Meet the Team
Wayne Sleep OBE
Wayne Sleep OBE is a world famous dancer. Wayne was a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet and has appeared in countless shows across the world with many famous ballet companies. We are delighted to have Wayne as our Patron here at Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School.
I am delighted to have become a Patron of Starlight Dance and Musical Theatre School and wish all the students every success. As a dancer myself, I know that even if you don't enter the profession, the training teaches you discipline, musicality, physical strength and confidence. This experience will definitely support you in any path you choose in the future.
Head Office
Jacc Batch BA(Hons) ISTD
Founder and Managing Director
Jacc started performing at a young age and is a professionally trained dance teacher and singer. Trained in most genres of dance, Jacc majored in Ballet, Lyrical, Contemporary, Commercial, Tap, Modern, Physical Theatre and Musical Theatre. He graduated with BA (Hons) in Dance and Musical Theatre from Cumbria Institute of the Arts in 2007 and has since worked as a professional dancer and singer both touring the UK and working abroad. Jacc has taught at various dance schools and performing arts centres around the UK, before founding Starlight Dance and Musical Theatre School in February 2009 and since then it has grown beyond expectation. Jacc's training included Kettering Academy of Dance, The Jean Harris School of Dance and Sylvia Young's Theatre School where he worked through the RAD and ISTD exam framework to qualify as a dance teacher.
Craig Fellows
Head of School Development
Despite not being trained in the industry and like many involved in Starlight, Craig had a casual connection to the original Kettering school from the outset. Slowly but surely the lure of this fantastic dance school and all the characters involved within it inspired Craig to leave his full time job in sales to help expand Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School. Craig's 'normal job' history became the perfect counterfoil to Jacc's incredible creative vision and Starlight soon became the biggest dance school group in the area. Now Craig has responsibility for the growth and development of our 'new schools' and management of staff and administrative functions.
Jasmine Middleton BA(Hons)
Head of Production Design
Jasmine has been working in the theatre industry for over 10 years, which began by volunteering backstage at the Lighthouse Theatre in Kettering. It was here that she was introduced to Starlight and has continuously worked with the company in different capacities since. In 2017 she graduated from Nottingham Trent University with a BA Hons in Theatre Design and has worked alongside the designers on Miss Saigon (2017 UK Tour), Les Misérables (London re-design) and NYMT productions. Jasmine has been working freelance and as a Theatre Design Technician in Bedford for 4 years before joining Starlight as the set designer and creator of the digital artwork for all productions and schools.
Kru Batch
Head of Technical Operations
Since getting their hands on a ZX Spectrum at the age of 5, Kru has had a lifelong enthusiasm for game development. Kru's previous work includes leading the development of specialised software utilised in official game trailers for the massively popular video game World of Warcraft. Working behind the scenes at Starlight Dance and Musical Theatre School for over a decade, Kru joined the team full-time in 2022 as the technical operations lead. While primarily responsible for developing the technical infrastructure behind Starlight's business and live operations, Kru also works to elevate our productions with bespoke projections and audio engineering, as well as assisting with other creative media.
Nadine Davies
Head of Sales
Nadine has been involved with Starlight Dance and Musical Theatre School since it first opened back in 2009, when her three children started attending the first Starlight classes. Nadine originally joined the company eight years ago as the Business Administrator and also overseeing our school in Daventry. Nadine now manages Chameleon, Starlight's own dancewear hire and retail shop. During lockdown, she also helped to oversee the opening of the party store, which tailors balloons and décor for event hire.
Heidi Agan
School Administrator
Heidi joined the Starlight team in 2023 as part of the Front of House team and the Head Office team. Her main responsibility is to manage the dancers accounts and is the Account manager for our Gold customers. Heidi is not only a popular figure at Starlight but she is internationally well known for her side line business as a professional Kate Middleton look alike and regularly appears in local and national media.
