ISS2023 Faculty
Meet David Yow, Former Principal of Birmingham Royal Ballet
David was born in Liverpool and trained at both The Royal Ballet Lower and Upper Schools. He graduated into Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet in 1982 and relocated with the company when it became Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1990. He rose to the rank of Principal Dancer and went on to dance with Cleveland/San Jose and Hong Kong Ballet companies.
He returned to the Royal Ballet School to complete their teaching diploma for professional dancers. In 2022, he became a Fellow of the Cecchetti Faculty in the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. He also holds a degree in psychology from Goldsmith’s College, University of London.
He started teaching at English National Ballet School in September 2017 having previously taught at Elmhurst Ballet School, The Royal Ballet School, Central School of Ballet, The Laban Centre, and London Studio Centre. In 2015 he was invited to be a member of the assessment panel at The Danish Royal Ballet School, Copenhagen.
David teaches at international workshops, especially in Japan, and in summer schools around the world. He has also taught for the Hong Kong Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, and Michael Clark companies, and has been a regular member of the jury for the Asian Grand Prix in Hong Kong.
Paul Boyd
Paul has received the German Critics Award for ‘Best Up and Coming Artist in Europe’ and ‘Best Established Artist in Europe’ while as a dancer in Düsseldorf. Paul made Guest appearances in America, Israel, Germany, Italy, Mote Carlo, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan and France. In 1993, Paul danced the title role in Youri Vamos’s version of Spartacus at the Summer Arts Festival in the Arena di Verona, Italy. His extensive repertoire included Principal roles with all the major classics and works danced from international choreographers including Jiri Kylian, Matz Ek, John Neumeier, William Forsythe, Roland Petit and other distinguished choreographers. Paul is currently a Freelance Choreographer and Coach in Australia as well as a teacher at the Queensland Ballet Academy.
He has been Guest Teacher/Choreographer for the Royal Ballet School in London, Kong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Assessor and Teacher for the Graduate College of Dance Perth, Guest Choreographer with The Australian Ballet’s Bodytorque season in 2005 and has recently worked in Perth with the Graduate College, and Sydney City Youth Ballet with the new full-length production of Polar Express.
Jane Devine
Jane was born in Zimbabwe and was accepted into The Royal ballet School in 1972. In 1973 she won the Adeline Genee Gold Medal and in 1974 was offered a place in The Royal Ballet Company, Covent Garden. Whilst there, she worked with some of the great choreographers of the time including Kenneth Macmillan, Sir Frederick Aston and Glen Tetley. In 1981, she joined English National Ballet where she danced many leading roles including Odile in Swan Lake, Zebiode in Scheherazade, Red Lady in Sanguine Fan.
Jane later went on to direct and run her own fitness company in Berkshire in the UK and become one of the country’s validated organisation for Fitness Teacher Training.
She is also a qualified Yoga instructor having studied at the Sivananda Vedanta Yoga Centre in the Bahamas. Jane returned to the Royal Ballet School as the Public Relations Officer in 1996 and was responsible for the marketing and media representation of the school.
Jane is also very interested in the psychological aspects required and works towards guiding dancers on an educated, responsible and self-empowered journey of their own careers.
Sian Sherwood
Sian began dancing at age 4 in QLD, studying Royal Academy of Dance Ballet, CSTD Tap, Jazz and Theatrical genres. In 2010 Sian and her family moved to Sydney where she began dance training at the Macarthur Ballet Studio, taking classes in RAD Ballet, Character, Jazz, Lyrical and Contemporary. Sian completed her RAD Grades and Vocational levels to Advanced 2, gaining a Distinction for each exam.
In 2017, Sian moved to Melbourne to take up her place in the Victorian State Ballet’s Pre-Professional program. She gained knowledge of the Company’s full repertoires of Gabriel, The Magic Toy Shop, Snow White and Cinderella. Sian was also part of the Victorian State Ballet’s Australian Premiere of Le Corsaire.
After returning home Sian successfully completed a certification in Progressing Ballet Technique and Ready Set Dance. She has also successfully completed her Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies through the Royal Academy of Dance.
