Elizabeth Haslam
Elizabeth Haslam trained at Central School of Ballet where she toured with British Gas Ballet Central with Jane Regan as ballet mistress. During this time she was selected by Christopher Gable to work with Northern Ballet Theatre on their adaptation of ‘Dracula’ where she performed the duet (Late night tv). She then went on to perform as part of the corps de ballet in ‘Aida’ with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra having been selected by Lynn Seymour. Soloist in ‘Vis av Magi ‘ Norway (ABT Choreographer) Elizabeth then progressed to a more contemporary root finishing her 10yr career doing film and tv work.
After performing, Elizabeth moved into the world of teaching and choreography. This has taken her all over the world, teaching master classes in London, Italy, India, Antigua and Guadeloupe along side Patricia Ruanne (ex principle of the Royal Ballet Company) and Fredrick Jahn (ex principle of the Australian Ballet)
Elizabeth has taught in many colleges and judged vocational competitions e.g. Tring Ballet Cup. Elizabeth was head of ballet at the Midlands School of Dance and Drama (for 9yrs) and has also enjoying teaching at Leicester College of Performing Arts and Addict Dance Academy. The Haslam Dance Academy has been running for 50yrs under Iris Haslam and together Elizabeth and her mother continue to inspire through this school.
The highlight of Elizabeth’s teaching career was working with Ballet Theatre UK where Elizabeth was the original ballet mistress to the company working on The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Snow Queen, A Christmas Carol and Alice. Since having her daughter Elizabeth enjoyed teaching at The School of Ballet Theatre Uk as head of 1st yr training.
REC is something Elizabeth is excited to start with two other fantastic teachers. It feels wonderful to give her experience and love of dance to the next generation.
Rosie Price
Rosie Price, BA Hons, CBTS (RTS RAD), trained at Elmhurst School for Dance and graduated from Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Returning to the midlands, Rosie works as a freelance contemporary, ballet and body conditioning teacher and choreographer within the community. She holds an MSc in Dance Science which has further fuelled her passion of understanding the way the body moves and functions and ensures her delivery of her Pilates and Progressing Ballet Technique body conditioning methods is safe and effective for students of all ages.
As former Head of Contemporary and Choreography at The School of Ballet Theatre UK and now at Kings International Ballet Academy she relishes developing contemporary dance techniques with classically trained dancers and uses a mix of Cunningham, Graham and Limón (after completing the teachers course in Prague with the Jose Limón Foundation), to enhance movement vocabulary, dynamics and performance skills as well as delivering contemporary repertoire and exploring improvisation and other choreographic approaches.
Rosie is a Royal Academy of Dance registered teacher and currently coaches’ classical ballet for Addict Dance Academy and Kings International Ballet Academy. She loves coaching privately and working alongside her fellow graduates, friends, and colleagues around the country. Schools she has guested at include Caroline Carr Dance Studios, Spitfire Dance Company, SYM Dance and Chantry School of Contemporary and Balletic Arts. She joined the faculty of the Birmingham Royal Ballet Dance Track programme in 2019 and Elmhurst Ballet School Young Dancers associate programme in 2021.
Rosie co-founded REC Ballet in 2017 and loves teaching the students that join them from all over country. She welcomes the fun and is continually inspired by hardworking and passionate young dancers and aims to create an environment to nurture and enhance further.
Guest Tutors
Graeme Pickering
Graeme Pickering joined us at our Winter Warm Up and Pre-Vocational Intensive 2019.
Graeme is a UK-based Choreographer and Casting Consultant. After a successful performing career on both land and sea, Graeme is now a sought-after creative providing services in Casting, Choreography and Masterclasses.
He continues to work with Celebrity Cruises as their casting associate across Europe, Australia and most recently New York City. He is also proud to announce he will lead the casting for the UK Tour of ‘Rip It Up – The 70s’ for TCB Group.
Graeme has choreographed sell out productions across the UK for established companies, pantomime producers and leading drama school graduate musicals and showcases.
Graeme is fortunate to be able to offer workshops and masterclasses to students and industry professionals. He is also the creator and founder of Nottingham Musical Theatre Associates.
Carrie Johnson
Carrie joined the REC Ballet Team in August 2019 for our Dance Summer School.
As a student Carrie trained with Marilyn Baker and Tring Park gaining Bronze at The Genee International Ballet Competition and Young British Dancer of the Year Competition 2003. She has 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. Most recently she danced in Disney’s ‘Nutcracker & The Four Realms’ choreographed by Liam Scarlett.
She is a graduate of the Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma 2015 (Distinction) and currently teaches at The Urdang Academy and London Studio Centre. She is a guest teacher for New Adventures and Yorke Dance Project and has taught at the Royal Academy of Dance’s Singapore, Kuala Lumpar and Battersea Summer Schools. Last year she also taught for the RAD’s prestigious Phyllis Bedell’s Bursary.
