Our principal Katie Morea
Katie started her professional training at the Stella Mann College, followed by graduating at the London Contemporary Dance School and the Alvin Ailey School, NYC.
After a varied performing career, she pursued her main passions; teaching and choreography. Her teaching career quickly led to her working in the professional colleges of Elmhurst Ballet School, the London College of Dance and Bird College where she has had the joy of teaching many of today’s professional performers, teachers and choreographers.
She is also part of the creative team that devised the ISTD Modern Theatre Grades 1-6, the Advanced 1 and 2 and part of the Advanced 2 Tap. She is an International examiner and lecturer, an ISTD Modern committee member and the Artistic Director of The Dance Summer School organisation, which supports young dancers and teachers in their dance development.
It was at Bird College (where she was Head of Contemporary and formed the Bird Dance and Theatre Company), that Miss Doreen Bird and the artistic director Sue Passmore (now Chair of the ISTD) encouraged Katie's choreographic abilities. Alongside the numerous pieces for Bird College and the Modern and Tap syllabi for the ISTD, Katie has choreographed for professional Contemporary dance companies, Channel 4, the Bafta Academy and Move It, to name a few. As a guest teacher she has also taught and/or created pieces for other colleges such as the Brit School, the Hammond School, London Contemporary Dance School, London Studio Centre, Performers College, and the Urdang Academy. Katie has won awards, scholarships and development grants for both her teaching and choreography.
Katie has worked with many inspirational teachers and choreographers throughout her training and career such as Jane Dudley (original dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company) & Juliet Fisher (dancer for Martha Graham and London Contemporary Dance Theatre). She has also been lucky enough to be guided and supported in her career by Murielle Ashcroft, Daphne Peterson and Tereza Theodoulou.
Katie continually increases her professional knowledge in many ways including travelling to NYC to update her with the training program at the Alvin Ailey School and at the Broadway Dance Centre as well as the bi-annual ISTD Examiners’ training (where she is also normally a tutor for the course).
Katie is now also advising on the creation of the ISTD Contemporary syllabus and her students from Morea Performing Arts were the cast for its worldwide premier in 2019.