Full Faculty
HAYLEY CRUNDEN - DIRECTOR & JAZZ/ MODERN/ TAP
Hayley comes from Reading, Berkshire and trained locally until the age of sixteen. Having had the opportunity to work professionally at a young age she then went on to complete three years training at Laine Theatre Arts and achieved her Diploma in Musical Theatre. Since then she has attained her Diploma in Dance Instruction (DDE) teaching qualification in Modern and Tap with the ISTD and has benefited from training with Barbara Evans, Graham Henderson, Sarah Wilson, Katie Morea, Theresa Theodoulou, Linda Sweetzer and many others.
In 2011 Hayley became the owner and principal of JLD School of Dancing, teaching Modern, Tap, Musical Theatre and Commercial Jazz, and has recently sent students to top colleges including Laine Theatre Arts, Bird College and GSA. Some of Hayley’s younger students have gained entry to Elmhurst Ballet School, The Royal Ballet, and two have starred in Billy Elliot in the West End and on tour.
Recently, Hayley has worked on a unique production of Cats for Cheam Preparatory School with special permission by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber who attended the final performance. Since the production in March 2016, Lloyd Webber and the Really Useful Theatre Company have contacted Cheam and asked that they premiere the UK schools’ edition of School of Rock with Hayley as choreographer.
Hayley is passionate about Kings PA and looks forward to bringing her knowledge and experience to aspiring students.
Juliette Caton - Head Of Voice & MT
With a professional performance career spanning twenty years in television, film and theatre, Juliette is also a qualified voice coach, is a Certified Master Teacher in the Estill Voice Training System and has coached performers for over 20 years. Juliette worked professionally as an actress from the age of 11, appearing in over 200 television, film and theatre productions.
Theatre
Juliette debuted in the Original Cast of Les Miserables at both the Barbican and Palace Theatres – the ‘World’s Longest Running Musical’ – which makes her feel rather old. Best known on stage for creating the lead role of Bertrande de Rols, playing opposite Iain Glen, in the original West End cast of Martin Guerre, produced by Cameron Mackintosh (Prince Edward Theatre) which won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical. Juliette’s other acting theatre credits include Titania in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Derby Playhouse), Kelly in ‘Dummy Run’ – a one woman play (Orange Tree, Richmond), Miranda in The Tempest (Oxford & Edinburgh Festival) and a hugely successful run as Klara in Wedekind’s lost play Musik (Theatre Royal, Plymouth). Other musical theatre roles include Catherine in a specially revised version of ‘Pippin’ at the Bridewell and a Stephen Shwartz revue ‘Shwartz It All About?’ (Finborough Theatre). Juliette also had the privilege of creating the role of Virginia opposite Steve Balsamo in the world premiere of Eric Wolfson’s ‘Poe’ at Abbey Road Recording Studios and played opposite Bertie Carvel and Razza Jaffrey in a three hander charity gala performance of ‘Victory’ at the Donmar Warehouse.
Film
Juliette’s film career began when she was directed by Martin Scorsese as Christ’s Guardian Angel in the controversial ‘The Last Temptation Of Christ’. She went on to star opposite Charlie Sheen in the family adventure epic ‘Courage Mountain’, produced by Michael & Joel Douglas. Juliette played Mary in ‘Mechant Garcon’, Ali in ‘Small Time Obsession’ directed by Piotr Skopiak and Blanche in ‘Two Nudes Bathing’ – a Cannes Film Festival award winner, written and directed by John Boorman.
TV
On television, Juliette’s various roles include playing Alicia in the costume drama ‘Lady Audley’s Secret’ (Carlton), Helene in the epic Carlton series ‘Monsignor Renard’ with the late John Thaw (Carlton), Esme in the popular ‘Shine On Harvey Moon’ (Witzend) and Fern in the thriller ‘Murder In Mind’ opposite Charlotte Rampling & Trevor Eve and ‘Wall Of Silence’ opposite Timothy Busfield (BBC Screen One). Juliette played Ian Holmes’ daughter, Contessina D’Medici in ‘A Season Of Giants’ (C4) about the life of artist Michealangelo, Godith in the medieval series ‘Cadfael’ with Derek Jacobi (ITV), Anne Shanks in ‘An Exchange Of Fire’, Carla in BAFTA nominated ‘The Gemini Factor’, Louise in ‘Island’, Julie in ‘Ellington’, Andrea Gibbs & Jan in ‘Casualty’, Serena Collier & Janet Scholes in ‘The Bill’, Luce Wilkes in ‘Pie In The Sky’, Flo in ‘Shrinks’ (Euston Films) and Esme in ‘Shine On Harvey Moon’.