Megan Tipler
Technical Assistant
Megan started at Starlight Kettering when she was four and has taken many classes that Starlight have offered over the past 15 years, training in styles such as Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Commercial, Contemporary, Street Dance and Musical Theatre. She has completed exams in Ballet and Tap, and had the opportunity to perform at places such as The Royal Albert Hall, Sadlers Wells, His Majesty's and more! Megan has also won national competitions with Starlight Kettering. In 2022, Megan became an apprentice at Starlight originally going down the route to becoming a dance teacher. When Starlight opened their new warehouse known as 'Head Office', that is where she dabbled in set design and production but later found her passion on the technical side of things. Now she is Technical Assistant for Starlight and couldn't be more in love with her job.
Claire Abraham
General Assistant
Claire works in our retail division at head office with primary focus of our warehouse, costume hires and the school costume picks amongst many other things. She has a son training at our Kettering school and has a close connection with the dance school beyond her role here. Claire has a creative flair and continues to win over the office with her incredible baking skills making sure we are well fed on the best brownies ever!
Tina Willis
Principal
Before working for Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School, Tina had a full-time career as a Service & Relationship Manager but after having her second child she decided to take a break and take a new direction when getting back into work. Since joining Starlight her role has grown, overseeing all of the administration functions for the school and for the production shows. Tina finds the job rewarding and a huge pleasure to be part of such a wonderful school and team.
Teaching Staff
Alex Pinzani
Teacher
Alex has been a gymnast since the age of three and also did six years of cheerleading. She has coached gymnastics for the past fourteen years - there's no better feeling than a child conquering a new skill. She joined Starlight in 2024 as an acro teacher and has enjoyed adapting her knowledge to support the dancers in their skills. Outside of Starlight, she is a life coach for teenage girls, has two daughters and 2.5 cats (don't ask); she loves all things festivals, summer, and glitter!
Caoimhe Magee
Teacher
Caoimhe trained at Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School Kettering for 5 years and then continued her training on a three-year Musical Theatre course at The Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama in Nottingham. Since graduating with an agent in 2021, Caoimhe has performed in several professional contracts. In 2017 Caoimhe started as an apprentice at Starlight and then went on to become a dance teacher for the company in 2021. She teaches a variety of classes at Starlight Milton Keynes and at Starlight Market Harborough and covers classes across all our Starlight schools. Caoimhe has taken part in many classes over the years and trained in several different styles including: RAD Ballet, ISTD Tap and Modern, Contemporary, Commercial, Latin and Ballroom, Street Dance and many more and has completed examinations in all different styles of dance.
Claire Day AISTD, ABD (aff)
Teacher
Claire started dancing at the age of 2 and attended the Hammond School in Chester where at an early age she found her love for dance and realised performing and teaching was in her blood. In 2007, Claire qualified at Margaret Howard Theatre College (now Momentum Performing Arts Academy) with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, becoming a teacher of Ballet, Tap and Modern Theatre Dance. Claire specialises in preparing students for examinations with the ISTD and ABD and has a 100% pass rate. She has performed with the English Youth Ballet and Liverpool Proscenium Youth Ballet as well as performances on stages across the country. After working at Disneyland Paris, Claire returned to the UK where she focused on continuing her development with teaching qualifications, and joined Starlight in 2010 as Head of Technique.
Haylee Edwards
Teacher
Haylee started dancing at the age of two and grew up in a world of carnival alongside a wide variety of local theatre and dance productions. Haylee trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and many other disciplines. At 18, she ran away to circus school after finding a new love, the trapeze! She has worked as a professional performance artist and teacher for the past 20 years. After moving back to the area last year with her two little girls, Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School soon snapped her up to take on teaching Tap in Burnham-on-Sea.
Joshua Jackson
Teacher
JJ is a street dance and hip-hop teacher at Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School, currently teaching at 2 of our schools; Kettering and Corby. He started learning to dance at the age of 6 where he fell in love with Street and Hip-Hop dance styles and has continued to progress ever since. JJ started teaching at the age of 14 at various other dance schools, finding his way to Starlight in April 2022, where he believes he has found his home! JJ now has started to train in other styles such as Tap to support his teaching and further his personal dance training.
