Dawn started dancing in 1975 at Karen Mitchel's Prestwick Dance School and moved to Dansarena Studios when it opened in 1984.With over thirty years of experience, Miss Dawn still loves everything dance. Miss Dawn trained with Karen Mitchell & Margot Rennie and then her teacher training at the College of the Royal Academy of Dance Headquarters in London. She has taught & mentored thousands of dancers & many of the RAD teachers and is now loving being a RAD Approved Tutor for the Assistant Teacher Award. Miss Dawn has also had the privilege to be chosen as the RAD Scottish Ambassador (2020-2023). She firmly believes that although we are training the next generation of dancers, more importantly, we are nurturing and helping to raise amazing humans. She feels so lucky to still love her job after three decades and is excited to see what the future holds.
Miss Ashton
Is our Is our Ballet & Jazz Teacher & Social media content creator.
About Miss Ashton
Miss Ashton Coles is from Irvine and started dancing at the age of 2 with Dansarena Studios in Ayr, under the owner and founder Karen Mitchell. Ashton was trained by two wonderful teachers, Miss Katie for Jazz and Miss Dawn for Ballet, during her time there as a student. Her love for teaching began when she assisted in Miss Katies Baby Ballet and Junior classes on Saturday mornings. Miss Ashton is trained in RAD Ballet and ISTD Modern & Tap - gaining distinctions in all levels from pre-primary through to Advance 2, in all three styles.As a RAD Ballet student, Miss Ashton took part in one of Scotlands RAD Dance Days, where she won the Class Award for Grade 4 Ballet. Miss Ashton also successfully auditioned for the Scottish Ballet Associates programe, as a junior associate and continued her training with them, until she was a Senior Associate at the age of 15. At 9, Miss Ashton successfully auditioned to take part in various pantomimes at the Gaiety Theatre (Ayr) and the Palace Theatre (Kilmarnock), both as a junior and senior dancer for 6 years. She returned to the Palace Theatre professionally in 2016, as Dance Captain and lead (Belle) understudy, for Beauty & the Beast. She returned in 2017 to perform in Dick Whittington. Miss Ashton also joined the ALLSTAR Cheer and Dance Academy in 2015, as part of the competitive Jazz team. Over the years, Miss Ashton has competed in various competitions, she won National Champion for the Duo & Trio section at the UK wide Festival4Stars competition under teacher Heather Rennie. She also won the Faces of the Future competition, performing at the Pavillion Theatre (Glasgow). She then performed as a retained dancer at the Pavillion for the next 2 years in many shows. Miss Ashton moved to London to attend the Millennium Performing Arts college, where she studied for three years, full time, graduating with a Diploma in professional Dance & Musical Theatre. After 7 years in London, performing with the Torgan Contemporary Company, (which included shows in Covent Garden, dancer with S-Club 7, teaching at Stagecoach Performing Arts Academy in Windsor), she returned home to Scotland during lockdown. At this time she started to teach again with DSoD. Miss Ashton is currently teaching Ballet, Tap, Jazz, MT and Modern at schools across Ayrshire, as well as various workshops. Miss Ashton is honoured to be joining the team at Balletbox! She cannot wait to see all of the amazing dancers and share her love and passion for dance with them all. Miss Katie holds a very special place in Ashtons heart and she will continue to make her proud.
