Our team
Our team is made up of a unique combination of dancers, social workers, personal advisors and other trauma-informed specialists. This means we not only hold a wealth of dance knowledge and expertise, from hip hop and contemporary dance to ballet and barre, with which we teach our young people, we also always take a trauma-informed approach rooted in our social work expertise and evidence-based techniques.
Beth Vecchione
Founder and CEO Beth qualified as a Social Worker in 2017 and since then has worked as a social worker in a range of teams, including Locality Protection and Assessment. Most recently she worked as a Senior Practitioner within a Children in Care Team. In 2025 Beth will be starting a PhD with Newcastle University researching the impact of dance on care experienced young people, and will draw on her findings to improve and better support young people who come to Care to Dance. Beth is passionate about improving the wellbeing and lives of children and families and strongly believes in the therapeutic benefits that dance can bring to a young person. Beth has danced since she was a child and aspires to ensure every young person has a platform to creatively express themselves whilst building meaningful relationships. Beth also supports young people as a voluntary Independent Visitor.
Amelia Channon
Artistic Director Amelia has worked with children and families as a qualified social worker for the last five years. Having danced from a young age, Amelia trained in ballet, and continued to learn a range of other dance styles beyond this. Care to Dance combines her love for dance with her drive for promoting children’s wellbeing; she is a true believer that dance is a powerful means of allowing children to express their inner feelings, thoughts and experiences.
Gabrielle Higgins
North East Director Gabrielle has been a social worker for 3 years after qualifying from Sunderland University. She is passionate about finding ways to create more opportunities for care-experienced young people, and finding ways they can be open, express themselves and communicate their needs and feelings. She's seen how much dance can enable this, and how much Care to Dance provides a safe and empowering space for young people to be with others who are in similar situations.
Safeguarding & Support Leads
Our Support and Safeguarding Leads are either qualified through Social Work England or have extensive experience as a personal advisor within statutory settings. They demonstrate a high level of commitment to young people and a motivation to support young people in a highly creative and tailored way. They are highly knowledgeable in trauma-informed practice and apply this to their role.
Jemma Wade
Leicestershire Jemma is a personal advisor for Leicestershire County Council social services where she supports young people to be self-sufficient in their community and helps them to build on their independent skills. Jemma is passionate about communicating with young people of all ages and looks to encourage their voice in all aspects of their lives - especially throughout their care journey. Jemma joined involved in Care to Dance to empower young people to share their individuality, build on self-esteem and gain a sense of belonging within the dance setting.
Amanda Fetcher
Oxfordshire Amanda is a qualified social worker currently practicing supporting children and families in the long term safeguarding team. Amanda also has a background in art and languages and has worked with children and young people in different countries such as Brazil, Germany and Spain. Amanda is passionate about social justice and equality and truly believes that all children should have spaces to creatively express their emotions, identity and experiences.
Rose Trustman
London Rose's background is mainly in theatre and she trained as an actor at drama school, having performed on stage across the UK and London. Whilst Rose mostly acted, she has also always danced since a young age and passionately believes that creative arts is the best way to express ourselves whilst also having a break from life. Rose later trained as a children and families social worker through the Frontline programme as she wanted to do more to help families in need. Rose's goal is to combine her performing arts background with her experience as a social worker to bring out the best in our young performers.
Elly Burrows
Brighton and Hove Elly started dancing aged two and trained in various forms of dance throughout her childhood and adolescence. Elly believes in the power of dance as expression as well as enhancing confidence and self esteem, something that is so important to all children. Elly is passionate about working with looked after young people and supporting them to get involved in creative programmes.
Emma Hodgson
Nottinghamshire Emma qualified as a Social Worker in 2021 and has been working with children and families since. Emma is currently working in a fieldwork team and is passionate about supporting children to provide them a safe space to express themselves.
Alexa Robinson
Stockton Alexa has worked with children and families for the last 8 years. She spent 4 years supporting care experienced young people who live in residential childcare and then went on to become a Family Group Conference Facilitator. Alexa is passionate about supporting care experienced young people to achieve positive outcomes. To continue this work Alexa joined the Frontline social work program and will complete the professional qualification at the end of summer 2024.
Creative Leads
Our creative leads are professional dance artists with experience in creating productions. They have developed their knowledge of trauma-informed practice and are highly motivated to apply their extensive knowledge and experience in the dance industry within a safe space, supporting an inclusive environment so all young people can participate.
Jayna Patel
Leicester Jayna is a freelance dancer and choreographer based in the Midlands. Her dance journey started over 15 years ago and within that time, she has performed at various events across the world including: performing for Her Majesty The Queen at her Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012, performing at Wembley Stadium when India’s Prime Minister came to visit the UK in 2015, visiting Paris to perform at a royal corporate event in 2017 and even travelling to Madrid to perform at the IIFA film awards with various Bollywood actors and actresses on stage in 2016. Jayna has choreographed dances to a range of styles including Hiphop, Contemporary, Afro, Bollywood, Bellydance, Dancehall and many more. Jayna has experience in both an educational and community setting as she loves the idea of being able to help people learn more about dance. As well as working at a University to teach hiphop to aspiring professionals, she also visits primary schools twice a week to engage with and teach children from different year groups.
