Dance Teaching

Current roles (2025-26)

Dance Teaching Experience

I have been teaching dance since 2017. After 3 years of part-time studies and teaching practice, I gained a Level 6 Diploma in Dance Teaching and Learning. The learning, however, did not stop there: it is ongoing. To keep fit and up to date with the dance sector, I take part in my colleague’s dance classes on a weekly basis and engage in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) days at least 3 times a year. In 2023, I took part in a 2-week course on Cunningham Technique Fundamentals led by Jeannie Steele. I took this further by attending the Merce Cunningham Trust’s Teacher Training programme in New York in July-August 2025, and am currently working towards the authorisation to teach Cunningham Technique.

Family Day at Towner Eastbourne (2024) - Photo by Cameron Brown
Swarm Dance event at Imperial College London (2024) - Photo by Mads Sas

My past teaching credits include:

My teaching practice was also nurtured by the dance teachers I worked with as a teaching assistant. Between 2013 and 2019, I assisted and learnt so much from Tarika H. Ingram, Galya Kalichin, Charlene Low, Sophie Nüzel, Amy Robinson, Lizzie Sells, Aaron Vickers, and many others. Their creativity, playfulness and varied approaches to teaching keep on informing and colouring my own practice.

Values and approach to teaching

In 2018-19, I taught a programme of free family dance classes called Dance For All, organised by Truefitt Collective. The article below looks back on the project’s closing event, and highlights some of the key values I stand for in my teaching practice:

  • Structure: Providing a coherent thread through each class and series of lessons
  • Accessibility: Providing opportunities for everyone to dance
  • Dedication: Committing to high-quality planning and delivery to inspire participants
  • Multidisciplinarity: Using a variety of resources to address all learning styles
  • Respect: Helping participants give each other space and time to learn

Dancing Across The Curriculum

I love connecting dance to other disciplines and stimulating participants’ intellectual curiosity as well as their physical skills. In 2018-19, working with Maths Dance equipped me to teach children maths concepts such as fractions through movement, for example by practising quarter turns and half turns. Later, in 2021, I was involved in the making and recording of 3 episodes of The Place and Imperial College London’s Elemental Dances series, where atoms and physics met dance.

Elemental Dances (2021)

I often use children’s books for inspiration, and have devised series of dance lessons based on a range of curriculum topics (the Stone Age, the Roman Empire, sound, volcanoes, the rainforest and the river Thames, to name a few). I have also followed the alphabet to structure creative dance classes for children aged 6-7. Starting with session A on Actions and session B on Body parts, this programme keeps each class fresh while also helping the children revisit the previous week’s exercises with a new focus each week.

Below, you can read testimonials from parents and primary school teachers whose children and pupils have danced with me.

My son loves coming here, it is a real boost to our Saturday morning. He comes out of each class excited and smiling.

Contemporary with Yanaëlle is the highlight of Holly’s week.

Participants’ parents
Children and Youth Dance classes at The Place (2019)

Yanaëlle has an excellent manner with children and she makes her dance lessons interesting and engaging. Her dances are creative and well pitched and she is so passionate about teaching them to the children. She has strong behaviour management and the children are always eager and inspired in her classes.

Year 2 teacher at one of
The Place’s Partner Schools (2020)

Yanaëlle showed such great patience and kindness to our children making the experience that bit more enjoyable and special.

We have absolutely loved working with you this term and the children have loved every part of the process. To see them on stage tonight was so special and the confidence and progress was really moving.

Year 2 teachers at one of
The Place’s Partner Schools (2019)

Pre-recorded Dance Classes

In 2020-21, while schools and studios were closed to the public due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I recorded several dance classes for Sadler’s Wells and The Place’s partner primary schools instead of teaching dance sessions in person. Here’s a short session you can try at home:

Workshops

So far, I have taught guest lectures at London Contemporary Dance School, the Universities of Chichester and Westminster, as well as one-off classes and workshops at Pavilion Dance South West, Siobhan Davies Studios, Jewelled Bird Dance (UK), Lycée Martin V (Belgium) and Irena Anastasia Bregu’s School of Dance (Greece).

I liked the fact that you gave us freedom to explore ideas.

Workshop participant
Siobhan Davies Studios (2017)

I really liked working on the floor and being able to release and use my body this way. It was a new and different experience.

Workshop participant, Irena Anastasia Bregu’s School of Dance (2018)

Very well planned, flowed nicely and stimulating.

Workshop participant
University of Westminster (2017)

If you would like me to teach a contemporary dance class or choreography workshop to your students, school or community group, please get in touch!

Online Classes

In 2020-21, I delivered floorwork classes live on Zoom with Company Concentric. These classes went back into studio spaces at the end of 2021.

Online Floorwork Class

Loved your class yesterday. Really easy to follow as you explained so clearly.

Floorwork class participant (2020)