Our Staff
Debbie Elwell – Co Principal
Debbie has been singing and dancing from the age of 4, becoming a ballet student with her local dance school at an early age. At the age of 7 Debbie enrolled in the Italia Conti Associate School, studying ballet, tap, jazz, musical theatre, singing and drama. She was lucky enough to get an early ‘break’ and was invited into the agency and was selected to work on the film ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’.
At 16 Debbie began a 3 year professional course at Reynolds Performing Arts Academy, specializing in Dance, Singing and Drama. It was here she gained her NVQ level 3 Arts Development and teaching qualification. Whilst studying at Reynolds Debbie was given the opportunity to perform in her first professional job as a dancer in a James Bond Spectacular tour. After being with the company for just 6 weeks she was asked to re-choreograph the show for the rest of the tour. Since leaving in 2003 Debbie has performed in Cyprus, Lanzarote, Spain and Turkey as lead vocalist and dance captain in several different west end style shows, various pantomimes and musicals as lead girl, And taught for some of the most prestigious theatre schools in the UK.
After founding Harlequins in 2009 Debbie expanded her teaching credentials by taking her professional IDTA freestyle exam and achieving top marks. Whilst running Harlequins Debbie has still remained in the industry working as choreographer and dancer for Voce an Italian music channel, choreographing local shows and performing around the UK in her own cabaret ‘The Cover Girlz’.
As part of Debbie’s role at Harlequins, she trains talented and driven potential teachers to become dance teachers, and has a 100% pass rate. She also works closely with creatives in the industry to make sure Harlequins stays fresh and exciting for all of the pupils.
Zoe Carver – Co Principal
Since the age of 4 Zoe has been performing, attending the BLA theatre school where she studied all aspects of dance and musical theatre. Zoe passed her dance GCSE with a grade A and knew performing arts was not only her passion, but also a path she wanted to pursue as a career. At 16 Zoe went on to Reynolds Performing Arts Academy and graduated from a 3 year course, obtaining a Diploma in Dance, and an NVQ Level 3 Arts Development and Teaching qualification, which helped in starting off her teaching career. At the age of 18 Zoe left college and landed her first professional job in Cyprus as part of the production team, starring in various West End themed shows, This is where she first worked as a children’s entertainer, entertaining for the kids clubs and discos. Zoe toured Lanzarote and Turkey as lead dancer, and stared as Hansel in the pantomime Hansel and Gretel.
In 2006 Zoe started teaching all ages – ballet, tap, modern, street dance, singing and drama. She took her associate in freestyle dance with the International Dance Teachers Association to further her teaching credits. Zoe now loves her role as head of dance for Harlequins, choreographing all of the shows and dance exams. She also runs the after school clubs, liaising with head teachers, dance teachers and school/club representatives to make Harlequins the best it can be.
Zoe is thrilled to say, all of her pupils that have been entered have passed their dance and musical theatre exams, most achieving the highest marks, she strives to keep this record.
Ellen Spinks - Principal of Sevenoaks and Sydenham
Ellen first started to dance at the age 5 at Audrey’s school of Dance and Drama. Ellen studied ballet, tap and disco and took BATD grade 1 in these three styles. After a year Ellen also began to study drama and went on to take BATD grade 2 in tap, ballet, disco and drama, as well as BATD Olympic bronze in tap. Once in secondary school Ellen took part in many dance shows and after school dance clubs. This is where she really developed her love to dance and chose dance as one of her GCSE subjects, which she passed with a grade A. Ellen was also honored as her choreography was chosen to represent the school at the 2009 Bromley Secondary Schools’ Dance Festival at Fairfield Halls, Croydon.
Whilst studying GCSE dance Ellen was also able to go on a trip to New York and take various workshops with a company called Steps on Broadway. After her GCSE’s Ellen went on to study A level Dance for 2 years, learning techniques such as Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. Ellen was also chosen to attend The Jasmin Vardimon Dance Company and took part in physical theatre workshops. With the help of Debbie and Zoe, Ellen took her Associate in Freestyle with the International Dance Teachers Association in 2013 and passed with the highest grade.