Elise Booker
Oxfordshire Elise has been teaching dance for over 8 years and opened her own dance school for children in Oxfordshire which she shares "has been a dream come true". In addition to teaching dance, Elise also works as a Social Value Advisor which allows her to act on her passions for people & communities, making a difference. Elise wanted to get involved with Care to Dance as she believes that dance should be accessible for everyone. Elise felt inspired by our mission and vision of creating a world where all care experienced young people have the chance to enjoy the benefits of dance and feel a sense of belonging in a safe and supportive community. "I want all the young people in our Care to Dance programme to leave the studio feeling accomplished, special, and happy. Dance allows us to feel all of these."
Bella Blythe
Oxfordshire Bella is a dance teacher that specialises in contemporary and improvisational styles of dance. After training in Dance and Choreography at Falmouth University Bella went on to work as a dance teacher, yoga teacher, choreographer and stage manager for companies such as Lavrak Circus, Wildworks, Mandala Theatre Company, Body Politic and T(art) Productions. They have worked in community practices for many years teaching for organisations like Mind and Crisis and continue to develop their community dance and yoga practice. Bella is also the co-founder of Pro Dance Oxford, a professional network offering training and support to professional and emerging dance artists in Oxford.
Ella Turner
Brighton and Hove Ella is a professional dancer who loves to teach. Her training for the arts started at a young age and she has completed all of her major exams in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Singing and Acting. Her credits include 'Made in Chelsea' as a classical dancer, 'ARTE' Sisco Entertainment. She also movement directed an advert for BMW Lifestyle. Ella and her cocreator founded Company Skubbe in 2023 - a narrative dance company that explores female stories and their sell out show: 'Figures' was a huge success at Brighton Fringe last year. Supporting students through dance classes and providing a fun, safe studio space is essential for their dance progression.
Matilda Rowland
Nottinghamshire Matilda started dancing at the age of three, and after learning many dance styles, she found her passion for contemporary dance at university. Matilda graduated with a first-class BA honours degree in dance in 2021 and a MA in dance and choreography, in 2022, from the University of Derby, based at professional dance house, Déda. Since graduating, Matilda has set up 'East Lab Dance Company' in which Matilda choreographs, produces, and performs children's dance theatre productions for library and community spaces. Matilda also has a passion for leading dance to a variety of age groups and abilities, teaching for companies such as Erewash School Sport Partnership, Dancing Digits, Kerry Ledger School of Dance, SHEWILLFYE and more. Matilda also works part time at Déda as Dance Participation Coordinator/ Practitioner, bringing dance to the local communities in Derby City.
Malcolm Korma
London Malcolm has been with Care to Dance for 2 years now. Hip hop and contemporary dance is what he specialises in, and loves to explore how these can help young people engage and express themselves differently. He has a lot of experience working with young people - outside of Care to Dance he has volunteered at a youth group for 17 years.
Anias Houillet
London Anaïs and is a professional dancer / teacher from London. She trained and graduated from Addict Dance Academy in 2017. Since then, she has been following her passion as a performer working professionally in the industry doing music videos , performing as a back up dancer for artists, such as: Stormzy, Enny, Big Narstie, Shakka and many more. As well as this, she choreographs for artists from time to time and likes to work on her own creative projects with other dancers. She also loves to teach, and specialises in commercial, jazz funk, Hiphop and heels. She is passionate about allowing young people to express themselves through dance with complete freedom.
Dee Gyasi-Sonukan
National Dee Is a professional dancer living in London. She graduated university with two science degrees but quickly changed career paths to pursue her love for dance. Dee’s credits include Stormzy, The Brits and Pepsi and, by working at Care to Dance, she hopes that she can inspire young people to pursue what they love despite the hurdles and challenges they might face.
Amanda Pefkou
National Amanda Pefkou is a movement artist and practices embodied storytelling. Her work questions, deconstructs and reimagines social perceptions and creative forms. Her movement is informed by the language and essence of KRUMP, street dance styles, contemporary and dances of her heritage, through the mediums of body awareness, visualisation and sound translation. It has manifested in realms of multi-disciplinary collaboration with live sound and visual arts, KRUMP and Hip Hop dance theatre, battles and movement direction. Pillars in her performance journey include working with Far From The Norm, Rachel Kay, Boy Blue and Becky Namgauds with highlights such as Edinburgh Fringe, Breakin Convention, Shubbak Festival and V&A Museum Lates. Her most recent work 'RE;MEMBER' has been presented at Lilian Baylis Theatre, The Place and Northern School of Contemporary Dance. When teaching, she encourages authentic self-expression through creative movement.
Trustees
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Jesus Arenas Valencia
Trustee Jesus has worked as Social Pedagogue lead for Hackney Virtual School for 6 years. He believes that dance can enable our children in care to experience a safe space to express themselves and build confidence.
Nafisah Baba
Trustee Nafisah is a professional contemporary dancer and is currently freelancing with Trinity Laban Youth Company. Nafisah has extensive experience in the dance industry, including having danced for Zoonation! In 2017, Nafisah won BBC Young Dancer, and since then has gone on to work with various dance companies and choreographers around the world. She has featured in many music videos such as with Moss Kena, La Roux and more recently Ellie Golding. Nafisah also appears in Beyonce's movie 'Black is King' alongside Netflix series 'Queen Charlotte; A Bridgerton Story'. Having taught on our Stratford programme, Nafisah has a deep understanding of Care to Dance and how to have the biggest impact for young people through the use of movement and expression.