Menu
– All staff are DBS checked and first-aid trained –
Clare O’Connor – The Principal
Clare first put on her dancing shoes aged 4 and hasn’t looked back since. She undertook thorough childhood training and was also an associate at the prestigious Central School of Ballet. Clare then went on to study dance professionally full-time at The Northern Ballet School. It was here where she achieved her initial teaching qualifications whilst studying and performing all dance styles as well as acting and singing.
Since graduating, Clare has danced professionally worldwide and across the UK. She has danced on West-End stages, in UK tours, in UK and international shows, on large cruise ships and in music videos. She still performs professionally regularly on a freelance basis for a range of agencies and companies and is often dance captain.
Clare quickly fell in love with teaching and choreographing from a young age, soon finding herself immersed in the teaching world. Clare is an enthusiastic and passionate teacher who strives to inspire all students to achieve and exceed their potential, in a fun and nurturing environment. She is passionate about helping every student to grow in confidence. To enhance her teaching capabilities, she has also completed advanced vocational exams in all disciplines as well as ISTD DDE qualifications. Clare is always studying and attending courses to strengthen her training and never wants to stop learning! Clare always dreamed of having her own dance school one day and feels extremely lucky to be living the dream.
Molly Price – Professional Dance Teacher
Molly trained at The Brit School for 2 years before completing a BA Honours in Dance at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Here she received extremely versatile training, covering ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap, commercial and aerial. During Molly’s training, she had the incredible opportunity of performing at The Brit Awards behind Pink!
Since graduating she has gone on to dance professionally, including performing at The Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals and grand finals in Liverpool, behind various artists including Rita Ora, and Eurovision winners Kalush. Molly is also performing in a pantomime this Christmas. She has successfully established herself as a dance teacher alongside freelancing. Molly is currently working towards her ISTD DDE qualification in ballet. She has also worked with other local schools and choreographed for large productions. Molly also works as a Personal Trainer.
Madi Crawford – Professional Dance and Musical Theatre Teacher
Madi began her dance and musical theatre journey at the age of 4. Since then she has continued to grow as a performer, training in various dance styles including: modern, jazz, commercial, ballet and acro.
She began training full-time at the age of 16 at Arts1 School of Performance, achieving a Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma in Performing Arts Practice. Madi is now continuing her training at Laine Theatre Arts where she is able to learn and grow as a performer.
Alongside her training she is currently working towards her ISTD DDE Modern qualification, assisting her knowledge in the field of teaching.
Madi loves teaching and is passionate about inspiring the next generation of performers.
Madeline Gilby – Professional Dance and Acrobatics Teacher
Maddie has been passionate about dance since the age of 3. At just 8 and 9 years old, she danced in pantomime performances at the Blackpool Grand Theatre for two consecutive years. Aged 10, Maddie auditioned for the UK tour of Matilda the Musical and, after five auditions, was offered the dual roles of Lavender and Amanda. She performed for 18 months on tour, performing in over 100 shows culminating in a show in Edinburgh in front of an audience of 3,000 people. Recently Maddie has represented Laine Theatre Arts at the ‘Can You Dance?’ Super convention performing choreography by Josh Denyer and she has also recently performed at the Royal Albert Hall over christmas with Sandi Toksvig in ‘Sandi Claus is coming to town’.
Maddie has trained in acro since the age of 2 and has taught many classes at her previous dance school for all ages for 2 years before coming to O’Connor Dance Academy. Maddie has competed in many gymnastic competitions and has done multiple festivals, including solos and groups, within the acro style. Maddie loves all genres of dance and is currently in her third year of training at Laine Theatre Arts, where she continues to refine her skills and share her passion through teaching
Lauren Williams – Teaching Assistant & Cover Teacher
Lauren’s dance journey began at the age of 3 years old. She has had training in many dance styles including Ballet, Modern, and Tap. She has a passion for dance and has spent many years as a dance teaching assistant and occasional cover teacher as well as attending lessons weekly and taking vocational dance examinations in all disciplines.
After university, she is looking to commence studying for her ISTD DDE teaching qualifications. Lauren holds a chaperone license and an enhanced DBS, ensuring a safe dance learning environment for everyone.
When she can, Lauren regularly goes to London to watch dance productions, her most recent being Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and the 30th Anniversary of River Dance.
