NATIONAL YOUTH BALLET - Key Persons

Abigail Steele

Job Titles:

Rehearsal Director, Residential Performance Company

Training/Education: Abigail (she/her) trained for four years at Morea Performing Arts on their Dance and Performing Arts programme. Alongside her training she also trained as a Teacher with the ISTD and holds her Diploma in Dance Education in Ballet, Modern and Tap. Professional Experience: For the last 18 months Abigail has been a dancer and Dance Captain with Norwegian Creative Studios. She was part of the inaugural production company for Oceania cruises latest ship the Vista, where she was lucky to work with incredible creatives such as Britt Stewart and Tara Overfield. As well as performing, Abigail has been teaching for a wide variety of schools and programmes across the UK and Europe.

Amelia O'Hara

Job Titles:

Artistic Director, Residential Performance Company 2025

Amelia (she/her) trained at the The Royal Ballet School and Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. Whilst training she performed with The Royal Ballet Company, Northern Ballet Theatre and in her final year of training was awarded ‘Student Ballet Dancer of the Year'. Upon graduation she joined Scottish Ballet as an artist, performing works such as The Nutcracker, The Crucible and Elite Syncopations. She also performed with Ballet Cymru and Peter Schaufuss Ballet Company before joining Ballet Ireland where she performed works by Morgann Runacre-Temple, Ohad Naharin, Christopher Hampson and Ludovic Ondiviela. She has also worked with Arielle Smith, Drew McOnie, Jenna Lee and International Arts Collective for various productions worldwide, and can be spotted in the films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Love Sarah. More recently she has been working alongside Arielle Smith as Movement Rehearsal Director for her production of Carrie. Alongside her performing career, Amelia has always had a passion for teaching and has worked for The National Youth Ballet of Great Britain since 2015. She currently teaches at Ballet Boost, Elite Ballet Project and founded Tunbridge Wells Ballet Workshops in 2020, with the aim to give young dancers the opportunity to learn more about professional dance in a fun, supportive environment.

Amy Groves

Job Titles:

Beyond Ballet® Choreographer and Rehearsal Director

Andrew Ellis - CTO

Job Titles:

Technical Director

Anna Freire Camacho

Job Titles:

Stage Manager

Anna (she/her) completed a Bachelor's degree in Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol before moving on to a Master's in Stage and Production Management at Guildford School of Acting. Professional Experience: Anna has worked as a freelance stage manager since 2021. She was Company Stage Manager for Lark Rise and Barn Dance at The Theatre, Chipping Norton; Stage Manager for Grease at the Redgrave Theatre, Bristol; Deputy Stage Manager for Cinderella at The Theatre, Chipping Norton; Assistant Stage Manager for Islander: A New Musical at Theatre Royal, Plymouth. This is her third year as Stage Manager for National Youth Ballet's residential performance company. Anna's biggest inspiration comes from pre-history. We've been creating art for tens of thousands of years, some of which still survives today. Creating art is one of the things that makes us human and she couldn't be without it.

Anna Hall

Job Titles:

Winter Workshop Ballet Teacher

Anna trained at the Royal Ballet School for 7 years and upon graduation was professionally engaged with the Hamburg Ballet in Germany. During her time at The Royal Ballet School, she performed with the Royal Ballet Company at the Royal Ballet and Opera in Swan Lake, Nutcracker and La Bayadere. In Hamburg, Anna toured over 17 different countries and danced in prestigious theatres such as the Palais Garnier in Paris, The Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore, to name a few. She also had the opportunity to work with world renowned choreographers such as John Neumeier, Natalia Makarova, and Christopher Wheeldon. Anna returned to the UK in 2005 where she began her teaching career, completing the RAD Professional Dancer's Teaching Diploma, Diploma in Higher Education: Dance Education, PGCLTHE, and fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. In 2017 Anna was awarded the Inspirational Lecturer Award from the inaugural One Dance UK teaching awards. Since then, Anna has recently gained her Senior Fellowship of the HEA and has been teaching at The Hammond as a classical ballet teacher since 2022.

Anna Watkins

Anna has toured her 11-year independent company work ‘Watkins Dance Company' in the UK & Internationally by funding & commissioning organisations Arts Council England, East London Dance, Swindon Dance, The Garage, DanceEast, South East Dance, awarded Associate Artist (2017-2018) Swindon Dance. During her extensive 17 year professional performing career, Anna has worked with dance companies & choreographers: Taira Foo Dance Company, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Phoenix Dance Theatre (CC Lab), Tavaziva Dance, Motionhouse, Oceanallover, Thea Barnes, Neville Campbell, Harriet Macauley & more.

