Susan’s early classical ballet training was with Gillian Dawson, studying the Cecchetti method

before winning the Cyril Beaumont Scholarship aged sixteen to the Royal Ballet School (RBS),

London. At the RBS she continued her Cecchetti studies with Nora Roche, Jocelyn Mather and

Richard Glasstone alongside the school’s faculty teachers Pamela May, Julia Farron, Eileen Ward

and Maryon Lane.

She graduated to Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet (SWRB) following the RBS annual London ROH

matinee dancing the role of Swanilda. During her career of twenty one years with SWRB which

relocated to become Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB), Susan danced the principal roles of Sugar

Plum Fairy (Nutcracker), Aurora and Princess Florine (Sleeping Beauty), Giselle, Lise (La Fille mal Gardee), Swanilda (Coppelia), Titania (The Dream), the Ballerina (Petrushka), Pineapple Poll, Symphonic Variations and the White Girl (Two Pigeons) along with a multitude of soloist roles. She toured with the company internationally and created roles in works choreographed by Kenneth

Macmillan, Peter Wright, Lynne Seymour, David Bintley and Michael Corder.

Following retirement from the stage, Susan trained as a teacher at the Royal Ballet School, passing the Professional Dancer’s Teacher’s Diploma with Distinction. She is a Fellowship member of the Cecchetti Society, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and is an Approved Tutor teacher trainer for the DDE (ISTD). She also has a Pilates qualification.

Susan has many years of experience teaching ballet to all ages and levels of students. Teaching at Elmhurst Ballet School (in association with BRB) for fourteen years, she was a Principal ballet tutor for students from eleven to nineteen years. Susan co-developed and led the Cecchetti programme at the school alongside David Yow and Errol Pickford. Susan has also taught class for the BRB company and for their education department, for students at White Lodge (RBS), and Cecchetti at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.

Currently, Susan is freelance and coaches students of all ages and levels in the Cecchetti syllabus,

in general classical technique, and for vocational school auditions. She is a teacher for the Royal

Ballet School Senior Associate Programme and is a lecturer on the ballet faculty for the BA Musical

Theatre degree course at Performers College (Birmingham). She regularly teaches for the

Cecchetti Society Scholarship and Associate programmes and has adjudicated for many of their competitions. She is a member of the team teaching the York Scholarship programme. Susan also teaches weekly adult ballet and Variations class at Danceworks Studios in London.

Susan recently taught a series of online “British Style Ballet’ workshops to students in Tokyo as

well as a series of online workshops titled ‘British Ballet Heritage’ which explored the pedagogical

links between Cecchetti’s teaching in 1920, De Valois’s 1947 syllabus and Ashton’s choreography

for the Royal Ballet. She was a UK dance teacher representative in an online round table

discussion titled ‘Critical Teaching points and Pedagogy’ with leading dance teachers from

Australia, Germany, Italy and the Philippines.