Why did Linda join the board?

Linda joined our board she believes in our central mission to enrich and change children and young peoples’ lives for the better through dance.

She has experienced the positive benefits of dance and wants to support young people in the local area, and the wider region, to have the same opportunities to engage in this art form that uniquely brings together physicalmovement with creativity and imagination.

She is committed to supporting our small team to make the most of all available resources to make significant changes in the lives of as many young people as possible through dance.

More about Linda...

Linda originally trained as a dancer at a dance school and a state secondary school in Morecambe. She went onto Alsager teacher training college to train as a dance teacher followed by taking a post graduate diploma in Dance Theatre, at the Laban Centre. She was awarded a MA in Language, Arts and Education from the University of Sussex. Her first teaching post was at Heysham High school where she taught dance alongside Emily Hargreaves. Following working as a school dance teacher she worked in various contexts including community dance (as one of the first dance animateurs), dance/arts development agencies (the first Director of South East Dance specialising in dance film andnew technologies), higher education (University of Surrey dance department as Senior Professional Training Tutor), local authorities and working with government departments and funding bodies.

In 2004 she formed Youth Dance England (YDE) and led the organisation until 2016 when it merged with other organisations to form One Dance UK. At YDE she set up a national network of regional coordinators and commissioned Ludus to host the NW coordinator. She was awarded a MBE for services to dance, an Honorary Doctorate Arts by De Montfort University and Honorary Life Memberships of the Foundation for Community Dance and National Dance Teachers Association. She is currently a free-lance consultant working with, amongst other organisations, The Royal Ballet School and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

Sara, originally from Portugal, is a contemporary dance artist/educator with an undergraduate degree and postgraduate in Contemporary Dance and Performance from Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

She has worked with renowned companies such as Company Chameleon, Highly Sprung and co-founded DAMAEDANCE. She has performed in major festivals both nationally and internationally.

She uses a multidisciplinary approach to her work and focuses on mental health & wellbeing, social unity and mentoring emerging dancers.  She is excited to join Ludus Dance to further her passion for dance education and engagement.