Anya Mercer

Training/Education: Anya (she/her) began her training with Victoria Allport and continued at Tring Park School, Academy of Balletic Arts, RBS Senior Associates and the English National Ballet School. Professional Experience: Anya is very fortunate to have had many performance opportunities, including two amazing seasons as an NYB company member in 2017 and 2018! She won the Phyllis Bedells choreography award and was a finalist in the Fonteyn (formerly Genée) International Ballet Competition in 2019. She performed in The Nutcracker with English National Ballet, and while at English National Ballet School she danced works by choreographers Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Didy Veldman, Andrew McNicol, and Alleyne Dance. After graduating from the English National Ballet School, she is now studying Psychology and Neuroscience at university while concurrently teaching and choreographing at Alta Academy of Dance. Biggest Inspiration: ‘I cannot single out my biggest inspiration as I am constantly learning from everyone around me, yet my family and friends are very close to the top of the list!'

Arwen Gogerly

Job Titles:

Rehearsal Director

Training/Education: Arwen (she/her) trained at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts for 5 years and graduated in 2023 with Level 6 Trinity Diploma in Professional Dance. Professional Experience: Arwen has performed in a range of theatres (Hackney Empire, The Crescent, Sadlers Wells and Göteborgs Stadsteater in Gothenburg performing The Nutcracker) and also choreographed for a student project at the Met Film School London in 2023. Biggest Inspiration: ‘My biggest inspiration is my mum who has always chosen a career guided by her love for the arts and jewellery design. She has shown me how to be a strong empowered woman by successfully running her own business since a young age.'

Ashley Dixon

Job Titles:

Finance
Finance Committee

Ashley is from Hull and completed his dance training at Central School of Ballet. Upon graduating in 2004 he joined Northern Ballet where he danced most of the company's leading roles for 18 years, including Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights), Peter Pan, Marc Anthony (Cleopatra), Gatsby (The Great Gatsby), Oberon (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Hamlet. In 2012 he was fortunate enough to have the title role of David Nixon's Beauty and the Beast created for him, and for which he was awarded joint 3 rd in Dance Europe's "Top 100 Dancers 2013". In 2022 Ashley retired as a dancer and assumed the position of rehearsal director for Northern Ballet, passing on the knowledge attained through his career to the next generation of dancers.

Barbara Palczynski - CEO

Job Titles:

Chief Executive
Member of the Safeguarding Committee
Managing Director of Creative Society
Safeguarding and Support Team Manager

Barbara has worked for over 25 years with classical music NPOs including London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Philharmonia Orchestra delivering large-scale projects ranging from orchestral to opera, cross-arts, multi-media and digital. Always committed to talent development, she set up and managed the International Conductors' Academy of the Allianz Cultural Foundation to model a professional development programme for emerging conductors including Gustavo Dudamel, and as Producer at Sound and Music she commissioned and supported emerging composers. Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to become a founding member of the pioneering pop-up club inégales, an open space for multi-genre free improvisation and collaboration. She oversaw CONNECT: The Audience as Artist, an international collaboration between Art Mentor Foundation Luzern, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Asko Schoenberg and Casa da Música. She believes firmly in the importance of cultural exchange and creating an environment in which partnership working, ambition and creativity can flourish. Her projects have been nominated for RPS Awards. Since 2016 Barbara has been the Managing Director of Creative Society, an arts employment charity that supports fair access for young people to develop their creative talents and careers. She has channelled her wealth of knowledge of the creative sector to strengthen the strategic development of the organisation and has advocated to government to support the widest talent pipeline for a more diverse sector. Barbara works with the Creative Director and the Board of Trustees to lead National Youth Ballet of Great Britain to drive forward its mission.

Becky Hyson

Job Titles:

Assistant Stage Manager

Bryony Pennington

Job Titles:

Winter Workshop Creative Teacher

Bryony trained at The Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Whilst studying they were awarded The Charlotte Kirkpatrick award for sensitivity, power, integrity and sincerity in performance. In their third year they worked with choreographer Lynne Page and band GoGo Penguin at The London Jazz Music Festival at The Barbican and Rambert Dance Company; ‘Hayden's Creation' choreographed by Mark Baldwin performed at Garsington Opera, Itzic Galili's ‘A Linda Curva' and a duet for Dance Power, a British Red Cross Charity gala. Upon graduation they joined Ballet National de Marseille under the direction of Emio Greco and Pieter C. Sholten (season 2016/17) before returning to the UK as a freelance artist. Since 2018 Bryony has predominantly spent their time working for Matthew Bourne's New Adventures on a number of his productions including two new creations; Swan Lake (2018), Romeo+Juliet (2019 and 2023/24), The Red shoes (2019/20), The Midnight Bell (2021) and The Car Man at The Royal Albert Hall (2022) and will be touring with The Midnight Bell again in 2025. As well as performing in the upcoming tour Bryony will also be doing extra training under the title of ‘Emerging Leader' with the company. Bryony has also worked closely with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance; ‘Bayadere - The ninth life' (2017), BBC film ‘Contagion' (2018), ‘Until the Lions' (2022) performing alongside Opera National du Rhin dance company and dance film ‘(Don't) Say My Name' to be released in 2025. As well as with Stuart Winter; Assistant choreographer on ‘Dance with whoever you want to' (2023), Mark Bruce Company; ‘Phantoms' tour (2021/2022), Impermanence dance; ‘Cosmic yoghurt' (2022), George Williamson; ‘How Queerness moves' (2021), New Movement Collective; Les Noces (2022), Jamiel Laurence; Film ‘Fund Freelance Dance' (2020), Arielle Smith; Resolution Festival (2018) and ‘Lot's of Varied Expectations' (2018), Watkins Dance Company; ‘Solitude' spring tour (2018). Bryony has also worked on film with Constella Opera Ballet; ‘Water Hymn' (2021), Soumik Dhatta; ‘Silent Spaces' (2021), Jevan Chowdhury; ‘Moving London' (2015) and ‘Moving Southwark' (2015), Franco Noriega; ‘Me Aceleras' music video (2019) and FrankMusik; ‘Stabilizher' music video (2015). Alongside performing Bryony has also taught class for New Adventures, Rambert School, Performers College, Midland Theatre Ballet, Renaissance Arts and co-choreographed/staged pieces for Dance United Yorkshire, The Place easter intensive and Restaged ‘Athena' for National Youth Ballet in 2022.

Carrie Taylor Johnson

Training/Education: Carrie trained with Marilyn Baker and Tring Park, gaining a Bronze medal at The Genee International Ballet Competition and Young British Dancer of the Year Competition 2003. Professional Experience: Carrie danced worldwide with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Ballett am Rhein (soloist), New Adventures (principal), Phantom of the Opera and the McOnie Company. She is a graduate of the Professional Dancer's Teaching Diploma 2015, and has taught at a range of vocational institutions, with a permanent place at London Studio Centre. She has been a guest teacher for New Adventures and Yorke Dance Project, and has taught for the Royal Academy of Dance's Phyllis Bedell's Bursary and International Summer Schools. Carrie was National Youth Ballet's Associate Artistic Director for the 2018/2019 season. Alongside teaching, Carrie gained her BSc in Psychology & Sports Science and MSc in Applied Sport Psychology. She now lectures in Performance Psychology at The Royal Ballet Upper School and for their Teacher's Diploma course. Additionally she provides 1-2-1 psychological support to both performers and athletes, and has run group workshops for New Adventures, Yorkshire Ballet Seminars and National Youth Ballet.

Charlie Brittain

Training/Education: Charlie (he/him) trained at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and London Contemporary Dance School CAT Scheme; his further qualifications include Advanced Clinical Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation, Integrative Health Coaching & Nutritional Therapy, Human Biomechanics and Emergency & Urgent Care. Professional Experience: Charlie's passion lies in empowering others to take ownership of their practice and champion their values through dancing. His independent choreographic work is performed internationally and he regularly delivers commissions for dance companies, institutes and festivals. Charlie is a sought-after rehearsal director and artistic mentor, working in a variety of artistic environments across Europe. He has performed internationally with dance companies, independent projects and in collaboration with other artists, and he is regularly invited to lead classes, workshops and masterclasses for dance companies, educational institutes and festivals worldwide. Charlie has been Associate Artist at English National Ballet, Associate Creative Director of the National Youth Ballet, and is currently Rehearsal Director for Scottish Dance Theatre.

Charlie Fulton-Langley

Job Titles:

General Manager

Ciara Clayton

Job Titles:

Projects Coordinator
Dance Artist
Member of Communications Committee
Social Media Coordinator

Training/Education: Ciara (they/them) trained in ballet and contemporary dance and graduated with a degree in contemporary dance in Leeds in 2019. Professional Experience: Ciara has worked as a freelancer across the UK for the past 7 years. They have been a Rehearsal Director with The National Youth Ballet of Great Britain (NYB) since 2017 working alongside Louise Bennett, Sophie Laplane, Charlie Brittain and Daniel Davidson. They also manage NYB's social media accounts. Other Rehearsal Directing experience includes Rachel Clarkes ‘CODA', Daniel Phung's ‘Blowin' in the Wind' and Sonia Sabri's ‘Same Same… But Different' and ‘Mughal Miniatures'. Ciara was also Programme Manager for Sonia Sabri Company. More recently they have worked for English National Ballet (ENB) delivering on Akram Khans ‘Ballet Explored' programme, ENB Roadshow and teaching ENB's Youth Company. Ciara is also a workshop leader for London Children's Ballet and teaches on London Studio Centres West Midlands Associate Programme. Biggest Inspiration: "I am inspired by all my friends and colleagues and their care and attention to the work we produce."

