About | The Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance

Wendy Sandercock RAD RTS - Principal at the Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance

OUR HISTORY

MORE ABOUT THE WENDY SANDERCOCK ACADEMY OF DANCE

For generations, human civilizations have been dancing. Whether for cultural reasons or pure enjoyment, there’s a wonderful feeling that one gets from the art of movement. Just ask the dedicated dancers who come to practice every single day.

When you decide to join us at The Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance, you too will be able to take advantage of our professional staff at your choice of location. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced dancer looking to improve your technique, we guarantee you’ll find it here.

Wendy Sandercock RAD RTS

The Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance is a well established and extremely successful school, run by Principal Wendy Sandercock RAD RTS, a fully qualified and registered teacher of The Royal Academy, with classes held in Torquay, Newton-Abbot and Teignmouth. We ensure our classes are always of manageable sizes in order to provide individual attention to each pupil at every stage of their development. We believe in quality and not quantity thus retaining our very high standards. Pupils follow the syllabus of The Royal Academy of Dance and examaminations are held twice a year for those wishing to take grades and Vocational examinations, in Ballet, Modern and Tap and NEW for 2019 is our Royal Ballet School Pre-Associate Programme.

The results always reflect the very high standards of the school, and pupils always attain 100% pass rate. The children always enjoy taking part in local and national competitions, again winning lots of cups and medals, with a number of pupils taking part in “All England Finals” over the years (please also see our News Pages). The school stages its own show yearly, which is great fun!

Some of our pupils take a step further and take part in professional shows and dance alongside the “stars” in Pantomimes, Ballet companies and Summer Shows. Many have taken part within productions of the English Youth Ballet Company (See Gallery). Pupils over the years have been readily accepted by vocational schools, such as, The Royal Ballet School, Elmhurst Ballet School in association with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Ballet Rambert, Northern Ballet School, Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and more. A lot of former pupils are dancing in Ballet companies in this country and abroad or involved in television and west end productions as well as characters and performers in DisneyLand (Paris) as well as the Disney Cruise Line. We as a school have a number of junior and mid associates of The Royal Ballet School, where children are selected by audition for a place.

We welcome all newcomers to the school and there is a class suitable for everyone from the age of 3 years to student level.

Our Team

Alicia Rose Sandercock

Alicia was trained by the Royal Ballet School and attended Tring Park School for the performing arts. Upon graduating, Alicia landed character and parade performer roles at DisneyLand Paris. Alicia has performed at the Royal Albert Hall in "Phantom of the Opera" and has danced with the English Youth Ballet Company where she was a scholarship winner for all her performances.

Alicia held the title South West Ballet and Modern Champion for 6 years before she represented the South West of England in the IDTA Ballet Championships at the Blackpool Winter Gardens. Alicia was also a medal winner on several occasions at the All England Dance finals in London. Alicia has also modelled for the limited-edition catalogue and yearly edition catalogue for International Dance Supplies. In between auditions and contracts, Alicia is a student teacher at the school.

Alicia has also setup “Divine International” talent agency which places professionals and students alike for theatre performances / television / films and other advertising and creative requirements. Divine International is now a member of the “Spotlight” platform for agencies providing these services.

Marina Saldanha (Guest Teacher)

Marina trained at The Arts Educational School (London) and had run her own highly successful business for many years in Devon. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience with an extremely high level of teaching.

Her pupils have always excelled in local and National dance competitions as well as achieving outstanding results in ISTD examinations in all genres.

Marina teachers Acro dances as well as Musical Theatre, Grade 4 Tap, Primary Tap, Grade 1 & 2 Tap and Modern as well as some Ballet & advanced grades. She also trains our students for festival and competitions and recently gained two gold (first) places for group dance at the Plymouth ’23 Dance Festival as well as a host of Silver and Bronze.

Tishian Montello (Guest Teacher)

Tishian is a fully qualified teacher of the ISTD and is one of our brilliant choreogrphers for festival & competition work. She teachers Tap, Commercial Dance, Street jazz and Modern for WSA

Former Students

Wendy Sandercock Academy of Dance - Former Student - Anna Shircliff

Former Pupil Anna Shircliff was with our school from the age of 2yrs old until she won a scholarship to Elmhurst Ballet School at the age of 16. Since then she has danced with the Estonian Ballet, taken principal roles in Phantom of the Opera and toured the West End production of Mary Poppins to name a few of her stage successes. She is also a teacher at the Kensington Ballet School London. Anna was a Royal Ballet Associate from 8 to 16 years old and danced with London Children’s Ballet.