Sophia Ndaba
Sophia is a graduate of The McDonald College and the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), having qualified with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. Her credits include performing for Shaun Parker & Company, La Fura Dels Baus & Opera Australia, Force Majeure, Ensemble Offspring, Britta Lieberknecht & Company and Australian independent choreographers Melanie Lane, Victoria Hunt, Martin Del Amo and Anton.
After moving to Berlin in 2016, Sophia joined Clark’s world tour of Death Peak Live, Dj Bobo’s Kaleidoluna European tour and Lena Meyer Landrut’s Only Love European tour.
Sophia is a founding member of the KDV Ensemble and the Dance Makers Collective. As a model, Sophia’s credits include her work in Australian Fashion Week 2021, Adidas, Deichmann, Wizz Air, Zalando, Shiseido, C&A, Style Bop and Vogue Germany.
Sophia’s choreographic work includes solo commission: In The Light of a Shadow presented by Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, TVCs for Best & Less, Virgin Australia and TV series PARA Wir sind King.
Kristen Hockley
Kristen started in Year 7 at The McDonald College and was a member of the ballet and dance streams. She then discovered a love of musical theatre, teaching and choreography and has since turned that passion into her career.
Kristen is currently the Dance Development Officer for Sports Tots, a program she has developed, providing dance education to early childhood centres. Along with this, she is a trained READY SET DANCE and READY SET BALLET teacher and assistant choreographer for City Kids Theatre’s productions. Kristen has choreographed Miranda Musical Society’s Beautiful, The Carole King Musical and Engadine Musical Society’s Jersey Boys.
Kristen’s performance credits include featured dancer roles in Priscilla to Moulin Rouge, Folies Bergere and Grease Fever with Davin Griffith-Jones Productions. Other highlights include roles in Beauty and the Beast, High School Musical, Aladdin and Lion King with City Kids Theatre, Footloose with Loud Theatre Company, and Wizard of Oz with Spot on Productions.
Veronica George
Veronica is a performer, choreographer and dance educator who has made a huge contribution to the Australian arts and entertainment landscape for over 25 years.
A graduate of David Atkins’ Dynamite Dance Studios, Veronica began her on stage career performing in the Power Rangers tour in Hong Kong. Soon after, she was cast in Grease the Arena Spectacular, kick-starting an incredible career in theatre.
Her credits include The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman, Guys and Dolls, the development workshop of King Kong the Musical, The Wizard of Oz, Barney, Candy Man with Wayne Scott Kermond, Chicago tour of India, and Grease the Arena Spectacular for a second time, in the role of Dance Captain. Veronica was selected to perform in Tivoli with Sydney Dance Company, working with choreographer Graeme Murphy to bring to life an important piece of Australian theatre history.
Most recently, Veronica was a performer and Dance Captain of La Traviata on Sydney Harbour. She continues to inspire on stage and off, bringing her vast experience to the studio.
Sally Harrison
Sally is the founder of Band-ITS & Strength4Dance, a business dedicated to injury prevention and creating a strong body for a lifetime of dance. Having ended her own dance career due to injury she is passionate about helping the next generation of performers understand and look after their ‘tool of the trade’.
Sally is a state registered physiotherapist and fitness trainer with over 20 years of experience in the health and fitness industries.
She has been working as a physio with dancers since 2008 and has worked with musicals such as Evita, West Side Story and now works with Bangarra Dance Theatre here in Sydney. Sally is also an ongoing contributor for Dance Life magazine and lectures at Brent St, Ettinghausens, UDC, ED5 and Transit Dance. She also presents at many national conferences for both the dance and health and fitness communities (Cecchetti, ATOD, SADF, RAD, FILEX and Healthy Aging Summit).
She is very excited to be invited back again to the ISS in Sydney to share her love of movement training and injury prevention with the dancers.
Lindsay Ellman-Brown
Lindsay trained at the Royal Academy of Dance, achieving a Licentiate and Diploma in Dance Teaching.
She performed in, choreographed, and produced several classical full-length ballets for the National Ballet of Zimbabwe. In 2003 Lindsay immigrated to Australia, and completed a Masters in Dance Teaching at QUT.
Lindsay became an Examiner for the Royal Academy of Dance in 1999 and has travelled the world examining, teaching workshops and examination preparation classes for both students and teachers.
She currently teaches at The McDonald College in the vocational levels of Classical Ballet and provides private lessons to our senior classical students.