Erna Kuenen

Inspiring young dancers to achieve & excel

Principal & Founder

Erna started ballet classes at age three, taking her Royal Academy of Dance exams, in her hometown of Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Whilst still at school she joined the Bach ballet Group and performed in The Netherlands and abroad.
After High School, she came to London and was accepted onto the Teachers Training Course of the Royal Academy of Dance where she graduated with a Diploma and her LRAD and ARAD

After graduation she returned to the Netherlands to start teaching, however, missing London she returned to London to take the AISTD & LISTD examinations at Stella Mann College in Hampstead.

She then decided to audition and her first professional contract was with Atmozphier Dance based in Birmingham and after this she became dance captain with the Judy Delme Dancers performing on TV and on cruise ships around the world.

After performing she decided to concentrate on teaching and started at Stella Mann School of Dance, West Street School and the Royal Academy of Dance

In 1989 she was invited to become an Examiner for the RAD and in 1996 she embarked on a dance degree at Durham University and gained her BPhil (Hons) followed by a PGCE in Dance in 2005

At present Erna is still examining for the RAD and teaching at Stella Mann College as well as running three dance schools: Jumpup in London, Spotlight school of Dance in Hemel Hempstead and JC School of Dance in park Street St Albans.

PGCE BPhil (Hons) LRAD ARAD AISTD LISTD
Examiner of the RAD