Natalie Scrutton - Head Of Dance
Natalie is originally from Liverpool has been dancing all her life and grew up on stage performing in multiple musicals and pantomimes across the city.
As she got older, dance and performing arts became her true passion and she went on to study GCSE and Alevel dance, theatre and performing arts, being one of only 3 people in the country to gain 100% marks in Theatre Studies that year.
At 18, Natalie moved to London to attend the prestigious Bird College to study dance and musical theatre, performing in shows such as Thoroughly Modern Millie and 42nd Street.
Straight after graduating, Natalie auditioned for her dream job of being a parade dancer at Disneyland Paris and spent 8 months living her dream dancing on Main Street.
After returning from Paris, she found her love for teaching and is now managing the Senior show team at Harlequins as well as the Harlequins Elite Dance Company who train solidly to compete at the highest level dance competitions in the country. Natalie is also a qualified Acrobatic Arts teacher and teaches ballet and tap for our dance technique class.
Along side Harlequins, Natalie also runs her own business as a Pilates and Barre instructor as well as teaching Reformer Pilates for Power Pilates UK in Beckenham.
Tom Ramsay - Drama Teacher
Tom has been involved in theatre from an early age. He is a three-time alumni of the National Youth Music Theatre, and is featured on two original cast recordings, including as a featured soloist in the U.K. Theatre Award winning musical “Brass”.
In 2017 he graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with a First Class BA(Hons) in Musical Theatre. Since graduating he has directed, and dramaturged a number of productions. He works as a Literary Manager for a West End Producer, working to find exciting new shows to bring to the stage, which have included an Olivier Nominee for Best New Play.
Tom is very excited to be working with all the kids at Harlequins – passing on his passion and enthusiasm of theatre to a new generation.
Laura Lynch Commercial Teacher
Laura is a former professional dancer who trained in Commercial dance at Rare Studios, Liverpool, before gaining a scholarship to train at Millennium Performing Arts College, London.
Laura has done various jobs across the UK as a commercial dancer for companies such as the BBC and Three Mobile. Laura has a passion for choreographing and has previously taught at BASE and Pineapple Dance Studios.
Laura was a member of the female dance company ‘The Queens’ as seen on BBC’s The Greatest Dancer.
Jordan Quinn Hillier - Dance and Musical Theatre Teacher
Jordan is a professional musical theatre performer from Biggin Hill in Kent. His training started in secondary school (Charles Darwin School) where he was heavily supported and pushed in the best directions to peruse his career in musical theatre. During his time in secondary school Jordan joined and trained at Bromley Youth Music Trust (BYMT) where prior to drama school, he was exposed to working with some incredible industry professionals. After finishing secondary school and sixth form he was granted a place at his dream college D&B Academy of Performing Arts where he graduated in 2019.
He has had many amazing opportunities in his career so far and has worked with some of the best choreographers in the business. Jordan has worked for a variety of top companies such as Cross Roads Live (formally known as Qdos Entertainment), Selladoor Worldwide, TUI Sensatori and the UK’S BBC.
Jordan is also signed to one of the west ends leading agents (Russell Smith Associates) and regularity attends auditions and is constantly pushed to the best he can be in dance and musical theatre. Jordan also is one of the founders of a new local amateur theatre company for over 18’s named Bromley Musical Theatre Company and recently choreographed their first ever musical production of The Addams Family the Musical. Jordan believes in hard work and determination and being as full out as you can help you achieve your dreams. He is extremely excited to push the harlequins students to be the best they can be by enhancing technique, performance and teaching the true meaning of FULL OUT.
Eden McLean-Elliott Dance and Musical Teacher
From the age of three Eden has been dancing she soon progressed with both singing and drama training leading to her passion for musical theatre.
Eden achieved her vocational grades throughout the ISTD syllabus including Tap, Ballet and Modern Theatre, alongside this she completed her London College of Music Musical Theatre Exams up to her grade 8.
Throughout this time Eden was lucky enough to perform in various pantomimes including the Hazlitt Theatre and make her childhood dream come true by playing the role of ‘Tracy Atkinson’ in ‘Billy Elliot The Musical’ in the West End, which confirmed that this was the industry she wanted to be in.
