Name:  Donna Nelson

Role:  Principal Teacher

Childhood Ambition:  To spend her life dancing

Achievements:  Donna started dancing at the age of 5, and gained championship and pre-championship titles in Highland Dance.  She qualified as a professional dance teacher at just 17 years old. A few years later she furthered her qualification to the highest level to become a Fellow Member of the BATD (British Association of Teachers of Dancing).  Throughout her career, she has performed in many Theatrical shows and pantomimes, but her main love is teaching dance as she loves working with children and believes that every child is special.  Donna enjoys inspiring and educating all her students, and is committed to driving each and everyone of them towards achieving their own personal potential in the world of dance.

                                                  

 Meet Our Team:

Donna Nelson, Laura McGarry, Julie Ann Payne, Catriona Clark

Ashli Gould and Zoe Smith 

 

                                             

Name:  Laura McGarry

Role:  Dance Teacher

Childhood Ambition:  To teach dance

Achievements:  Laura mcGarry started dancing with J&D at the tender age of three enjoying all aspects of dance.   She showed extreme talent and promise and progressed to become a qualified teacher of the BATD (British Association of Teachers of Dancing) at eighteen.

Laura runs her own successful business during the day teaching dance to pre-school children in nurseries throughout the West of Scotland.  Laura is also very much in demad by Local Councils to pass on her skills to kids in schools and youth groups.  Laura herself is a cheerleading judge and former member of the St Mirren Football Club Cheerleading team.  With her great patience and happy nature she knows how to get the best out of every child.                                       

 

Name:  Julie Ann Payne

Role: Dance Teacher

Childhood Ambition: To be a Dance Teacher and Choreographer

Achievements:Like Laura, Julie Ann was trained from a very young age at J&D School of Dance and qualified at 18.  She attended the young associate scheme at Scottish Ballet and performed in many shows including “The Nutcraker” in the Theatre Royal.  She has had an excellent career Choreograping many shows such as the hugely successful stage musical ”High School Musical” at Johnstone Town Hall.

                                          

Name:  Catriona Clark

Role:  Dance & Drama Teacher and Singing Coach

Childhood Ambition: To be an Opera Singer

Achievements: Catriona started dancing at the age of 2 1/2 years old. She has successfully progressed through the BATD examinations and is now a qualified teacher within the association. Since 2005 Catriona has been studying Opera within the junior school of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and has recently won a scholarship to study Opera in the senior school from September 2010. This has fulfilled Catriona’s childhood ambition to become an Opera singer and she still dreams that one day she will sing with Scottish Opera.

Since the age of 8 she has performed as a singer and dancer in numerous shows including Oliver, Annie, Wizard of Oz, My Fair Lady, Singin’ In The Rain, principal roles in pantomime and most recently performed in the West of Scotland Premiere of Beauty and the Beast in the Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Catriona is in high demand for her creative choreographic and singing skills. Recently she has choreographed King Arthur, Cinderella and two productions of Oliver. Currently Catriona is principle choreographer for Johnstone Phoenix Theatre Group’s production of Dick Whittington. Also she has worked for Renfrewshire Council as a dance coach in Freestyle and Cheerleading.  Catriona is the in-house singing coach with J&D School of Dance and Drama and inspires harmony in all our kids.

Name: Ashli Gould

Role: Dance Teacher

Childhood Ambition: To teach Highland Dance

Achievements:Ashli qualified as an Associate of the BATD when she was 19. Although she has been trained in all aspects of dance her true love is Highland Dancing.  Ashli’s childhood was spent travelling the country as a competitive Highland Dancer where she won numerous Pre-Championship and Championship titles.  Her enthusiasm of Highland Dancing is immense, and cannot wait to pass on all those vital tips to our budding highland dancers.

Name: Zoe Smith

Role: Dance Teacher

Childhood Ambition: Always to dance

Achievements: J&D School of Dance and Drama are delighted to welcome Zoe Smith as the latest addition to our team. Zoe brings with her a weatlh of expertise and is a Bachelor of Arts in Dance after training at the Performing Arts Studio Scotland in Edinburgh’s Telford College. She has appeared in a number of productions including: Taking Flight BA Tour, 16 Stories in 16 Days, My Hero in the Theatre Royal and Heer Ranja in the Tramway. Zoe also has experience in Choreography and is currently working on her independent dance project,which includes choreographing a 15 minute dance piece. Zoe enjoys attending professional Dance and Musical Theatre performances on a regular basis, she has a great passion for travel and music festivals.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************