Since retiring from performing professionally, Juliette has dedicated herself to delivering coaching within various areas of the performing arts industry from children and young people in training to clients who work professionally in theatre, film and television. Juliette co-founded School Of The Arts (SOTA) in 2005 to provide an outstanding training in acting, singing and dance to the community of Berkshire. SOTA Schools now run in Reading, Windsor, and Bracknell lead by Juliette’s hand picked team of qualified teachers who all have professional training, industry performance experience, and a passion for passing on their expert knowledge to the next generation. Under Juliette’s guidance and tutorship, many of her students have gone on to train at the major dance, drama and musical theatre colleges such as Arts Ed, GSA, Rose Buford, Bird College, Urdang & Laine Theatre Arts. In her private studio in Berkshire, Juliette works with singers in all genre’s from rockers to screamers, belters to soprano’s, musical theatre performers to vocal artists within the rock and pop music industry. Juliette also has experience in voice rehabilitation and in 2005 founded the Reading Voice Clinic with Laryngologist Rogan Corbridge at what was formerly the Capio Hospital.
Juliette was Acting and Voice Coach on the movies ‘Molly Moon’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’, and is delighted to have been invited to join the teaching team as a guest practitioner at the renowned ‘Guildford School Of Acting’ where she has enjoyed working with their actor musicians.
Seamus Allen - Head of Acting
Seamus trained in his hometown, Dublin at the Conservatory of Music and Drama. After graduating he toured nationally with some of Ireland’s premier children’s theatre companies, as well as developing and performing clown performances for Barrabbas, and magic shows for Cahoots N.I.
Since moving to the UK Seamus has appeared in The Tempest, As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Macbeth and Robin Hood (Creation Theatre Company), Quest (Folklore Presents) The Disappearance (The Sticking Place),and Where’s My Desi Soulmate? (Rifco Arts). Tv work includes Bear Behaving Badly (Thames Valley). Seamus is also a skilled improviser, training with Ken Campbell’s School of Night and core cast in the annual London 50-hour Improvathons and performs with “Austentatious, The Improvised Jane Austen Novel”. Seamus has toured with productions he has devised for Gonzo Moose theatre including Is That a Bolt in your Neck and Grimm and Grimmer as well as an immersive production for Slung Low at the Barbican, 59 minutes to save Christmass. For seven years he was the director of the Young Company at the Watermill theatre in Newbury. He established Readings only Improvisation comedy club, “What’s the Game?! Improv”, hosting shows as well as coaching professional performers.
Most recently Seamus was Head of acting at Read college, a course which he wrote, and which became one of the most successful Foundation courses for getting students into the top acting degree programmes in the UK.
Chris-Louise Estrada - Ballet Tutor
Chris-Louise trained at the Royal Academy of Dance gaining a BA (Hons) in the Art and Teaching of Ballet from Durham University and was also awarded the Licenciate of the Royal Academy of Dance, one of the highest accolades for excellence in teaching.
Chris-Louise has also gained her Licentiate in Modern Theatre Dance and the Certificate in Dance Education for Tap with the Imperial Society of Dancing; she is currently training towards her Tap Licentiate.
Chris-Louise has taught and choreographed in various schools and productions throughout Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire and London, including Ballet Black associates. She teaches enjoys teaching a variety of students, from young children dancing as a hobby to vocational both practical and theoretical dance related subjects, currently teaching vocational students at Sharpe Academy and Kingsclere Performing Arts College.
Chris-Louise also tutors on the ISTD Diploma in Dance Education course for Linda Sweetzer TTC, Judith Hockaday School of Dance and Drama, and Myra Tiffin Performing Arts School.
Qualifications: BA (HONS) LRAD LISTD ARAD CDE RAD RTS
Joshua Barrow - Commercial Dance
Josh has been dancing since the age of three, starting with latin and ballroom then progressing to jazz, contemporary, tap, ballet and hip hop.
At the age of 15 he became one of the youngest people ever to win the UK Hip Hop Championships and then the World Hip Hop Championships which lead to him touring different countries teaching workshops and performing at some of the greatest theatres and venues in the world.
