The people in the studio

Our teachers

Miss Leanne and a faculty of ISTD-trained, DBS-checked teachers: performers, choreographers and LESTA alumnae who still love watching a child find the work.

Principal

Founded LESTA 2005

Leanne Edwards

Principal and founder

Fellowship Tap
Licentiate Modern & Tap
DDE Ballet
Working towards Fellowship Tap and Modern
Acrobatic Arts modules
Alixa Flexibility
Progressing Ballet Technique
First Aid
Mental Health Aware
Enhanced DBS
Licensed Chaperone

As a seven-year-old, Leanne was introduced to the exciting world of dance. That fun, energetic art form became a vocation: she qualified as an ISTD teacher, opened her own school in 2005, and LESTA was born. Sixteen years later she moved into purpose-built studios in Knaphill, and still loves watching students blossom as people as well as dancers.

LESTA is a friendly, welcoming school that embraces everyone who wants to enjoy dance and musical theatre. Leanne’s administration - from GoCardless billing to the parent portal - is as carefully kept as the teaching.

College and performing

Lead roles in Hello Dolly, The Sound of Music, Oliver!, 42nd Street, Annie and Calamity Jane, plus two professional pantomimes.
Danced at the 2000 Olympics in Australia, and performed in charity galas on the London Palladium stage (twice) and at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
Choreographed professional musicals for the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringe Festivals, with a South East tour.
Choreographed Janus Theatre Company’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford - later five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe, and critical acclaim from a West End producer.

The faculty

The same care, across every class

Every LESTA teacher holds an enhanced DBS check and a first-aid certificate, in line with school policy, whether or not those credentials are listed beside their name.

Faculty

Vicky Barclay

Creative choreographer

Licentiate Modern
DDE Modern & Tap
FDI Ballet
Working towards Licentiate Modern & Tap
Acrobatic Arts
Alixa Flexibility
First Aid
Enhanced DBS
Licensed Chaperone

Vicky started dancing at three at a local school and, in her final year, was taught by Miss Leanne. Assisting in class showed her that teaching dance brings a particular kind of achievement - so she trained at Deborah Capon College in Kent and joined the LESTA staff in 2007.

She has watched the school grow ever since, and still loves helping young students find their dancing. Vicky is LESTA’s creative choreographer.

College and performing

Three years at Deborah Capon Dance College.
Christmas pantomimes as a child at the Wimbledon Theatre, and chorus in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on tour.
Performed on the London Palladium stage with a performance group.
Lead role as Tracey in her college production of Hairspray, after years with a local youth theatre.

Faculty

Angela Brierley

Ballet specialist

Fellowship in Imperial Classical Ballet
ARAD & RAD Registered Teacher Status
Progressing Ballet Technique Levels 1, 2 & 3
Rambert Grades Contemporary, Grades 1 to 8
DDE Modern
DDE Tap
HND in Performing Arts
QTLS
First Aid
Enhanced DBS
Licensed Chaperone

Angela has a lifelong passion for all things dance, and it shines through in her teaching. She loves coaching LESTA dancers as they grow in confidence, develop their understanding of ballet technique, and flourish as individual performers. Whether they go on to pursue dance as a career or continue simply for the joy of it, she is proud to play a part in each dancer’s journey.

She loves being part of the LESTA team and sharing that joy with the next generation of dancers. After a twelve-year professional career she turned fully to teaching, gaining her highest-level ISTD and RAD qualifications, and is due to undertake the Diploma in Classical Ballet with The Royal Ballet School.

College and career

Began dancing at six at a local school, then gained a place at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London at eleven.
Twelve years as a professional dancer: Lead Dancer, Soloist, Pas de Deux and Aerial Artist, as well as Dance Captain and Production Manager, touring theatres and venues around the world.
Styles from jazz, Latin and ballroom to Irish, contemporary and Parisian showgirl, with classical ballet always closest to her heart.
Favourite credits include a variety of soloist roles in The Nutcracker, Land of the Sweets, in Act II.

Faculty

Louise Callin

Modern, jazz and safe practice

Licentiate Modern
Diploma in Jazz Dance and Commercial Theatre, Elmhurst
ISTD Modern & Tap
Acrobatic Arts

Louise started dancing at three at a local school in Woking and knew early that performing arts was the path. At sixteen she went into full-time training at Elmhurst School of Dance, gaining a diploma in Jazz Dance and Commercial Theatre as well as her ISTD teaching qualifications.

