Miss Barbara Roberts founded the Barbara Roberts School of Dance in 1950 at the age of 16. She dedicated her working lifetime to the teaching of dance, remaining the principal of the school for the following 50 years until retiring in the summer of 2000. For 20 years she also served as an examiner for the British Ballet Organization. In 1997 Miss Roberts was awarded the Fellowship of the British Ballet Organization in recognition of her loyalty and services to dance. Following Miss Roberts' retirement, her daughter, Anne Millington became the new principal of the school in 2000. By this time Anne was already an established teacher within the school having assisted her mother since 1984.
Anne received her initial dance training with her mother at the Barbara Roberts School of Dance. From the age of 18 she obtained additional training and gained a range of qualifications related to dance and teaching: Batchelor of Arts in Dance and Music, Master of Arts in Dance, Certificate in Education, Teaching Certificate of the British Ballet Organization. Before becoming the principal of the Barbara Roberts School of Dance Anne gained a wealth of experience in dance teaching. In addition to assisting at the dancing school Anne taught dance at G.C.S.E and Advanced level in local schools and colleges and delivered various modules on the dance degree course at Liverpool John Moores University. Following her Masters degree in Dance Anne presented her research at the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science Conference in 1999. At all times her interest in safe dance practice informs her methods of teaching at the school.
Since becoming principal of the Barbara Roberts School of Dance Anne invited a number of new part-time members of staff to join the school. Mrs Julie Harris who trained at the Barbara Roberts School of Dance and gained qualified teacher training status at The University of Wales Bangor, is responsible for the tuition of the Pre-Syllabus class. Mrs Francesca Anyon, who received her training and dance teaching qualifications at the Liverpool Theatre School assists in the teaching of Classical Ballet. Miss Rachel Wynn who is a former pupil of the school and who then graduated from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts assisted for a time in the teaching of Modern Dance, before she progressed onto running her own dance school. More recently, Joanne Love, who graduated from the Hammond School in 2006 has been teaching the Senior Modern students, up until October 2007 when she moved to Ireland to pursue her teaching career.
Over the past 8 years the school has continued to thrive with the majority of former pupils continuing training at the school and many new pupils enrolling. A 100% pass rate in the examinations of The British Ballet Organization and United Teachers of Dance has been maintained. Individual pupils have gained successes in pursuits that include auditioning for vocational dance courses, parts in local theatre productions and dance training scholarships. During May 2003 the school presented 'Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! the first major dance production under the direction of the new principal, with the proceeds given to 'Jessie's Fund'. The school staged its second 'Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!' performance in March 2006 with profits donated to the 'Children's Kidney Trust'.
|