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Nicola Simpson

Southern Dance Academy principal Nicola Simpson

Principal, Dance Teacher -

BC, Dip. DMT, DTAA (Prov. Prof), Reg. LDI Teacher, Associate GE Teacher. ICDFANZ Southland/Otago Rep

Medi Train First Aid Certificate.

I'm Nicola. Lover of Dance, Music and the Stage. I've been dancing for 35 years. My Mum thought it might help to curb my energy. I think it made me worse, but I'm soo grateful she took me to ballet class!!

I've been choreographing since I was 8 and teaching dances since I was 14. So like 25 years! Wow, that seems like a long time.

I also love writing and when I left school, I trained as a journalist. But dancing kept calling me name.

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My first professional teaching job came in 2012 at a company called Spot On Movement. I've taken all that knowledge and experience and started SDA with a desire to do dance and dance teaching and performance differently.

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I hold a Bachelor of Communication in Expressive Arts & Marketing, a National Diploma in Journalism, a Diploma in Dance Movement Therapy and am a registered teacher with Living Dance International and Generation Edinburgh.

I believe ongoing training is important and every year I am always studying something so I can offer my students the best performing arts education possible.

 

I've worked with a variety of populations, groups and organisations, each with their unique strengths and weaknesses, and passionate about helping students find their unique movement style.

 

I am married to Matthew, who is a secondary school teacher, and have one daughter and two adult step-children.

Jessica Neal

Southern Dance Academy Tap teacher Jessica Neal

Tap Teacher, Assistant Dance Teacher
SDA Senior Leadership Team
BChem - Honours, Associate GE Teacher;Medi Train First Aid Certificate. 
 

Jessica grew up in a musical family, where her mum taught piano and guitar. She started formal dance training at 4 years old - first in ballet and then a combined jazz/tap class. After a break to try out netball, she found tap and worked through American Tap grades 3-6. She then transferred to ISTD, completing Intermediate grade and starting Advanced 2 before moving away for university.

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Over the years, Jessica has had many opportunities to perform including a one-off stint as a background dancer on children’s tv programme What Now.

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In 2021, Jessica was invited to join the SDA team as an Assistant Teacher and to help set up the Tap dance programme after completing her Assistant Teaching certificate with LDI. She has a Bachelor of Chemistry with Honours from the University of Otago.

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Jessica is married to Jason and has 3 wonderful children.

Brittni Barroga

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Dance Teacher - SDA Ranfurly
SDA Senior Leadership Team
BA Performing Arts
ICDFANZ Secretary
St John First Aid Certificate

Hello, I'm Brittni. I started dancing in the U.S.A as a little girl learning ballet, gymnastics and tap. I carried on dancing into my teens when I fell in love with contemporary and modern dance. I spent time dancing with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance School and later decided to pursue dance overseas.

I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts from University of Otago, where I spent my time focusing on community dance, performing in Tempo Dance Festivals and for the 2011 Rugby World Cup opening ceremony. After graduating and getting married, I began teaching community dance in Oamaru. That's where I met Miss Nicola and we became life-long dancing friends. She helped me run Spot on Movement and now I'm helping her run Southern Dance Academy!

In 2020, I moved to Ranfurly, Central Otago and took a break from dance in order to raise my 3 children and support my husband’s dairy farming dreams. In 2023, Miss Nicola asked if I would help teach one of her rural students and SDA Central Otago was born.

I've enjoyed getting back to dancing again. The LDI curriculum is beautiful! I appreciate the focus on safe strong technique that helps to build a strong confident dancer 

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