Teachers

All our teachers have been carefully selected to provide the best Performing Arts training.

Meet the Azure team...

Kelly-Marie Gibbs L.I.S.T.D
Principal of Azure Theatre School

Kelly has been teaching for over ten years, working along side various Performing Arts Schools, Dance Schools, full-time Theatre Schools and Colleges, She has a 100% exam success rate, with the majority of students gaining distinctions.

Kelly has a passion for Jazz, Modern & Tap dance and enjoys choreographing within these genres. Her work has been performed in various professional venues including Her Majesty's Theatre, London and Disneyland, Paris.

Kelly founded Azure Theatre School in December 2007, and has successfully grown it so that it now has over 200 pupils across four centres, She is enormously proud of her pupils' achievements and looks forward to the future of Azure Theatre School.

David Kemp
Singing Teacher and Musical Director

David began his training at the age of 12 at a local full-time theatre school. He then, at 16, furthered his training at Millennium Performing Arts in London. Recent theatre credits include; Dancer/Vocalist & Resident Director of Songs from the Musicals starring Faye Tozer, Natty in Little Red Riding Hood and Doody in Grease (Italian Tour). David currently shares his time producing, directing and teaching.

Musical directing credits; Children of Eden Les Miserables School Edition, Bugsy Malone, Honk!, High School Musical, Swinging on a Rainbow and The King of Rock (European Tour) - a musical celebration of Elvis Presley.

David set up his own Production Company 'DK produktions' in April 2010 and in 2011 he produced his second pantomime. He also teaches privately and for an adult Pop Choir.

Amanda Alexander
Drama Teacher and Director

Amanda trained at Arts Educational Drama School. She recently toured in 'God Of Carnage' with Richard E Grant. She also toured for a year with a one woman show, ending at The ICA.

Other theatre credits include: 'The Lady of Msensk' - The Young Vic Studio, 'The Wild Party' - The Riverside Studios, 'The Barber of Seville' - Holland Park Open Air Opera, 'Lysistrata' - Stratford Theatre Royal East, 'Afterwards' - New End Theatre, 'A Christmas Lunch' - Kings Head Theatre.

TV credits include: Silent Witness, The Bill. Radio work includes Traces of Nuts. Her teaching work includes: The Pauline Quirke Academy, Allsorts Theatre School and regular workshops with BTEC National Performing Arts Students. Amanda is passionate about bringing out her students' full potential.

Karen Stuart
Ballet Teacher

Karen started dancing at the late age of 11 but was hooked straight away! She trained at The Jeannine Greville Dance Academies, The North London Dance Studio and most recently The Linda Sweetzer School of Dance. Before starting her teaching career, Karen worked in TV and film as a supporting artist and dancer, danced in pantos and for a Will Smith Tribute Act and danced in a caberet troupe in Fuerteventura for 6 months. She also worked as an assistant choreographer for The Thompson Rep Show in Fuerteventura and Zakynthios.

Karen holds Associate qualifications in ISTD Modern and Tap, and the new FDI qualification in Imperial Ballet. Karen's students have a 100% exam pass rate in Ballet, Modern and Tap exams. She currently teaches syllabus classes in Modern tap and ballet, free Jazz classes, Adult tap, and nursery level dance. She runs her own Summer and Easter Camp business and works for many local dancing schools and private schools.

Marianne Randolf
Pre School, Junior Modern & Tap and Free Work Teacher

Marianne has been dancing and performing since the age of 5, and danced in various charity Galas at The London Palladium, Sadlers Wells, Her Majesty's Theatre and The Royal Albert Hall. She has been an associate of The Urdang Academy and Italia Conti. During the last ten years she has studied the Modern Theatre syllabus up to Advanced 1.

Since leaving school, Marianne has studied for a national diploma in performing arts and has completed her FDI in Modern Theatre with the ISTD. She has been with Azure Theatre School since it was founded and has developed and grown the 'Amazing Adventure' classes as well as choreographing for our performances.

Marianne also works for various other dance schools including Redroofs and Kaleidoscope Theatre College, as well as running her own 'Pre-School' holiday workshops.

Angela Humphreys
Ballet, Modern & Tap Teacher

Angela started dancing at the age of three and within a few years was spending all her spare time at The Margaret Dixon School of Dancing in Sutton. Between the ages of six and 20, she performed in many different stage productions, including 14 years with The Carshalton Pantomime Company and four years with The Torch Theatre Company. She achieved ISTD Advanced 1 Qualifications in Imperial Ballet, Modern Theatre Dance and Tap Dance.

Angela then went to University to pursue something completely different and attained a MEng Degree in Civil Engineering with Distinction! However, she continued to dance ballet for fun!

Now a busy mother of two young boys, Angela has continued her training at The Linda Sweetzer Teacher Training College and successfully attained her FDI in Imperial Ballet and CDI in Modern Dance. She loves teaching dance and hopes that her pupils will get as much enjoyment out of it as she does.

Chantelle Constable
Junior Modern & Tap Teacher

Chantelle has been dancing and performing since she was 3 years old and throughout the years has done numerous dance school shows as well as four pantomimes and two shows with the Russian ballet.

She recently achieved her ISTD Diploma in Dance Instruction in Tap and Modern and is now training towards her Diploma in Dance Education in Tap and Modern.

Lucy Stanton
Teaching Assistant

Lucy has been dancing since she was 3. A pupil at Redroofs Theatre School, she is currently studying for her ISTD Grade 8 Ballet, Intermediate Modern and Intermediate Advanced 2 Tap.

She has also appeared in pantomime at the Novello Theatre, Sunninghill for the last six years. Other credits include: Little Dorrit for the BBC, Midsomer Murders and voice over for last year's Legoland fireworks display.

Aimee Palethorpe
Teaching Assistant

Aimee trained at Jeaninne Greville Dance Academy until the age of 18. From there she went to gain her DDI's in Modern Theatre and Tap Dance at Linda Sweetzer's teacher training college and has just gained her DDE in Tap. Aimee has been with Azure Theatre School for a year, and has gained experience at other local dance schools.

Laura Benham
Teaching Assistant

Laura has been dancing since the age of 3 and has always had a passion for the Performing Arts. She started her training at the Joan Selley School of Dance where she trained in Tap, Ballet, Modern, Singing and Drama. She then went on to train at the Redroofs Theatre School part time where she trained in Modern and Jazz. She was a member of the Marlow Entertainers for 3 years and took part in 3 productions: Babes in the Wood, Aladdin and Dick Whittington. She has also been an extra in two of the Harry Potter films. After Laura had left school she went on to study a BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts. Laura is currently working towards her Advance 1 Modern. She hopes to then progress to taking her ISTD teaching exams. Laura also has a great passion for choreography and would like to explore it in greater depth. Laura has previously worked for the Kaleidoscope Theatre College at The Oratory Preparatory School as a Dance Teaching Assistant. Laura thoroughly enjoys working for Azure and has never worked for a company that's as dedicated to giving young people a chance to experience such a wide variety of wonderful activities, and such a keen dedication to make children enjoy all the wonderful aspects of Dance and Theatre.

Sophie Renaghan
Free Work Teacher