West London Dance Academy

At West London Dance Academy, we focus on nurturing little ones to grow into confident dancers.
We have been established for 14 years. Our main objective is to conduct small classes with unmatched expertise and affordable tuition. We want to inspire good technique and progression in a safe, lively and fun environment. In every class, we make sure all students understand the enjoyment, passion and fitness that all forms of dance can bring.
Our Babies and Pre School classes are designed to introduce little ones to the magic of dance with the basics of ballet , standing in positions, skipping, jumping, pointing toes, walking on tip toes, balancing including lots of fun and musical mime.
Prep & Primary Ballet & Tap classes for ages 4 to 8 years are for the beginners that may want to take dance a little more seriously but still with the fun and imagination element . Pupils are given the opportunity to take their first ever ballet & tap examinations under the IDTA like our big boys and girls .
With our Junior and senior school classes We offer a Full Timetable of Ballet, Tap & Contemporary Modern Jazz , Hip Hop and Theatre Craft and will be introducing Acro Dance in January 2021 along with some new Adults classes. We are an IDTA & ISTD Accredited Dance School.
What makes us different from other little dance classes?  all of our WLDA pupils begin as babies and go right through our academy growing and developing in technique confidence.  
Many of our pupils have gone on to dance professionally or train at full-time professional dance schools such as The Royal Ballet School, Arts Education and Tring Park . Others are fully qualified dance teachers having trained on our WLDA Intensive Dance Teachers Programme (please see our Dance Teacher Training Programme page) and are now running dance schools of their own. We have a History of 100 % pass rates in IDTA Examinations always achieving Distinctions and Merits many of our pupils have been nominated by examiners for the International Awards in Manchester. Only 500 pupils are nominated each year out of 7500 in the UK and Abroad .
The Academy has put on two successfully acclaimed large scale performances (please see our show page ) The Nutcracker and Alice in The Greatest Wonderland , each received a standing ovation from the audience and outstanding comments from professional dancing and acting critics. Our Principal Miss Natalie has been dancing professionally, running dance schools and training dance teachers all over England and abroad for 30 years and still teaches at all of our branches. Miss Natalie took over the academy form Miss Judith in 2016 after teaching at WLDA for 3 years She focuses on nuturing all of our baby ballerinas into teenage dancers and says “as a Principal I have seen wonderful friendships grow amongst my dancers and from babies to adulthood I have been lucky enough to be part of their amazing journey in life” . (see meet the team page)




What Parents, Pupils and Teachers are saying about our Academy:

“I cannot thank Miss Natalie enough for all of the hard work and belief she put into me throughout my training, I have had the most wonderful experience when training for my first dance teaching qualifications and as a result of my training with Miss Natalie, I was able to achieve 95% Distinction for the IDTA Level 4 Diploma in Professional Dance Teaching Qualification. I now feel I have the Confidence and all of the tools I need to continue my career as a Dance Teacher ."
Natalie Dungan - ( Former Student Teacher)


This is what parents are saying about us:

“Really impressed and pleased with the baby ballet class - Lana spent most of the afternoon dancing a real pleasure to see her so happy. I think this will be invaluable for a toddler that is very introverted “ Taj - Lana’s mum. (Babies Ballet)

“This class is worth every penny Edith loves her ballet “ Claire - Edith’s mum (Babies Ballet)

After Leila’s first show experience at 4 years old - Thank you for such an amazing show ! ..we are immensely proud that Leila is part of such a brilliant dance school.  Amanda - Leila‘s proud mum (Preparatory Ballet)

“ so impressed with the dedication and high quality of the dancers. We had to keep reminding ourselves this wasn‘t professionals dancing ! Simply outstanding ! “ Helen Hayley’s mum - (Grade 1 ballet).

“Congrats on a FAB show, it was amazing from start to finish and I loved every dance and all of the costumes . They were so colourful and imaginative and the storyline was brilliant . Flora loved being part of it as did we all love watching it ! “ Imelda Flora’s mum -( Tiny Tapper )  

“I’d like to feedback to you that we think the class is lovely - well structured with a lot of useful content to develop strength, balance and coordination. In just 4 weeks Babies Ballet has helped Margot learn to jump with both feet lifted from the floor (something we’ve been working on for a long time) and tiptoe. She has also picked up some of the sequences, initiating practicing them at home“. Ruth Margot’s Mum - (Babies Ballet ) 