Following this success he gained a full scholarship to attend the Urdang Academy London where he graduated with a Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre and Dance.
After working on UK tours, European tours and professional shows Josh moved into the world of teaching and found it to be his next passion.
Emma Payne - Ballet & Contemporary Tutor
Emma graduated from the Ballet Rambert School in 1986. She then went on to have a long and successful career with several ballet and contemporary companies: Savidge Dance Theatre, Vienna Festival Ballet, London Ballet Theatre, Telos Tanz Theatre in Stuttgart, Ballet Creations of London and Capital Chamber Ballet. She danced the Principal roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Coppelia and Giselle: danced Puck in A Midsummer’s Night Dream and created the role of Marcelline in Figaro. She has also danced with many Folk dance companies – Tziganka, English National Folk Ballet and Taras Cossacks.
Emma choreographed several pieces for her own company, Ballet for Heroes, including Getting There for Battersea Arts Centre, Tossing off the Crown for a rural touring project and several pieces for the Edinburgh Festival. For the Soundbeam Project in Bristol she was asked to experiment with their Soundbeam technology, creating Leonardo’s Lists and, in conjunction with Henry Daniels, Nu for Resolution at the Place.
In 2006 Emma joined the creative team of La Folia as choreographer, working with schools to create new musical and performance pieces. So far these include Brave New World, Enchanting Voices, Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Petrushka for the Chichester Festival Theatre: Baba Yaga, Midsummer Dreaming, Travelogue, Sounds that Hurt Not, The Ring Cycle (completed over four years) and The Tempest for Salisbury Arts Centre: and 100 Years On and Gandhi in Mind for the Anvil in Basingstoke.
As well as her ongoing project work for La Folia, she has taught ballet, contemporary and Folk dance since leaving college, both in schools – notably Graham technique at the Royal Ballet Upper School – and in workshops worldwide. In 2009 she opened, and still runs, Overton Ballet Club. She became an RAD ballet teacher in 2010 and has been teaching at JLD School of Dancing since January 2011.
Jonathan Eiø- Singing Tutor and Musical Director
Manx raised and of Danish origin, Jonathan trained at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music, finishing with a Post Graduate diploma in Performance, a DipRAM and a Licentiate of The Royal Academy of Music. (LRAM) He is a Fellow of the London College of Music (FLCM) , and holds a Fellowship to the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) He is currently also a Vocal Coach at Wilkes Academy and Acting through Song coach/Singing Teacher at East 15 Acting School as well as a Musical Director for P&O Cruises.
He has lectured and taught Music and Singing at Arts Ed, Masters Performing arts (Head of Music), Emil Dale Academy, London School Musical Theatre, ROM theatre arts and the Guildford Conservatoire. Other colleges include The London College of Music, Urdang Academy, Institute of the Arts Barcelona and The Brighton Academy. As a performer his theatre credits include ’Zach’ in “Love Beyond’ (London), Melchior in ‘Spring Awakening’ (National UK Tour), Tony in ‘West Side Story’ (Bridewell Theatre, London), Man 1 in ‘Songs for a new World’ (New Players theatre) Jack in ‘Into the Woods’ (Landor Theatre) , Tim Caruthers in ‘Half a Sixpence’ (No1 UK tour), Tinman in ‘The Wiz’ (Gatehouse) and Production Tenor/Kit Kat Boy in ‘Cabaret’, (English Theatre, Frankfurt). His concert and TV Credits include: Vocalist for the Cats Movie Soundtrack Album,The Netflix Cinderella Movie, GOOD with David Tennant, The Dubai Expo 2022, Singer/Dancer for San Marino in the new Eurovision movie, vocalist for Elton John’s UK tour, Eurovision Making your Mind Up, CBBC Prom in the Park, The Paul O Grady Show, The X Factor and Britain’s got Talent. More recently he has been performing across the globe with 'The Rockafellas’, The Flyboys, the Frankie Valli Tribute group ‘Walk Like a Man’ and is currently on the UK tour (as Bob Gaudio) in ‘Oh What a night!’ and as a Principal Vocalist in the UK tour of ‘Back to Bacharach' He is also concentrating on finishing his third album which is scheduled to be released Winter 202
Claire Whitehead- Acting Tutor and Lead for the OCR 2012 Qualification
Claire trained at The Urdang Academy and started working with an Operetta company, touring Italy. Following her passion for travel, Claire joined a cruise of SE Asia. On her return she continued to work between Italy and the UK for several years. She worked as a choreographer for several summer seasons in Sardinia and as a performer in Rome and touring the country. Some of her theatre credits include Singin’ in the Rain, Hello Dolly and A Chorus Line. Back in the UK, she appeared in several Christmas pantomimes. On her return to London, she decided to further her dramatic studies, completing a post-graduate at Webber Douglas going on to tour with a Children’s theatre company and worked with new writing projects and short films.
