Wendy Timmons advocates for dance nationally and internationally both as the Convenor for the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland Board of Trustees and the Health and Wellbeing Trustee at Dance Base, Scotland’s national centre for dance. She also serves on Board of Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS) and the Editorial Board for Research in Dance Education Journal. Wendy is a Senior Lecturer in Dance Science and Education at Moray House School of Education and Sport, the University of Edinburgh.

With over forty years of experience working with dance artists and teachers, she completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh and continues her research in dance medicine and science seeking to enable dancers to realise their full potential. More about her work in this area can be found here.

In addition, Timmons plays an active role as a curator, working to reimagine and produce dance works that motivate the artists involved and their audiences. More about this curatorial work can be found at https://linktr.ee/wtimmons

Image by Bluesky Photography 

Eleanor Sinclair is a dance artist and teacher in both Highland and Step Dance. She is an associate member of the British Association of Teachers of Dancing with a Masters in Arts and Cultural Management. With close connections to the Hebrides and Northern Isles, Eleanor taught Highland Dance in the Western Isles for several years before leaving to travel abroad.

Eleanor now works in arts marketing for a community arts and heritage venue in Argyll and plans to continue her practice as a teaching artist in the near future.

Image courtesy of Eleanor Sinclair

Kalubi P. Mukengela Jacoby was born and raised in Belgium. She started her training in traditional Luba dance and singing (from the Democratic Republic of the Congo) at the age of 3. She graduated High School with a Baccalaureate in Dance and in 2005 started training in hip-hop and founded the hip-hop company Born2Move.  She has a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance performance and an MSc in Dance Science and Education from the University of Edinburgh.

Kalubi is also the founder and director of Seven Artist Management – an agency that aims to bring diversity to the Scottish performing art scene.

Image courtesy of Kalubi P. Mukengela Jacoby

Tony Chen has over 20 years of professional experience delivering powerful dance routines for youth, adult, and dance teams. His dance and choreography skills range across various genres, including ballet, jazz, contemporary, Chinese folk and classical. Currently Tony is embarking on academic research about dance accessibility with an emphasis on dance pedagogy and heritage. Tony holds a Master of Science degree in Dance Science and Education from Moray House School of Education and Sport, the University of Edinburgh. He also holds two Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degrees – Dance and Drama from Kingston University and Ballet Performance and Education from the prestigious  Beijing Dance Academy.

His experience includes professional ballet dancer with Liaoning Ballet of China for 6 years; a choreographer with Hainan Dance Company of China for 2 years; a dance teacher with Beijing Dance Academy for 3 years; dance teacher and choreographer with Edinburgh Chinese Community School for 6 years and an artist residency at Dance Base – Scotland’s National Centre for Dance.

Image by Duncan McGlynn

One of the founding members of the predecessor of the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, Colin Maclennan has been involved in many forms of dance from an early age, including ballet, Eastern European folk dance, Greek dance, Renaissance dance, Scottish country and ceilidh dancing, along with Irish step and set dancing. He now both plays in and calls for a ceilidh band. Currently, he is also the treasurer of the Edinburgh International Folk Dance Group.

Colin has an extensive experience of administration and management over many years, including as a supervisor of the manufacturing side of RM Cameron and the former Sons Stationers.

Image courtesy of Colin MacLennan

Daniela Dimova-Yaneva is an Edinburgh-based curator, translator and educator with a background in competitive ballroom dance across Scotland. She holds a PhD in medicine and an MA in Art History from Edinburgh College of Art, the University of Edinburgh. In 2014 Daniela co-established and continues to run The Bulgarian Community School in Edinburgh where Bulgarian folk dance, storytelling and music are taught alongside Bulgarian Language, Literature, History and Geography to over 100 students.

In 2017 Daniela co-founded the Bulgarian Cultural and Educational Centre Scotland – the only independent non-profit and non-venue based arts, culture and education organisation of its kind in Scotland. Through the Centre, Daniela curates, produces, coordinates and amplifies cultural events, festivals and initiatives which feature Bulgarian-born creatives or those of Bulgarian descent who are often Scotland-based as part of the ongoing Thistles and Sunflowers initiative.

Image by Daniela Dimova-Yaneva

Róisín O’Brien is a choreographer, writer and producer. Her expertise lies at the intersections of contemporary dance, ballet, as well as physical and visual theatre and collaborations with live music. Since starting to independently make work in 2016, her choreographic credits have included: Hidden Door Festival commissions (2022 & 2023), Resolution, DanceLive and various venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She was part of the inaugural L20 programme, an artist attachment programme with The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.

Róisín writes for numerous publications, including The Guardian, Springback Magazine, Fjord Review, and The Skinny, and collaborates with dance artists and companies on show programmes. She is a Springback Academy graduate. She has worked as a producer for DanceLive and MANIPULATE festivals and as an independent producer for artists/musicians duo Long Green Jaws. She is also a qualified yoga instructor.

www.roisinobriendance.com

Image by Mihaela Bodlovic

Abby-May Shearer started Highland dancing at the age of 2 and hadn’t looked back for at least 17 years. She has performed in and outwith Scotland, including in the Military Tattoo of Belguim and Festival Du Houblon in France. Abby-May has also performed as part of the German and Dutch tour of Outlander – the historical drama television series based on the Outlander novel series by Diana Gabaldon.

Currently, Abby-May is studying to become an Associate with The British Association of Teachers of Dancing. She also enjoys teaching alongside her dancing teacher while sharing her love of Highland dance with the younger generation.

Image courtesy Abby-May Shearer

Olena Singh graduated in 2002 with an MSc in Finance and Economics from the Odesa National University of Economics, Ukraine. For over 20 years she pursued a professional career as a brand, product and sales manager with companies in both Odesa and Kyiv. Since Olena fled the Russian invasion of her native Ukraine in April 2021 and settled in Edinburgh as a displaced person, she has pivoted her skills towards cultural management, translation and interpretation services on a voluntary basis. She helps manage both the Ukrainian folk dance group Kvity Ukrainy (meaning Ukrainian Flower) and the Ukrainian Community Choir of Edinburgh Oberih (meaning ‘Talisman/Amulet’). Although reinvented under this new name in November 2022, the choir was established by Ukrainian emigrants who came to Edinburgh after the Second World War with some of these founding members still performing to date.

Recently, Olena undertook the Heritage Collections Summer School at the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh. Currently, Olena is furthering her education at Edinburgh College and aiming to secure the future of Ukrainian folk dance in Scotland.

Image by Barrie Baretto

Susie Dinan-Young is a passionate advocate for dance, movement and exercise for health with a particular interest in dance medicine, the prevention of falls and improvement of function in frailer older people and in patients with movement disorders. She was a professional dancer, dance in education teacher, co-founder of Dance UK Healthier Dancer Programme; a University College London NHS Clinical Exercise Physiologist, and Senior Research Fellow in the Departments of Geriatric Medicine, Old Age Psychiatry, and Primary Care and Population Sciences. She is a recipient of various accolades, including Fitness Professionals Lifetime Achievement Award and the AGILE: Physiotherapists working with Older People; Chartered Society of Physiotherapists – Certification of Recognition of Distinguished Service in clinical management, education and practice.

As a Board Member Susie is exploring the potential of the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland to play an integral role in improving health, functional capacity and quality of life in people of all ages and cultures by promoting the necessary multidisciplinary relationships and measurable outcomes to achieve evidence-based practice and attract sustainable funding streams.

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