About

Emily Thornton School of Dance was started in 2011 by myself, Emily. I had a clear vision of a dance school where my children are children, have fun and enjoy the fun and fitness that dance has to offer. From the start I wanted a school where the children aren't a number, they all have names, their personalities are known and their individual skills are acknowledged. 



A bit about me............

From a young age I loved dancing, singing and everything associated with the arts. I started dance lessons in Sherborne, Dorset and straight away knew this was what I wanted to do. From thirteen onwards I  assisted the teacher at the school I went to. From then on I started performing in various productions, such as the English Youth Ballet and Pantoni Pantomimes.  With this clear direction, and at 16, I moved to Bedfordshire to study performing arts full time at Stella Mann Collage of Performing Arts. The course consisted of a wide variety of dance styles as well as musical theatre, singing and acting. I graduated in 2009 with a National Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre.



Since graduating I have performed in Theatre in Education Pantomimes, taught at various schools and worked at Park Club Europe, Tenerife; there I performed in 12 different musicals, playing the lead in 5 of the shows. In addition to performing I also taught the animation team and was assistant choreographer for a new show.

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Since then it has bought out my passion for teaching and seeing the results that can be achieved.  So, in September 2011 I opened Emily Thornton School of Dance and have never looked back! The dance school started off with a small studio out the back of the Sea Cadets building in Biggleswade. As the school started to grow we knew we would need a bigger space with more studios. Finally, in 2024 we moved into our own premises, Ignite Studios. This massive space was converted into three large studios, a singing room, and it’s very own onsite café! Now we run both the dance school and our sister school Vision Theatre Arts here, filling all three studios every evening of the week in addition to Saturdays! All of the students love it here and we always love welcoming new students too.



I am a registered teacher with the United Teachers of Dance, and also a registered school with the Board of Dance Qualifications.

All teachers at the school are DBS checked, I have public liability insurance and I am a first aider.