Alongside her professional career, Claire has always worked as a teacher of dance and drama in Rome, London. After the arrival of her daughter a move to Reading and Claire started teaching children, LAMDA and young performers at Read. In 2017, Claire took up the role of Head of Sixth Form for Read College, teaching Stanislavski and overseeing the OCR qualification and guiding them into the industry. Claire will be joining Kingsclere Performing Arts College in the role of Acting Tutor and will be overseeing the OCR 2012 Qualification from Sept 2023.
Claire is delighted to be joining Kingsclere where she will be concluding the current Read cohort and teaching Kings Year 1 some of their OCR, monologues and offering LAMDA.
Wendy McElroy - Ballet
Wendy started her dancing career in Cape Town, South Africa. After dancing with Cape Town Ballet as a child and completing her RAD examinations, she achieved her RAD teaching certificate at the University of Cape Town.
Wendy has taught extensively around the world for 28 years teaching all levels of the RAD syllabus including mentoring for the CBTS.
She has been examining worldwide for the RAD for 18 years and is involved in the training of new examiners. Wendy is now enjoying tutoring and teaching on the musical theatre degree course at the University of Winchester.
Ellie Chapman - Acrobatic Arts
After training locally, at the age of 13 Ellie began her full time vocational training at Redroofs Theatre School before successfully auditioning for the Dance Course at Tring Park where she had the opportunity to be trained by some of the leading members of the ballet and dance world. Her professional training continued at the Urdang Academy where she studied a range of dance styles, singing and acting.
From a young age, Ellie worked professionally in theatre, TV and film. Ellie now works for JLD, Cheam Prep School and other local dance schools, covering a range of subjects including Acrobatics, Modern, Tap, Ballet, Musical Theatre and Drama. Her teaching involves training students for ISTD, RAD and LAMDA exams, choreography for performances, and coaching students for auditions. Ellie holds teaching qualifications with the Royal Academy of Dance, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance, Acrobatic Arts and Alixa Flexibility.
Joanna Wilson - Modern & Tap
Joanna trained in the West Country with the Dorothy Coleborn School of Dance, and has travelled the world as a professional dancer. At sixteen years old, she went to study at the ‘Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts’ in Sidcup, Kent where she gained a Diploma in Musical Theatre and Dance.Throughout her training, Joanna has studied all aspects of performing arts and taken regular dance exams with both the ISTD and RAD, gaining distinctions in her Tap, Modern and Ballet teaching exams. Since graduating, Joanna has danced for Princess and Thomson Cruise Lines, and performed in several national pantomimes for Qdos Entertainment at the Bristol Hippodrome, Theatre Royal, Bath and The Playhouse in Weston-Super-Mare. Other theatre credits include ‘Spirit of Broadway’, Chichester Festival Theatre, and 'Dance Jubilee' and 'Dance Crazy', Churchill Theatre, Bromley. She has toured internationally with both 'Spirit of the Dance ' and Belinda King Ltd Dance as Dance Captain and has been assistant choreographer to Paul Walsh and Keith Dunn with Princess Cruises. Whilst performing on Princess Cruises, she has worked alongside many West End and Broadway Choreographers including Karen Bruce, Eartha Robinson and Gene Castle.
Joanna has been teaching dance for 10 years in various schools in and around London, most notably as Head of Key Stage 3 Dance and Deputy Head of Dance (Day School) at the prestigious The Arts Educational School, London. She was also Lead IV for the Level 3 BTEC dance course and Dance Exams Co-ordinator for the school. Joanna specialises in Modern, Tap and Jazz dance, and has kept up-to-date with her ISTD qualifications in all areas that she teaches. Since moving to Hampshire, Joanna has taken the role as Dance Lecturer teaching BTEC Level 3 Dance and Performing Arts at The City College of Portsmouth.