City Dance Academy was founded in 1986 by Rowena Gilchrist who was joined by Irene Smith the following year. Rowena retired leaving the school to Irene in Easter 2004 and she has continued to teach since then. Irene is assisted by her two student teachers Rachel and Amy. In the past pupils have participated in many shows at the Sunderland Empire, Whitley Bay Playhouse, Durham Gala Theatre and Customs House, South Shields. They have taken part in workshops with Birmingham Royal Ballet and have worked with Dance City for Washington Kite Festival, they have even appeared on GMTV with Mr Motivator. More recently they have appeared on Seaham Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society’s productions and have been invited to taking part in their concerts and musicals. Some of our students have progressed to various drama schools or have now gone on to teach at their own schools. Special mention to Nathan Wharton who recently was in the touring production of West Side Story. Some of our students were lucky enough to enjoy a workshop with Nathan and learn snippets of choreography from the show. But whatever their achievements are we are proud of each and every one of our students past and present.