Carrie has taught workshops and classes for Yorkshire Ballet Seminars, Dance East, Tring Park, Performers College, MTA, London Junior and Senior Ballet, Staffordshire Youth Ballet and Ballet Boost. She is currently Associate Artistic Director at National Youth Ballet, having in previous years been repetiteur for Christopher Hampson’s ‘Carnival’ and Drew Mconie’s ‘Old Man of Lochnagar’.
Sophie Mergaliyev
We were lucky enough to have Sophie joined us at Easter 2019.
Sophie trained at Elmhurst Ballet School and graduated in 2011. Since graduation she has danced with various companies worldwide including Croatian National Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet and Grand Rapids Ballet company in America. She has performed many soloist roles within her repertoire including classics such as Swan Lake, Nutcracker and also various neo-classical and contemporary works. She is now based back in the UK and is now Company Manager and Repetiteur at Mergaliev Classical Ballet a professional touring ballet company.
SUE SParham
Sue joined us for our Winter Warm Up 2020 and we can’t wait to have her back again soon.
Sue Specialises in Lyrical and Commercial Jazz, She has worked extensively in Theatre, Film and TV, with credits including Featured Dancer in Jhoom Baraber Jhoom (Yash Raj Productions), dancer in several Music Videos, Singer in The Commitments (UK Theatre Tour), The Sensations (UK Theatre Tour), Guest Entertainer for P&O Cruises, and corporate events for BMW, Marriot Hotels, Hilton, Trent FM, Disneyland and Palm Beach Casino, Cannes. Choreography includes: Encore (Sadlers Wells Theatre), Pointe Break with Ballet Theatre UK (UK Tour) and several productions for MADD including The Criterion Theatre, Bloomsbury Theatre and Move It. This year, Sue has won several national awards and competitions for her choreography.
Clair Corruble-Cobot
We were delighted to have Clair join us at RECBallet for the Easter Course 2020.
Clair trained at the Paris Opera school from the age of 9 years old, finishing her training at the National Superiror Ballet School of Marseille.
Clair has had a wonderful career as a freelance classical ballet dancer performing with Ballet National de Marseille, English National Ballet, European Ballet, Ballet Theatre UK, Ballet Classique de Paris, Chantry Dance Company and many more. She has been teaching since 2011. It is really important to her to pass on her knowledge and love of dance to the next generation.
Shannon Parker
We are so lucky that Shannon joined the RECBallet team and came to teach for us on the Winter Warm-up 2022 course, a short course so we are sure she’ll be back for more!
Shannon started her career at San Francisco Ballet working her way up through the ranks and became a Principal dancer at the age of 23. Her love of travel then took her to England where She danced with Northern Ballet under the direction of Christopher Gable. As well as dancing and finishing her career in France with Ballet du Rhin Shannon has danced an extensive repetoire while balancing motherhood, which to date is her greatest achievement. After ten years of retirement from dance Shannon decided to enter Got to Dance and Britain’s Got Talent, bringing classical Ballet into peoples living rooms.
Sophie-Jane
At Easter 2024 we had the lovely Sophie-Jane join us.
Sophie-Jane trained privately in classical ballet with one of the UK’s leading coaches and after sustaining a career altering injury, she fully pursued her passion for teaching.
Whilst working as a freelance teacher, Sophie-Jane studied at the Royal Ballet School on the Diploma of Dance Teaching course.
Following this Sophie-Jane joined the teaching faculty at Kings International Ballet Academy teaching classical ballet, pointe work and character.
Notably, Sophie-Jane works for The Royal Ballet School as a Junior Associate teacher (Birmingham)
Her other engagements include rehearsing and working with the students of The Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, in performances with the Company at The Royal Opera House. She is also a teacher at Studio 79, a leading performing arts college based in Leicester and a resident choreographer for Midland Theatre Ballet. She is also an adjudicator for the Dance World Cup and is set to adjudicate the Finals in Prague 2024.
SJ runs the Bespoke Classical Training Programme, teaching talented young ballet dancers from across the UK.
Ryan Upton
The newest member of the RECBallet faculty and joining us to guest teach in Summer 2024 is Ryan Upton.
Ryan Upton is a professional dancer, choreographer and teacher. Upon graduating Northern Ballet School in 2018 he has performed within numerous classical and contemporary productions including principal roles with Mystic Ballet in America, soloist dance roles in the west end production of The Snowman and numerous original narrative ballet works in the UK.
Choreographically he has had his work presented on the Sadler’s Wells main stage, made classical and neoclassical pieces for vocational colleges across England and choreographed main stage productions for Welsh National Opera.