Wendy is a passionate advocate for traditional dance. She is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and has authored book chapters and published in international peer reviewed journals.

With thirty-five years’ experience training dancers and dance teachers, Wendy developed the MSc programme in Dance Science & Education and optional GTCS accredited teaching pathway.

Wendy is a member of the steering board for the School for Scottish and Celtic Studies archive and has curated several Dance Artists in Residency and archival projects at Moray House School of Education

Bernie Hewitt is a retired senior army signals officer with a lot of international experience working with both NATO and the UN.  During his service he went to sea with the Royal Navy, flew with the Luftwaffe and completed the French commando course.

Since leaving the army he has worked in Saudi Arabia, as business tutor at Fife College and as a recruitment consultant.  From the age of 14 he has played the accordion, and now leads a small ceilidh band, teaches ceilidh dancing as exercise classes in fitness centres and lays on dementia-friendly Scottish music shows in care homes. www.ceilidhcraic.net

Alexis is a Highland dancer and teacher based in Edinburgh and the Lothians, holding professional qualifications with the BATD and UKA Dance.

More recently, she completed a MSc in Dance Science and Education at the University of Edinburgh.  Dancing has allowed her to travel to perform in various countries, including Malta, France and Spain, and meet many new friends – an experience that she also hopes to share with pupils.

Alexis is keen to continue involvement with research; to expand her own knowledge and share her findings with other professionals and her students. Alexis on Facebook.

Eleanor is an artist and teacher in both Highland and Step Dance.

She is an associate member of the BATD 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 a number of 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. Eleanor on Facebook.

Iliyana is an independent curator, writer and producer of contemporary performing and visual arts, including dance, music and storytelling with over 25 years of professional experience.

She’s a founding co-curator of Screen.dance – Scotland’s annual festival of dance on screen, including Scotland’s first public collection of international screen dance works at Perth’s Threshold artspace.

Her current postgraduate research interests include public art, human rights and interspecies activism, peacebuilding and the arts, environmental humanities, contemporary and traditional art forms, the town twinning movement, artist’s moving image culture, women artists, literature in translation, archival practices, online curatorship, festivals and artists’ residencies. Iliyana Nedkova’s website.

Paula MacNicol is an educator with over twenty years of experience in Scottish secondary schools with experiences as a classroom, principal and deputy head teacher.

She has campaigning experience at organisational level and has a post-grad in Management and Leadership in Education from Strathclyde University. She has strengths in effective communication and informed decision-making using a consultative approach to achieve the desired outcome.

Currently she is a disabled carer with academic interests in Inclusive Practice, Accessibility and Educational Psychology. She was a keen ceilidh dancer in Glasgow and is keen to promote access for disabled people to Scottish Traditional Dance.

Sarah Scobie is the principal teacher for the Sarah Hendry school of Highland Dance based in Glenrothes, Fife.

She’s been involved with Highland Dance for over 40 years as a dancer, teacher and parent of highland dancers. She’s worked hard to establish the dance school, taking pride in allowing dancers to pursue the route of performances and display work. The school offers a mix of dances and an understanding that the love of dance is essential, regardless of the style.

The school is open to any form of collaboration that promotes the artform and encourages the exploration of different genres e.g ballet, Hebridean, Scottish country, Irish. Sarah Hendry school of Highland Dance.