Eighteen years of teaching sit alongside a professional performing career that took her as far as New Zealand, where she founded Louise Emma Academy of Dance on Waiheke Island. Pupils competed through New Zealand and Australia, reaching national finals as soloists and troupes. After handing the studio on, she choreographed in leading Auckland schools before coming home to family - and to local dancers in Woking.

She is a strong advocate of safe dance practice, training longevity, and a positive studio in which dancers can thrive. Video projects, costume design and choreography make up her brand, Louise Callin Creative.

Performing credits

Thursford Christmas Spectacular; the MOBO Awards; Captain America (film); Judge John Deed (television).
P&O Cruises on MV Arcadia, MV Oriana and MV Aurora, as dancer, dancer/singer and Head Girl.
Founded and ran Louise Emma Academy of Dance on Waiheke Island for seven years.

Lucie Scuse

Tap and modern theatre

Working towards DDE Tap and Modern Theatre

Lucie walked into her first dance studio at two and knew she belonged. Ballet came first; at eleven she found tap and modern theatre and fell in love with both. A-level dance at Woking College opened contemporary and theatre jazz.

An injury ended performing, so she threw herself into teaching - and is now working towards her DDE in tap and modern theatre.

Fun fact: Lucie is also a school teaching assistant and sports coach.

Trained at LESTA for 17 years

Imogen Fenwick

LESTA alumna · Bird College

DDE Tap & Modern
3rd year BA Professional Dance & Musical Theatre, Bird College

Imogen grew up in a family that loves to dance and sing. From the days she learned to walk she waited outside her older sister’s ballet class until she was allowed to join in. At three she began at LESTA, trained here for seventeen years in as many styles as she could, and competed with the competition team.

From fourteen she assisted younger classes, learning how to shape dancers from the woman who taught her. In her final year at LESTA she took her DDE in tap and modern at Italia Conti. She is now in her third year at Bird College; after graduating she hopes to perform in musicals on cruise ships and national tours.

College and performing

2016 Woking pantomime ensemble - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the New Victoria Theatre, with Warwick Davis.
Who’s Crazy: The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Musical (2024), Doreen Bird Theatre.
Lots of Love, Raye (2024), Doreen Bird Theatre.
BOB (2024) and The Book Doesn’t Lie (2024), Doreen Bird Theatre.

Professional dance · Laine Theatre Arts

Siân Nabbs

Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance, Laine Theatre Arts

Siân trained professionally at Laine Theatre Arts, graduating with a Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance. She has always had a passion for teaching and brings that West End, tour and television experience straight into the LESTA studio.

BBC Dance Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
The Pacific Jewel (Grayboy / P&O Australia)
Peter Pan, Harlow Playhouse
Eugenius the Musical, West End Live
Mother Goose and Jack & the Beanstalk, Evolution Pantomimes
Thriller Live UK and international tour
Cinderella, Theatre Royal Plymouth
Global Village, Dubai
Vernon Kay’s 90s Tour
Channel 4’s Suspect
BBC Comic Relief Strictly Come Dancing

Faculty

Abi Walton

Musical theatre

BA (Hons) Musical Theatre, First Class - Italia Conti
Stagecoach Ringwood
New Forest School of Dance - ballet, modern, tap and contemporary
LAMDA verse and prose
Trinity Grade 8 singing, Distinction
BTEC Performing Arts
A-Level Drama

Abi’s love of musical theatre began at three, with a first solo of You’ve Got a Friend in Me at stage school. Performing - on stage or in the rehearsal studio - has been her happy place ever since.

She is thrilled to share that craft with the next generation at LESTA, and believes every student has the potential to shine. Since graduating she has performed in Wysch Productions’ 2025 Guildford pantomime as Fairy Dazed and Confused, trains at Pineapple Dance Studios in London, and has taught musical theatre to children across the capital.

Training credits

Gina and Vocal Captain in Amélie
Bonnie in Come From Away
Rona in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Lead soloist in Italia Conti’s Perception
Fairy Dazed and Confused - 2025 Guildford pantomime

Meet the team in class

A three-week trial introduces the teacher by name

Confirmation emails include the studio map and who will be teaching. Your child is introduced at the door and paired with a studio buddy - so the first class is never a sea of unknown faces.

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