Two studios on Commercial Street since 2009: RAD ballet with a pianist, street and commercial from five, ISTD tap and modern, four adult classes a week, exams with their dates published and a show at the Riverfront every July. Twenty-four weekly classes with their spaces on this website. The first one is free.
The classes
01
Royal Academy of Dance classical ballet from the Pre-Primary class for two-and-a-half-year-olds to Grade 8 and the vocational Intermediate Foundation for the teenagers who want it, taught by RAD-registered teachers with Rhodri at the piano for every graded class. Exams are optional and most dancers take them.
Pre-Primary £6 for thirty minutes; Primary to Grade 3 £7 for forty-five minutes; Grade 4 and above £8.
02
Street dance from five and commercial from eight in Studio 2, the black box with the mirrors and the sound system, taught by Marcus and Jade, who have both danced professionally and still do. Foundations, choreography, freestyle and a crew for the ones who want to compete. No exams; the show and the competitions are the test.
Minis (five to seven) £7 for forty-five minutes; Juniors and Seniors £8.
03
ISTD tap and modern theatre dance from five, in graded classes from Primary to Grade 6 with Lisa Parry, who trained at Laine and taught in the West End before coming home. Tap is rhythm and sound; modern is strength, contraction and the musical-theatre style. Most dancers do both, back to back on the same evening.
Primary to Grade 3 £7 for forty-five minutes; Grade 4 to 6 £8.
04
Four adult classes a week in the evenings: beginners' ballet on Tuesdays, improvers' ballet on Thursdays, adult tap on Mondays and adult street on Wednesdays, for everyone from the complete beginner to the dancer who stopped at sixteen. Pay on the night, buy ten, or add it to a child's unlimited pass. The oldest dancer in the building is seventy-one.
£9 a class on the night, ten classes for £75 valid six months, or included in a family's £95 unlimited pass.
05
Royal Academy of Dance ballet examinations in March and November and ISTD tap and modern examinations in June and November, held in Studio 1 with a visiting examiner, with the entry deadlines, mock dates and exam days on the website a term ahead. Entry is by the teacher's recommendation, exams are optional, and the pass rate over the last two sessions is 98%.
RAD entry £48 for Pre-Primary to Grade 3 and £72 for Grades 4 to 8; ISTD £42 for Primary to Grade 3 and £64 for Grades 4 to 6.
06
Two things that are not classes: the summer school, five days from 9:30 to 3:30 in the last week of July for eight to sixteen-year-olds with guest teachers in styles we do not teach in term, £165; and the show, a full evening at the Riverfront Theatre on the Saturday before, with every class on stage, tickets £14 and £10, and a costume hire of £35 a routine.
The summer school £165 for five days; the show tickets £14 adults and £10 children, costume hire £35 a routine, no participation fee.
The timetable
Monday to Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings in two studios, every class listed with its age band, style, teacher, studio, length and the places left, updated by Bethan every Friday. Filter by age and style, find the one that fits, and book the free taster into it. The term dates and every price sit underneath.
How we teach
Every teacher holds the Royal Academy of Dance or ISTD teaching qualification for what they teach, or a dance degree for the street and commercial work, and an enhanced DBS check. Assistants are named, trained and never left alone with a class.
A clean plié at six is worth more than a split at six. We teach the syllabus properly, with a pianist for the ballet grades, and the showy things arrive when the body is ready for them. The exam results say it works.
Your child has the same teacher in the same slot all year, and moves up a grade when the teacher says they are ready, not on a birthday. A cover teacher has the register and the notes.
Fees are per class, paid by the half term, with the term dates and the exam and show costs on the website before you commit. Uniform is one leotard and one pair of shoes per style, and we sell second-hand on the rail by the door.
Exams and the show
RAD ballet exams in March and November, ISTD tap and modern in June and November, examined here in Studio 1 with Rhodri at the piano, entered on the teacher\'s say-so and never as a condition of moving up. The show is at the Riverfront Theatre every July with every class on stage and no participation fee. Next up: RAD November session: mocks, Saturday 7 November 2026, in 18 days.
Parents and dancers
Seren started in Pre-Primary at three and is now in Grade 3 with a distinction in every exam, and I give the credit to the piano. There is a man playing in the corner for every ballet class, and she dances to music rather than counting under her breath. Nerys sent her back a grade at six when she was wobbly, which I resented for a month and have been grateful for since.
Started street at twelve because my mate did. Marcus taught us the names of the moves and where they came from before any routine, which seemed slow and then was not. Got into the crew at fourteen and we placed second at the regionals. The free taster was the first time I had danced in front of anyone; I stood at the back for a half term and then I did not.
Fifty-two, never danced, sat on the bench for six years while my daughter did Grade 1 to Grade 6, and finally did the free taster. Nerys explains every position as if it is obvious and corrects you quietly. I am two years in, I have done Grade 2 for the certificate, and I was in the show last July in the adults' number, which my daughter says was the best thing she has ever seen me do.
The studios
The old draper\'s with the arched windows: Studio 1 with the barre and the piano downstairs, Studio 2, the black box, upstairs, reception and the second-hand rail at the front. Three minutes from Kingsway bus station, six from the railway station, a ten-minute loading bay outside the door for drop-off.
A forty-five-minute class is £7, an hour £8.50, Pre-Primary £6 and an adult class £9 on the night, paid by the half term in advance; or £95 a month for every class in your age group. Registration is £20 once. Exams, the show and the summer school are optional extras with their prices on the website.
Book a free taster in any class with a space, by the day before, and come in anything you can move in. The office rings back the same day with the slot. If it goes well you register (£20, with the uniform fitting) and join from the next class.
By age for the Pre-Primary, Primary and Minis classes; by grade after that, which the teacher sets at the taster. The timetable page filters by age and style. If you are not sure, say so on the form and Bethan will suggest two to try.
Yes: RAD ballet in March and November and ISTD tap and modern in June and November, examined here, with the dates a term ahead. They are optional and entered on the teacher's recommendation only. The last two sessions passed at 98%.
Every July at the Riverfront Theatre, every class has a number, and there is no participation fee: two tickets at £14 and £10 and a £35 costume hire per routine. Dancers who do not want to be on stage do not have to be.
Four adult classes a week: beginners' and improvers' ballet, tap and street, in the evenings. £9 on the night, ten for £75, or free with a child's unlimited pass. A third of the adults had never danced before the free taster.
Tell us the dancer's age and the style you are curious about, and the office rings back the same day with a class that has a space. Come in anything you can move in, stand at the back if you like, and decide afterwards. Or ring Bethan in the office.
