The Principal

Deborah Sims
ARAD, Adv Teaching Dip., LISTD, Dip RBS (TTC), RAD and ISTD Registered

Since founding the Classical Dance Studios Deborah Sims has established herself as a leading figure in ballet in the South West of England and the school now enjoys a world-wide reputation for the excellence of the training it offers to students of all ages.

Miss Sims was born in England and received her basic training at the Phyllis Bedells Studios before moving to the Royal Ballet School.  During her five years at the renowned London school she danced with the Opera Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.   After graduating from the teacher training Craftsman course, Miss Sims taught at both the Junior and Upper schools, then spent a year at Grandison College, Croydon.

Her next move was to Canada, where as ballet mistress to the Alberta Ballet Company she was responsible for a number of classical ballets including Swan Lake (Act II), the Nutcracker and Les Sylphides.  Later Miss Sims transferred to the Alberta Ballet School.  Many of her senior students there graduated to dance with professional companies in North America and Europe.

 She has also choreographed several ballets including Tarantella, Russian Dances, Awareness in the Dance and Dreamers

Qualifications

Miss Sims holds full registration of both the Royal Academy of Dancing and the Imperial Society of Teachers and Dancing.

 She also has the following qualifications

• Diploma of the Royal Ballet School’s Teachers’ Training Course, a three year study programme which included a course of anatomy, physiology and child psychology.

• Associate of the Royal Academy of Dancing,

• Advanced Teachers’ Certificate of the Royal Academy of Dancing,

• Licentiate of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, Imperial Ballet Branch,

• Associate of the Imperial Society (National Dance Branch, Modern Dance Branch, Cecchetti Society Ballet Method)

 Miss Sims is also qualified to teach Benesh Dance Notation.

Study Tours

Miss Sims has undertaken study tours to the Paris Opera, Yvette Chauvire’s School, Rosella Hightowers Centre de Danse International in Cannes and the American Ballet School, New York.  She has kept up links with the Royal Ballet School, returning on several occasions and also has been welcomed at the National Ballet School of Canada.   She was one of a delegation of forty dance teachers from all over the world who were invited to  visit China.    This tour was instigated by the Chinese government and was organized by the Royal Academy of Dancing in association with the Dwight Eisenhower Foundation for People to People in the United States.

A similar tour to Russia followed and included visits to the world-famous Bolshoi Ballet School and the Kirov Ballet.

During 2001 in Melbourne and Sydney, Miss Sims visited the Australian Ballet School, the Macdonald College of Performing Arts, the Dance Programme of Redland High School and the Victoria College of Performing Arts.