Larissa Martin RAD RTS
Principal
Larissa has been the Principal of Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School Corby since it opened in 2014 and is a qualified ballet teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance. At the age of 2, Larissa began training at Marjorie King's School of dance in Ballroom, Disco, Latin American and Classical Sequence. Then at the age of 16, she joined Starlight where she later found her love for classical ballet, commercial, contemporary and pointe. Over the years she has continued to train in various styles such as Musical Theatre, Commercial, Contemporary/Lyrical, ISTD Modern and Pointe work and has gained distinctions in all of her RAD ballet exams up to Grade 8. In 2018, she qualified as a Royal Academy of Dance Ballet teacher and began teaching ballet at Starlight in 2019. Since then, Larissa has entered students for their exams at Starlight through the RAD and they have achieved fantastic results.
Lilly Armitage RAD RTS, DDMIX
Principal
Lilly started dancing as a child, completing ballet exams as well as being involved with shows and the occasional dance festival, which continued all the way into her early twenties. Lilly qualified as an RAD ballet teacher (CBTS) in 2013 and holds a full RTS with a 100% exam pass rate. Lilly has a passion to use her imagination and fun to bring ballet and dance to people of all ages and abilities. Lily is also a qualified DDMIX instructor and became principal of our Burnham-on-Sea school when Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School took over the school in 2023.
Mia Williams BA(Hons)
Teacher
Mia started dancing later than people would expect - starting with freestyle disco in 2014 and realised she wanted to go down the more technical route of dance and joined Dancebox Studios and Theatre Works in 2018. She completed a Level 3 Diploma in Professional Dance and Musical Theatre after finishing her GCSE's. Mia then continued to train for three more years at Dancebox Studios and Theatre Works and was awarded an Upper 2:1 in Professional Dance and Musical Theatre. Whilst training at Dancebox she performed at many well known conventions around the UK - some being Movelt, CYD AND CYD Super Convention in Liverpool and performed as Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray. She has also represented Heart FM in the Luton carnival in 2019. Mia has trained in various styles of dance including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Commercial, Heels, Irish, Latin, CanCan, Contemporary, Lyrical, Musical Theatre and Acro.
Natalie Částka BA(Hons)
Teacher
Natalie has been performing since the age of four. After appearing in productions with various local theatre companies, she went on to complete her BA (Hons) in Acting for Theatre, Film and Television from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth. Since graduating, Natalie continues to work as a professional actress, and has toured extensively in the UK and Ireland, and has performed a one-woman play in the USA. She also danced in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and has appeared in several music videos and short films. Natalie has also lent her voice to many audiobooks, magazines and articles for the RNIB. Natalie began teaching our drama classes in January 2014, and private vocal lessons in 2019. As well as directing our drama productions, she also writes all of the scripts.
Rana Williams BA(Hons)
Teacher
Rana began her training at a young age at Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School specialising in commercial dance. She quickly stood out with her amazing singing voice and joined our choir before heading off to university to study Musical Theatre. After returning from university, Rana joined the team and now supports the musical theatre class and offers private singing lessons.
Rhianna Davies
Teacher
Rhianna has been training at Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School since 2009. She started teaching in November 2019 and is now the teacher for Starlight Daventry and Starlight Rushden. Rhianna has taken many classes that Starlight has offered over the past 15 years and trained in RAD Ballet, ISTD Tap and Modern, Pointe, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Commercial, Contemporary, Street Dance, Acro and others. Rhianna has also completed exams in Ballet, Modern, Tap and Contemporary. In August 2020, Rhianna completed her training in the Acrobatic Arts and became a qualified teacher in Acro, which she teaches in our Kettering, Corby and Rushden schools. She has won national competitions with Starlight Kettering and taken part in many production shows, drama shows, singing and review shows, as well as taking part in local and larger events such as performing at the Royal Albert Hall and Disneyland Paris.
Sophie Capps
Teacher
Sophie has been passionate about performing arts since childhood, beginning her formal training at Starlight Kettering in 2010. Over the years she has immersed herself in a wide range of genres, including commercial, contemporary, RAD ballet, ISTD tap and modern and has showcased her talents in numerous shows, competitions, and examinations. In 2015, Sophie joined the apprenticeship scheme, which marked the start of her teaching journey where she went on to teach at Starlight Market Harborough, leading her own show team classes. Now working as a cover teacher, Sophie specialises in commercial dance and enjoys bringing her energy and experience to Starlight schools across the county.
