Our Teachers

Dancebites Academy of Dance was established by Samantha Lindsay in September 1999.

Samantha has been dancing for over 22 years. After training at the Royal Academy of dance for 5 years, obtaining excellent results in all her classical ballet examinations, Samantha was awarded a scholarship to attended The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) to study a 3 year Professional Diploma in Performing Arts.

During her time at ALRA, she achieved excellent results in her Modern and Tap examinations, starred in 3 productions in her last year of the course, including “Assassins”, where she was Dance Captain and solo artist.

On graduating from ALRA Samantha decided she would love to gain some experience in teaching all the styles of dance of which she had trained in over the years. Whilst following her teaching career, she also had the opportunity to perform at the London Palladium, on the channel 4 programme- The Big Breakfast, and taking part as an extra in various TV programmes and film.

After obtaining her teaching certificate Samantha soon after founded Dancebites in which she specialises in teaching Classical Ballet, Street Dance & Tap. Dancebites has grown rapidly over the years and is now a respected and well known company. Samantha has since taken her Licentiate examination and recently become a Fellow of the ISTD after completing her final Fellowship exam in the Disco Freestyle Field with exceptional results.

“Leanne joined a Street Dance club at the age of 13 years old. She was asked to join a dance school shortly after... became a Teacher, was one of the Head Choreographers, made Manager and now has her own company!

Leanne found a passion for dance in Secondary school and received the first-ever award at her first dance show for having the best “Style and Technique”. Later on, she was crowned the “Best Dancer” of that school, was the first to take her Bronze Exam in Street Dance as a Soloist and came first place in many different competitions after that. Leanne has completed all of her Street Dance exams, receiving Honours. She also took her Student teacher exam to train to be a teacher and then passed her Associate teacher exam a few years later to become fully qualified. This resulted in Leanne becoming a member of the IDTA (International Dance Teachers Asociation) and has been for over 10 years now. Leanne is First Aid trained, has an up to date DBS, recently completed a 7 week Autism course, is a licensed chaperone and has her Public Liability Insurance and Music Licence documentation

Born in England and raised in New York, Nicole grew up dancing and performing competitively. Nicole holds a Master’s of Education in Dance Education from The Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey and a Bachelor of Science in Dance Pedagogy from Oklahoma City University.

Trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theatre, and Modern technique, Nicole has had the opportunity to work with world renowned teachers and choreographers such as Jo Rowan, Jimmy Tate, Jeremy Keisman, Jay Fagan, Brian Marcum, Tiffany van der Merwe, Doug Elkins, Roxanne Lyst and David Parker.

Following her Undergraduate studies and throughout her Graduate studies, Nicole was a Teaching Artist with Dancing Classrooms, NYC, where she taught ballroom dance residencies to 4th, 5th, and 7th grade students in public schools throughout New York City.

Since her move back to England, Nicole has been teaching Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Street Dance, and Modern in Primary Schools throughout the Wimbledon and Croydon areas of London. In addition, Nicole is an active member of the National Dance Teacher’s Association and Dance UK.

Nicole is really excited for this amazing opportunity as Dancebites Co-Ordinator and looks forward to watching her students learn and grow, along with the Company!

Lauren began dancing at the age of 10 at Stopfords Dance School where she took part in Street and Disco dance. She competed in many dance competitions and took part in dance shows including at the London Palladium.

Lauren went on to study dance at college and also at the University of East London where she gained BA Honours in Urban Dance Practice where she trained in House, Hip Hop, Commercial, Waacking, African and Dancehall. During her time at University, Lauren was taught by some very well respected dance teachers in the industry and frequently performed at the Stratford Circus Arts Centre.

Lauren found a passion for teaching and is soon to be taking her exam to become a member of the IDTA.

Sharol Riedewald was born in Cuba, but raised in the Netherlands. He started dancing by the age of 12 and professionally by the age of 19. He graduated from Codarts Ballet Academy in 2012 in Rotterdam. Where he was trained in ballet, contemporary, tap and jazz. Sharol has danced for TV programmes such as the Xfactor, The Voice of Holland, Pop Idol and for artists such as Mariah Carey, The Sugababes, Alexandra Burke, Kelis, Leona Lewis and the Black Eyed Peas to name a few. He moved to London in 2013 to take his dancing career to the next level and since being here, has worked for artists such as Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Little Mix, Peter Andre and Olly Murs. Sharol describes his style as commercial Hip-Hop with a touch of contemporary and jazz.

Jasmine started performing at the age of 3 in her home town of Manchester, competing in festivals/ competitions across the North West and taking exams in a variety of styles and disciplines from Latin American to Ballet to Drama! She later went on and graduated from Phil Winston's Theatreworks with her Associate in Modern Jazz. After working as a commercial dancer in the North of England, performing in various corporate gigs, live theatre shows and more, she then decided to move to London last year. She is currently a member of both TNG and Runway House, where she trains and performs under the guidance of industry leading choreographers and agents.

Lara has been a dancer since the age of 5. She began dancing at J&L Dance school in Rock'n'Roll and Disco dance. She competed in annual competitions, exams and showcases which she got involved in choreographing for. Here she obtained medals from Bronze to a National Associate Teaching Award. She studied her passion for Dance at The Brit School for Performing Arts, performing in venues such as The Shaw Theatre, Greenwich Theatre and Fairfield Halls. Here she trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Contemporary. Lara graduated in 2013, with a Dance degree BA Honours at Kingston University. She was taught a range of styles here including Ballet, Jazz, African and Hip Hop. Since 2013, she has been teaching in various primary schools and choreographing for local shows.

Emma says she wishes she could dance like her colleagues but instead will stick to her skill set and the dancing to the professionals!  Emma is involved in the day to day administration of the Dancebites team, she brings many years of experience in office management, administration and customer relationship management.