Our classes are unique and taught by fully qualified and DBS checked teachers.
News from the Academy 
We Are Coming Back!
West London Dance Academy will be moving to their very own premises in Chiswick in September 2020. We are taking over the Annex at Chiswick Methodist Church Hall W44LN and refurbishing it into a Fully Equipped Dance Studio which we can also make completely COVID -SAFE. Our Hired Ealing Hall All Saints Church Hall has undergone changes putting all Government Guidelines and Safety Measures in place.
Our teachers have undergone the new Covid -19 Health and Safety , First Aid, and Prevention of Virus Spreading Courses.  We will have new Risk Assessments in place and have updated our safe guarding policies . All of our classes are small with quality teaching so it will be easier for us to operate with the new Government Guidelines and Safety Measures in place and to follow social distancing . We have already been planning and preparing the logistics of operating our classes safely at our new premises in Chiswick and our current Ealing venue and have thought of lots of fun, active, but secure ways of doing this without causing any stress to the students or parents . 
We are so excited to be able to get back to physical classes in our very own brand new premises and can‘t wait to see you all soon!
 
Some of our  On-line Memories                               
                                                                    
                                                                            Imagination 

                                                             Story time with the Principal 
                                                                       Ballet Technique 

                                                           Senior Zoom Classes 


We have had such fun in our On-line Zoom classes with our Ballet, Tap , Modern jazz , Boogie Imagination Skills , Story Time , Colouring, Competitions and Fun free Friday Stretch & Street Classes. The positive feed back from parents has been completely overwhelming .

"On this occassion I just wanted to cordially thank you once more for all the fantastic dedication and work you are doing during these hard times. Zoom classes and Friday Fun Free dance classes are something Katherine is very much looking forward, they are giving her joy and purpose that is so needed now!
I am a bit lost for words to express my gratefulness fully (and words are my work tools usually...), but just wanted to say - we are very very lucky to have you as a Teacher (with a capital T)." Kristina (Katherines Mum )

“Thank you so much for enabling your pupils to keep dancing“  Alison (Helens mum )

“You have been amazing as always and doing a brilliant job of keeping everything going and the girls and boys occupied!”
All the best. Hema (Iyla's Mum)

“Pleased to hear about the classes continuing on zoom.Thanks for all your hard work, and flexibility to make things happen. Can’t imagine how much work it takes to re-arrange everything We appreciate you! “ Alex (Stella's Mum)

“Thank you for being so supportive! I don’t know where you take all the strength and positivity from ... Sylvia“  (Tola's mum)
 
”Thank you for your continued dedication and the Zoom  classes Anna loves them and loves seeing Miss Natalie and her friends every week . This is so good for all of the children physically and psychologically and we applaud you for creating a way for this to continue in these difficult times” ! Rachel (Anna’s  Mum)

We're so grateful that you are continuing to do classes. Miya looks forward to them and can't wait to show off her 2 teeth that she lost to her friends ..(Sarah Miya's Mum)

A new on-line display 
We are hoping to put together one big piece of on-line Zoom choreography involving all of our pupils dancing at the same time for an end of term viewing for parents and to keep as a memory of how we continued to dance and come together as an academy during these unprecedented times.

Family Zoom Competition 
We asked pupils to Choreograph a Dance to perform with their Families during lock down and these are the 8 finalist . All families expressed they had so much fun getting involved it was a fun distraction they said from the difficult times everyone finds themselves in at the moment. Our competition received praise from the IDTA as an imaginative way to keep family’s actively dancing and was then put on to their social media page.



EXAMS 
We are extremely proud of our latest IDTA Exams results taken in December 2019 . Pupils form 4 years old took exams in Ballet Tap and Contemporary Modern jazz and achieved 83-93% Merit & Distinctions along with one of our students being nominated for IDTA International Dance awards at out 7000 other students in and around the UK. Unfortunately our spring exams were cancelled due to Covid-19 and have been provisionally booked for 18th October 2020.

Show & 15th Birthday Celebrations 
2021 will be our 15th year of being an established and successful West London Dance Academy and we aim to celebrate with a large scale performance and a big party something everyone can look forward to !
see our Gallery page here or visit our show pages 'Alice in The Greatest Wonderland and The Nutcracker on our sister site : www.westlondondanceacademy.com

TALLULAH 
Our Tallulah the Star of the New NATWEST advert on TV . Tallulah is one of our budding tap students and has been for 6 years . She has become the Face of the Money Sense campaign for children and we are so proud of her !.