those with special needs, access and utilise learning crafted specifically for them. She has had a particular passion for dance since she was very young and is always looking for new ways to get involved in movement. As well as her career in Education Molly is heavily involved in local dramatics and serves as a Dance Captain and principal character in annual Pantomimes and has also participated in many charity concerts.

In the future she aspires to start up a dance group for those with SEND in Ashford as a full time career, with Parable giving her the most amazing experience and guidance along the way.

Kay Ashton MBE, is a podcast, vlog creator talking about all things disability. Her passion is showing how living with disabilities does not necessarily stop us living our lives to the full and reaching our potential and dreams. Kay, is currently going through IVF as a single mum by choice and also works day today for a large media organisations consulting on disability. Kay met Parable Dance after seeing an interview on the news and was keen to support and showcase the work we do. After being through dance school herself, she understands how important it is to have inclusive dance for all. 'I am honoured to be asked to be a patron for Parable Dance, I love what they do and how dance can be an expression of emotion, whatever your ability is, dance can be adapted and made inclusive for you and I love this'

www.kayashton.com
www.youtube.com/kirstysstory

Sofia Oxenham graduated from RADA in 2017 and has since acted in a variety of roles for film and TV, including Poldark, Cursed and Extraordinary.

She is passionate in her enthusiasm for inclusivity in the Arts and so was delighted to be asked to be a patron of Parable Dance.

“This company truly inspire me. Watching the way they use such incredibly creative solutions in their choreography to celebrate disability and difference is a shining example to all performers. I can’t wait to follow their progress and enjoy seeing many more performances.”