Blog
The journey of MSAOD Principal, Michelle Sidwell, from dance student to successful Academy owner.
Tuesday 19th July 2022
MSAOD Principal, Michelle Sidwell, started dancing at age 4, at The Campbell School of Dancing in Dulwich.
After falling in love with dance and realising she was actually pretty talented, she auditioned for Urdang Academy Lower School and Arts Educational Lower School. She got into both, but chose the iconic, Urdang Academy, who even offered her a scholarship at the tender age of 10!
During her time there, she danced in pantomimes, and went on to audition (successfully) with The Bolshoi Ballet & The Kirov Ballet in Sleeping Beauty at The London Colliseum. She was only one of 4 children who danced with both Russian companies when they visited the UK which was entered into the record books! Amazing!
She also danced at the beautiful Royal Opera House, and danced annually at The Bloomsbury Theatre.
Miss Michelle has danced professionally at many theatres including, The National Theatre, Her Majesty's Theatre, The Bloomsbury Theatre, Sadler's Wells Theatre, The London Palladium, The Royal Opera House, Bob Hope Theatre, The Broadway Theatre to name but a few. But then decided to concentrate on teaching and went back into full-time education at The Centre to work on her advanced dance exams and teaching exams.
Miss Michelle then opened her wonderful school, MSAOD in 1999 and has trained pupils to professional level ever since! MSAOD Graduates are teaching and performing all over the world!
Miss Michelle is proud to still be teaching and running MSAOD, nurturing all of the amazing dancers who dance here ❤️
Do you think Miss Michelle's incredible dance history inspires you to follow in her footsteps?!
Because, as teachers, the whole purpose we do what we do, is to inspire the next generation!