Schools Pledge Champions in your County
Chris Caffrey - Derby/Derbyshire
At a very young age Chris began acting at a local theatre school. To gain further performance experience he decided to pursue dance training.
This led Chris to take GCSE and A Level dance at his school and go on to train professionally at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). After Graduating, Chris secured himself as a free lance dance artist and choreographer in Liverpool. Chris’ background involves both a theatrical and commercial performance history. Previously working on productions such as 'Giselle', 'Paul McCartney - Back in the World Tour' and alongside televised work, a scripted part for popular teen soap ‘Hollyoaks’ and a 'Public Domain' music video in 2001. On moving back to Derby he started working at Déda as a full time Dance Artist in 2006. He continues to choreograph his own work, creates and delivers bespoke workshops to school and community groups. It is at Déda where he runs his own youth performance company ‘Bounceback’ and his all male youth performance company ‘Liquid’.
Contact: C [dot] Caffrey [at] deda [dot] uk [dot] com
Gareth Woodward - Nottingham/Nottinghamshire
Originally from Nottingham, now also based in London, Gareth began training as a dancer at the age of 16. Gareth has trained all over the world in a variety of styles under the tuition of some of the best in the industry providing him with versatility and moulding him into the dancer he is today. Gareth has worked for Artist such as Mariah Carey, Cheryl Cole, Take That and Coldplay. Appeared in Commercials for Cartoon Network, Cadburys and Nokia, performed and choreographed in a piece for the Breakin’ Convention Tour in 2009, 20 Twenty Cricket Corporate Events and featured in Bollywood movies.
Contact: garethwoodward [at] hotmail [dot] com
Louise Katerega - Inclusive lead
Creative Director, FOOT IN HAND is a popular and versatile contributor to the UK dance scene. She trained at London Contemporary Dance School, Coventry University (Performing Arts) and also holds a first class degree in Film & Literature from University of Warwick.
Based in Leicester since 1998, Louise enjoys a varied career as a performer, choreographer, educator and mentor to people of all ages with differing amounts of dance experience.
As a performer, she has toured nationally and internationally for various British choreographers including Adam Benjamin (co founder CandoCo), Donald Edwards (Phoenix, RJC) and Bawren Tavaziva (Tavaziva Dance). She has a long term association with State of Emergency Dance Company as performer and community project leader. Louise especially enjoys collaborative work with artists from other genres and has worked with many styles of music, song poetry/spoken word, storytelling and film.
In 2003 she formed Foot In Hand an organisation based around creative contemporary dance and its related artfforms which makes shows, runs workshops and trains artists.
Contact: l [dot] katerega [at] ntlworld [dot] com
Melanie Knott - Leicester/Leicestershire and Rutland
Melanie Knott has been working in dance education since 1989 as a teacher, manager and a freelance practitioner. Prior to moving to the East Midlands, Melanie was Director of Dance at The BRIT School in London, where she was responsible for managing a large dance department of staff and students, developing the 14-19 dance curriculum, artistically directing dance and musical theatre productions, guiding the professional development of dance students, and contributing to the artistic ethos of this flagship school for the performing arts.
Melanie currently works freelance as a dance teacher in Primary and Secondary Schools, at post-16 and under-graduate level, and within the adult and community dance sector. She is an examiner, moderator and lead trainer for the GCSE Dance qualification and also leads a range of CPD courses for dance teachers, PE teachers and dance artists, on delivering high quality dance to children and young people. Melanie has managed a range of dance events for young people and undertaken advisory and evaluation work for a variety of dance education projects. She is passionate about teaching dance at all levels and has an in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the dance curriculum, including the full range dance and performing arts qualifications.
Contact: melknott [at] btinternet [dot] com
Marso Riviere - Northampton/Northamptonshire
Contact: marso [at] bboysattic [dot] com
Amy Dalton - Lincoln/Lincolnshire
Contact: Amy [dot] Dalton [at] leisureconnection [dot] co [dot] uk
