Veronica Lewis MBE Al Chor
Director and Joint Principal of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
Veronica was Director of Cheshire Dance Workshop and Advisory Dance Teacher for Cheshire County Council for 22 years. She was also one of the founding Directors of the National Dance Agency for the North West. She has served as Vice Chairman of English National Ballet, Chair of the Royal Ballet’s education committee, Vice-Chair of the Arts Council’s Dance Panel, on the Board of Rambert Dance Company, and was a founding member of North West Arts Board. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s she pioneered the development of education work in both dance companies and orchestras. She was awarded the MBE in 1995 in recognition of her services to dance. She founded and is currently Joint Principal of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, and she played a key role in developing the Government’s Centres for Advanced Training, for which she is a member of the Expert Panel. She has been Director of London Contemporary Dance School since 1998. In 2012, Veronica was made an Honorary Professor of the University of Kent.
David Steele BA Diplômé d’Etat
Assistant Director
David Steele started his career as a dancer and choreographer and then began his work in dance education at Laban. In 1989 he was invited to the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine, Angers France as Guest Artist. In 1990 he was made principle teacher at the Conservatoire National Supérieure, in Lyon, following which he became Head of Studies for DanseProjeket, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and subsequently founder director of The Danish National School for Contemporary Dance. In 2001 he worked for the first time at LCDS, initially as Head of Advanced Performance and then Head of Postgraduate Studies. In 2006 he returned to the CNDC as Director of Studies, where he ensured the awarding by the CNDC of the National Professional Diploma in Dance, and the establishment of a Bachelors and Masters in association with Universite Paris VIII. In 2008 he was created a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in recognition of his contribution to contemporary dance.
Dr Mary Evelyn PhD (Kent) Cert ED
Head of Postgraduate Studies
Mary trained as a teacher as Goldsmith’s College, University of London. Graduating from LCDS in 1979, she became a freelance dancer with Siobhan Davies and Richard Alston, before spending eight years as a dancer and choreographer with Rambert Dance Company. She joined the faculty at LCDS in 1988 and directed the School’s Postgraduate Performance Group for seven years. She received her PhD in 1999 for research into teaching and learning strategies relevant to contemporary dance training and education.
Simon O'Shea BS MEd MSc
Head of Student Services and International Development
After studying biology and then education in the United States, Simon then spent several years working in student support services where he focussed on co-curricular program development for first-year students of Pennsylvania State University, and internation student populations for University of California. Following his return to the UK, Simon began working for an independent study-abroad provider assisting international students with their education and acculturation to life in London. In 2007, Simon completed his MSc in Globalisation and Development focussing on the role that higher education plays in today's global economy.
From left: Mary Evelyn, Simon O'Shea, David Steele and Veronica Lewis.