Sonia Brown
Founder & Director
Having grown up in Reading, I love being involved in the local dance community. I have taught in the area as a freelance dance practitioner since I was 16 years old, during which time I have coordinated the annual Thatcham Festival Dance Gala and project-managed various arts events for Thatcham Town Council.
I am currently studying a Master's Degree in Dance Education at the Royal Academy of Dance. I have successfully attained both a PGCE and PGDE with distinction having completed my first two years. My professional training prior to this includes a two-year foundation degree at Bird College Conservatoire of Dance and Musical Theatre in Sidcup, and a BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich. I am also a certified Silver Swans® Licensee.
After graduating in my early 20s from Trinity Laban, I performed as a musical theatre performer. This included touring Spain in a solo performance, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, and working with local Reading-based theatre company ‘Beautiful Creatures’. My performance background has carried through into my teaching style - I’m often asked ‘where do I get all my energy?’
Further accreditations and accomplishments:
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RAD CPD: Dancing into Adulthood
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RAD CPD: Dance for Older Adults
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RAD CPD: Parkinson’s Disease - Level 1
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ProTrainings: First Aid for Fitness and Dance Instructors Training
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Thatcham Town Council’s Gold Community Award Winner 2022
Erin Tingle
Dance Teacher
​I am so excited to officially join Sonia Brown’s dance family! I have known Sonia for a long time, always looking up to her as a role model due to her magnetic energy and talent. I had been Sonia’s cover teacher for a few years and LOVED teaching Silver Swans, Low Impact Tap, Low Impact Jazz and Advanced Tap.
I have grown up in Reading, always been dancing, attending competitions and performances throughout my childhood. My passion soon expanded to singing and acting, where I then attending Musical Theatre Triple Threat at University of Chichester graduating in 2018 with a 1st Class BA Honours Degree.
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Credits in Training: ‘Louise' in Carousel (2016), ‘Isabella’ in Murder, Mayhem and Masque (2017) and ‘Ivy Smith’ in On The Town (2018). I also worked as a Red Coat at Butlins, Minehead, in the Summer of 2016.
I have been teaching jazz, ballet, tap and Musical Theatre in and around Reading since I graduated.
Being besotted with dance and theatre, I decided in 2017 to travel to upstate New York to work as a dance counsellor at a summer camp for adults with learning, cognitive and physical disabilities. I loved my time there and found a new way of teaching with includes everyone, no matter the ability.
And so I came home and began working in a care home for adults with disabilities. Simultaneously, I completed my Master’s Degree in Child Protection and Adult Safeguarding at Buckinghamshire New University. I now work full-time in Homelessness and love this role.
Despite a career away from the dance sector, my love for the arts has never faded and I have been fortunate enough to find work as a freelance dance teacher... leading me back, full circle, to Sonia as her Rebel Ballet and Theatre Jazz teacher!
My ethos is for everyone to feel included, have fun and maybe learn a thing or two…if you love to dance please enquire!
I am excited to meet you all!
John Joshua Tuifua
Patron
Josh is a Thoroughbred of the Royal Ballet. Discovered by an RBS outreach programme at the age of 9 in Westminster; by the time he was 10, Josh was a full-time student at White Lodge. As he entered the school a year ahead of his age, he completed a total of six years at the Lower School in Richmond Park spending his final year as Head Boy.
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After graduating from White Lodge, Josh spent two years studying at the RBS Upper School in Barons Court where he had the opportunity to participate in a school exchange with students from Paris Opera School in Nanterre. On graduating from the Upper School, Josh became a member of the Royal Ballet performing as a Soloist for 16 years. During his time with the company, Josh performed numerous roles including: Benvolio (Romeo & Juliet) and Eros (Sylvia), and performed in ballets such as Monotones II (Ashton),  Gloria (MacMillan),  Sinphonietta (Kylián),  Scenés de Ballet (Ashton),  Tombeaux (Bintley),  The Rake’s Progress (De Valois),  Dances Concertantes (MacMillan) & Fearful Symmetries (Page). Josh also established himself as a character artist performing roles including: Gamache (Don Quixote) & Catalabutte (Sleeping Beauty) & The High Brahmin (La Bayadere).
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Josh is now a qualified Royal Academy of Dance teacher at the RAD HQ and a dedicated pioneer, advocating for accessibility to the arts and dance across social arenas…
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Josh is proudly a patron to:
Project Dance: A company for young dancers run by young creatives
STEPPS: mental wellbeing charity focusing on mental health for dancers.
Dance with Sonia Brown: a dance school in Berkshire, UK dedicated to facilitating mature dancers from any socioeconomic environment.
