Meet The Teachers
Claire
Principle of DC Dance Centre
Claire Derrick started her training at 2 prestigious schools in Cheltenham at the age of 2. Here she trained in ballet, modern and tap gaining RAD and ISTD certificates up to advanced level whilst achieving many medals, trophies and awards at festivals nationwide reaching the All-England Dance Finals and achieving success at the Imperial Ballet awards while performing in annual pantomimes.
Her professional training took her to some of the most respected schools in the country. Studying at Rambert school of Ballet and Contemporary gaining a BTEC Higher National Diploma. Also studying a term at the Royal Ballet School and 2 years at Ballet Central while being offered a place at the Northern Ballet School. Performance highlights include dancing Clara in the Nutcracker with London City Ballet as well as Carmen and other professional dance companies.
With 17 years of teaching experience, she has inspired and guided countless students in their dance journeys. Her commitment and passion for nurturing students were recognised when she was awarded the best teacher award for her teaching at Crewkerne. Always encouraging students to reach their full potential and believing in every dancer allowing them to reach their full potential has been one of Claire’s vocal skills, opening a new ambition to set up her new school; DC dance centre to help empower more pupils follow their ambitions.
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Davina
Davina had always been surrounded by dance while growing up, she started her dance journey at 3 years old taking a few lessons a week and has continued training ever since. Throughout the years, she dedicated her time into helping assist classes for younger dance students, helping to share her love and passion for dance with others. This helped Davina develop her teaching skills and gave her experience with working alongside children and young people, as well as developing her understanding of correct technique.
During her years of dance training, she has made lots of achievements and experiences, she received high marks in rad ballet examinations, including high distinction (86marks) in her final exam (grade 8). She also performed a solo at the Octagon Theatre as special farewell performance to symbolise 'putting the theatre to sleep' before its closure for rebuilding. Davina studied A level dance which helped her
build on not only her technical ability, but also her knowledge for the history of dance, as well as choreography and providing many performance opportunities, Davina’s final grade achieved in this course was an A!!
It was her passion and love for dance that motivated Davina to persevere and never give up on her dreams, in 2023 she auditioned and was successfully offered a place in her dream dance university!! Davina has just graduated from her vocational, degree level training at 'London Studio Centre', with a BA (Hons) in Professional Dance Performance specialising in Jazz and Commercial Dance.
She trained 9-5 5 days a week specialising on the jazz and commercial pathway, which enabled her to thoroughly train in ballet, jazz, commercial, hip hop, lyrical and contemporary styles/techniques!! As part of her course, Davina has had the opportunity to perform at the 'New Wimbledon Theatre' in professional shows 2 years in a row and tour with Jazz Co. at theatres all over the country! This very thorough training has given her a wealth of knowledge and experience in a range of dance styles, as well as lots of performance opportunities.
We wish Davina lots of luck as she goes onto her new chapter of auditioning for professional roles alongside her teaching here with us!