Clint Hayashi

Job Titles:

Communications
Member of Communications Committee

Clint Hayashi is a senior communicator with a career spanning technology/fintech, media/entertainment and retail/eCommerce. He has worked for global brands, including Disney, Expedia, NBCUniversal, Paramount Global and Yahoo!. Clint is currently Head of Corporate Affairs at Aion Bank, a fintech company. Throughout Clint's career, he has helped to build comms functions globally, managing everything from brand positioning, global product launches, thought leadership to executive branding and crisis communications. He is passionate about storytelling and has advised companies on comms strategies to tell their story and make people understand why they matter. He also serves as an Advisor for No Turning Back 2020 and has served as a mentor at the Taylor Bennett Foundation.

Dame Monica Mason

NYB teaches the children about so much more than dancing - they learn about theatre, backcloth design, costumes, music and most importantly working as a company. They are so lucky to experience this at such a young age

Daniel Davidson

Job Titles:

Choreographer, Residential Performance Company

Training/Education: Daniel was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at The Dance School of Scotland and Millennium Performing Arts. Professional Experience: Daniel danced for Scottish Ballet from 2006-2014 and Rambert from 2014-2022. He now works as a freelance artist and choreographer and is the Assistant Choreographer of Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show. His choreographic work includes pieces for Rambert School, Elmhurst Ballet School, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Central School of Ballet, Ballet Central, The Juilliard School, National Youth Ballet, The Dance School of Scotland, The National Theatre's River Stage, Covent Garden Dance Company, Young Ballet Company of Scotland, Rambert's ‘Blueprints' Evening, and Ballet Nights. He currently studies an MA in Choreography at Central School of Ballet.

Drew McOnie

Job Titles:

Creative Director

In 2021 Drew choreographed the Take That film Greatest Days and a new production of Carousel at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, as well as creating a new ballet Merlin for Northern Ballet. Most recently Drew is the choreographer of Jesus Christ Superstar which returned in 2021 in a socially-distanced concert staging at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and is set to resume its North American tour in 2022.

Emily Yong

Job Titles:

Rehearsal Director, Residential Performance Company

Training/Education: Emily (she/her) started dancing at local dance schools in Leicester and Peterborough. She then went on to train at Rambert School, graduating with a First Class Honours degree. Professional Experience: Emily has enjoyed dancing with various companies including Springs Dance Company, Casson & Friends, English National Opera, Hawk Dance Theatre and The Knotted Project. Emily is co-founder of Eek & Wild who are Artists in Residence at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, performing regularly on the Paediatrics wards. As well as performing, Emily has a passion for teaching dance, and believes that dance can benefit people from all walks of life. She has enjoyed teaching for English National Ballet YouthCo, Made By Katie Green, What Dance Can Do, and The Natashas Project. Biggest Inspiration: ‘Since becoming a mum in 2023, I am now hugely inspired by mothers far and wide who give so much to their little people!'

Emma Van Boolen

Job Titles:

Assistant, Dancers' Development Experience

Hannah George

Job Titles:

Dance Artist
Project Manager, Inclusion and Outreach

Honor Dixon

Job Titles:

RPCi Assistant

Jill Tookey

Job Titles:

NYB 's Founding Director

Training/Education: Andrew graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2005 with a first class honours degree in Theatre Practice. Professional Experience: He has been lighting designer and technical director for National Youth Ballet since 2008. His dance lighting credits also include creations for BalletBoyz, New English Ballet Theatre, McNicol Ballet Collective, Tom Dale Company, Aakash Odedra, Ballet Central, The United Ukrainian Ballet, Ballet Icons, Georgian State Ballet, English National Ballet School, Encore Dance Company, Urdang Academy, All England Dance, Images Dance Company, Chrysalis London, Ace Dance and Music, Agudo Dance Company and many others across the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia. Biggest Inspiration: His biggest inspiration is Jill Tookey, NYB's founding director, who helped nurture his early career, like she did for so many others.