After Eden left school she continued her studies at college where she gained her ‘ Associate Trinity College London Diploma in Performing Musical Theatre’ and then furthered her training at the prestigious Conservatoire ‘Trinity Laban Conservatoire Of Music and Dance’ where she graduated as silver medal award winner for her contribution to her course; with a First Class BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre Performance.
Eden’s Credits Include;
Credits whilst training: ‘Nancy/Sally’ in Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens; ‘Ancestor/Dance Captain’ in The Addams Family; ‘Lucy/Assistant Director’ in Snoopy The Musical.
Professional Credits include:
‘Ensemble/Cover Lead’ in Around The World In 80 Days (Blackpool Grande); ‘Ensemble’ in Sleeping Beauty (Greenwich Theatre); ‘Backing Vocalist’ in Greenwich Music Time Presents: West End Proms (Cuffe and Taylor); ‘Principal Vocalist’ in Singing Spectacular (Royal Festival Hall); ‘Tracy Atkinson’ in Billy Elliot The Musical (Victoria Palace Theatre)
Eden has started teaching at our new Sevenoaks branch and is excited to see both the students and the branch grow.
Molly Kennard Dance and Musical Theatre Teacher
Molly started performing arts classes at a young age and immediately fell in love! She began her journey at All the Arts Theatre School with the aim of boosting her confidence. It was there she was taught singing by our lovely Debbie. At the same time, she attended Italia Conti Chislehurst, where she trained in ballet, tap and modern dance. She gained ISTD qualifications in these disciplines with merit and distinctions.
Her dance training gave her the opportunity to perform in many professional pantomimes, including those in Maidstone, Gravesend and Croydon, as well as amateur productions at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford and the Bob Hope Theatre in Eltham.
As a teenager, whilst still attending her weekly dance classes, she joined BYMT’s Musical Theatre group where she learnt from many industry professionals, widening her range of skills. She took part in their productions of Sister Act, Throughly Modern Millie and Joseph and undertook the role of Dance Captain in their production of ‘In the Heights’.
Whilst her passion for performing continued, so did her love for teaching the next generation of performers. In 2019, Molly began to study for a degree in Dance Education, learning a range of dance techniques including Contemporary Limon, African, South Asian, Jazz and Ballet, as well as training to be a dance teacher and choreographer. She graduated with a first class degree.
At University, she competed with their Dance Team. She was lucky enough to choreograph routines for both their Jazz and Commercial competition teams.
Molly has a great love for teaching and cannot wait to bring her sprinkle of glitter to Harlequins. She is excited to watch the children blossom into incredible young performers.
Nicole D’Ambrosio - Dance and Musical Theatre Teacher
Nicole has been dancing and performing since she was young. At the age of 3 she attend her first ballet and tap class, and never looked back. The love of dance grew and she started to attend jazz, lyrical, freestyle to name a few and by the time she was 7, dance become part of her daily routine attending hours of classes after school and the weekends at Stalder Acadmey Of Dance and the Performing Arts. This gave her the opportunity to perform in pantomimes across Manchester, Disney Land Paris parades and many shows in amazing venues around the world such as, Sadlers Wells, London and Fuertevenura from a very early age. Alongside performing she took many dance and musical theatre exams with the IDTA, never achieving less than Honours or Highly Commended.
The love of the performing arts was mirrored during school and Nicole received an A* in GCSE Expressive Arts and an A* in A Level Dance and A Level Theatre Studies.
From school, Nicole auditioned and successfully gained a place at Phil Winstons Theatre Works, where she trained for 3 years intensely in modern jazz, musical theatre, commercial, ballet and tap, and also achieving an IDTA teachers qualification. At the end of the three year course, she graduated with a Diploma in Dance and Musical Theatre.
Teaching became a natural progression for Nicole, and her aim is to pass on and share her love of Dance, Musical Theatre and performing when she does so. Nicole moved to London in July 2018 and has been teaching with Harlequins ever since, she loves working between schools and the studios to share her love of dance!
