Our Faculty
Agnes McIlvenny
Principal
Agnes started dancing at the age of four at Drusilla Duffill Theatre School in ISTD Ballet, Modern and Tap. Agnes then went on to the University of Sussex to study Neuroscience where she also took up competitive cheerleading and competed at both a regional and national level for 6 years. Agnes then trained qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant but soon realised her passions lay elsewhere with teaching instead. Agnes loves nothing more than seeing her students achieve their dreams and love what they do.
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Acrobatic Arts - Module 2 Certified
DDE Ballet, Modern, Tap
Joanne Penner
Ballet, Contemporary & Acro Teacher​
As a young ballet dancer Joanne trained as a Cecchetti Associate and then Cecchetti Scholar, before continuing her training full-time at Ballet West. Her professional experiences allowed her to travel both nationally and globally - notably when she joined the Ballet West International Touring Company and performed in their production of Swan Lake in the Genting Highlands, Malaysia.
Joanne Penner places student care and welfare at the centre of her approach. She is passionate about supporting dancers physical and mental wellbeing - a topic she is pursuing at PhD level with Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Royal Ballet, and English National Ballet. She wants to develop the person, not just the dancer.
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Harriet Fatela
Freelance ISTD Dancer / Teacher / Choreographer
Harriet began dancing from a young age and was determined to pursue a career in the industry. After gaining experience from schools such as English National Ballet, Central School of Ballet, The Place, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Bird College she completed her BA Hons in Musical Theatre and Professional Dance at London Studio Centre.
Following from this she successfully auditioned for Disneyland Paris where she was a Professional Dancer and Actress for five years, performing on many shows. She has also featured in various music videos and appeared at fashion shows in Paris.
Harriet is a versatile performer with experience in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Tap, Musical Theatre and Commercial/Street. She is now wanting to share her passion for the industry and is completing her Diploma in Dance Education with the Imperial Society of
Teachers of Dancing.
Jessica Snape
Tap Teacher​
Dance has always been a huge part of Jessica's life, she
started at the age of three. She has grown up practising Ballet, Tap, Modern and Musical Theatre at the Drusilla Duffill Theatre School
and has completed many exams and competitions.
Jessica trained professionally at the Institute of Contemporary
Theatre and has a degree in Performing Arts.
She is currently part of a dance troupe and really enjoys
putting on regular dance shows for local communities.
Jessica has a DDE in Modern Dance Education and enjoys
passing on her experience to students and seeing them improve.
Jessica is very excited to bring Tap to Agnes M Dance
and can't wait to get started!
Sophia Bolton
Freelance Pre-school Ballet and Acro Teacher
Miss Sophia works at multiple schools across Surrey and Sussex teaching Tap, Ballet, Acro and Modern. She holds Acrobatic Arts Module 1 and Module 2 and enjoys supporting students in safely achieving their Acro goals. She also holds Progressing Ballet Technique Module 1 and 2, Alixa Flexibility Module 1 and Advanced 1 Tap.
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Miss Sophia enjoys supporting students to reach their full potential in a collaborative, supportive and innovative environment and especially enjoys getting creative with the younger students. When not in the dance studio you’ll find her out in Nature or working towards her Masters degree with the Open University.
Tamara Bowers
Contemporary Teacher
Tamara started dancing at age four, and quickly realised this was something she never wanted to stop doing. Growing up in
East Sussex, she was also a competitive gymnast and a violinist,
but by 16 had decided that her future lay in dance.
After spending her school and college years dancing, playing music, coaching gymnastics & stage managing plays, she went to Leeds for four years to study at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Her highlights here were delivering classes to the first year students as part of her third year teaching module, and being part of the first re-staging of ‘Grand Finale’ by Hofesh Shechter Company
for her graduation piece.
Tamara’s passion lies in teaching, and she feels grateful for the chance to help others discover their love of dance. She puts value on inclusive practices, striving to find the best way each student can grow, and she can’t wait to see what the future of teaching brings!