Simeon Walker BA(Hons)
Teacher
Simeon trained and is still actively training in most genres of dance, including: Ballet, Contemporary (Graham, Limon, Cohen, Humphrey and Horton Technique), Commercial, Hip-Hop (Popping, Locking, Breaking, Vogue and Waacking), House, African, Lyrical, Jazz and Physical Theatre. He began his dance training at Starlight Kettering when he was 16, progressing from Senior Dancer to Principal Dancer as well as teaching Velocity Street Dance at the school for a year before heading off to London to further his dance training. Now a dance graduate of Middlesex University, 2015, Simeon still works professionally in the industry as well as being the teacher of our Wellingborough school. Simeon has performed in a vast range of productions, events and platforms - some credits include Jessie J, Rita Ora (The Brit Awards Promo), JettBlack and The Queen's Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace.
Vicki Becks
Teacher
Vicki has been teaching at Starlight since the opening of the Kettering School, running choirs, providing private vocal lessons and more recently assisting with Musical Theatre. More commonly known on the local music scene as The Little Lady with the big voice! Vicki is a highly versatile performer who has sung in theatres and backed 60s chart stars.
Victoria Kaye
Teacher
Victoria teaches the Adult Tap class at Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School Burnham-on-Sea and has passion and focus for teaching Pilates. She has been teaching Tap dance for over 20 years and is qualified with the ISTD. Victoria has entered many students into exams over the years with 100% pass rate and produced local shows. Victoria is also a Level 3 Matwork Pilates Instructor, a Trigger Point Pilates Instructor and Holistic Core Restore Coach. Victoria specialises in Post Natal Pilates and Pelvic Floor Health and is committed to helping women's body's recover after having a baby. Victoria holds all her Pilates classes at our Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School in Burnham-on-Sea.
Winnie Tam RAD RTS
Teacher
Winnie is a classically trained RAD ballet teacher at our Kettering school and specialises in our early years ballet students. She first joined our team as maternity cover and we were very pleased to be able to keep her on and in the winter or 2024 Winnie entered her first set of students for exams. Winnie also has her own children now enrolled into the school and continues to excel with her classes.
Front of House Team
Poppy Dinham
Front of House
Poppy Dinham is our Starlight Burnham-on-Sea Front of House, helping behind the scenes on a day to day basis with all administrative functions. Poppy has been dancing since a young child and loves participating in Tap, Ballet, Acro and Show Team classes, with her most recent role being the Sugar Plum in Nutcracker a Rat Queen's Tail 2024. Poppy is also a student teacher with our younger Starlighters.
Alexander Flint
Front of House
Alexander has been training at Starlight Dance & Musical Theatre School for over 10 years. He has developed from a shy young performer to an outstandingly talented dancer and performer training in Ballet, Tap, Commercial and Musical Theatre. Alex started working on Front of House when he was 16 and is a valued member of the team using his wit and charm to welcome our customers.
Kim Long BA(Hons)
Front of House
Kim has been involved with Starlight Dance and Musical Theatre School since her daughter started at Starlight Kettering as a little Allstar, her daughter is now a Senior and doing all the classes Starlight Kettering has to offer. As a child, Kim trained in gymnastics with a love for dance. She went on to study graphic design and photography, where she got her BA(Hons). She spent years photographing dancers and gymnasts, even being asked to photograph at big festival events and The 2012 Olympics! After being heavily involved with Starlight for years, she started to work for the company and is now the Front Of House member for three of our schools!
Bekki Patrick
Front of House
Bekki has been at Starlight since 2017 on our Front of House team. Starlight remains a family business and Bekki is the sister to the Corby school principal Larissa. Bekki’s main role is to welcome new and existing students to the school and her infectious personality and welcoming presence helps make our Corby school the success it is.
Linzi Wallace
Front of House
For Linzi, it was her daughter's love of dance that brought them to Starlight Dance and Musical Theatre School Milton Keynes. She was offered a position as Front of House for our Milton Keynes school, where her role include taking care of administrative functions for new starter enrolments and other daily admin tasks. Linzi is responsible for managing our Platinum Starpass members.
