Lincolnshire Youth Ballet

Maggie is a former pupil of Welland School of Dancing. Under the tutelage of Miss Desbruslais, Maggie gained a place at the Royal Ballet School as a junior associate, and then at Central School of Ballet in 1996. In her final year, Maggie toured the UK with Ballet Central, selected as soloist for the reworking of Christopher Gable’s beloved ballet “Celebration”. Maggie’s first professional contract was with Vienna Festival Ballet touring the UK, Austria and Germany with Swan Lake, Coppelia, and The Nutcracker. Maggie’s Musical Theatre debut came in 2000, when she joined the UK tour of Phantom of the Opera as one of the Corps de Ballet. Her other performance credits include the 2001 World Tour of Rhythm of the Dance, with the National Dance Co. of Ireland, and the World Tour of Phantom of the Opera from 2005-07, touring Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore, where she met Mr Skinner.

In 2004 Maggie graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance, Teaching Certificate Programme, with Distinction. Since then she has taught extensively throughout the UK and Australia, as a guest teacher for New York State University, Head of Dance at St. Georges School Windsor Castle, and Ballet teacher for Bodyworks, Cambridge.

In 2006 Maggie started up her own children’s dance company in Windsor called Twinkle Tots Dance, specializing in Under 5 movement, dance and creativity. In 2010, Maggie took over the running of Welland school of Dancing from Miss Desbruslais. Since then, she has overseen the successful move to new larger premises on Broad Street in Stamford. The school has successfully performed 8 original dance productions at the Stamford Corn Exchange theatre under her guidance. 

Maggie is looking forward to being able to bring the local ballet talent in our region together in Lincolnshire Youth Ballet's next production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in August 2023.

Henri started dancing at the age of 3 and has gained her RAD Advanced Ballet, ISTD Tap and Modern exams. At age 16 she went on to study her performance training at The Theatre School, Edinburgh for a year before finally attending the prestigious West Street School of Dance in Covent Garden, London under the direction of Natasha Lisakova. After 3 years training she gained a first class Diploma in Dance. On leaving college, Henri enjoyed a career as a professional dancer for over 14 years.

Her dancing career took her all over the world. While Henri was studying in Edinburgh she performed with The Scottish Ballet in Romeo and Juliet. Her first professional contract was with DisneyLand Paris where she performed at The Lucky Nugget Saloon for three years. She spent two years with The Lido de Paris on their World Tour where she performed in Texas, Florida, Naples in the US, Moscow, Milan, Paris, Vienna, Taipei, Belgium, Munich Germany and Beirut. She joined The Broadway Musical Company as a dancer/singer which toured all over Japan and where she performing extracts from A Chorus Line, Les Miserables, My Fair Lady, Gypsy, Cabaret, A Fiddler on The Roof, 42nd Street and The Sound of Music. Henri enjoyed many wonderful years dancing on board cruise liners with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, where she was the adage couple with her husband; and Jean Ann Ryan Production Cruises where she played the part of Jan in Grease.

Early on in her career she danced at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness on their Christmas productions of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella. Other productions include The Gaiety Gala where she was a Tiller Girl at the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr and The New Tonnochy Show in Hong Kong.

After leaving the world of performing to start a family she then joined the Welland School of Dancing teaching staff in 2011. Henri formalized her teacher training at the Royal Academy of Dance in London studying the BA (Hons) Dance Education programme, she graduated in July 2013 with a Certificate of Higher Education: Dance Education.

Alongside teaching ballet Henri teaches a busy Barre fitness class at the Welland School of Dancing which she set up in 2012. Henri is also co-founder of Lincolnshire Youth Ballet (LYB) A youth ballet company created by Maggie Skinner in 2021 and which is going from strength to strength. LYB has so far successfully produced productions of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Jorja is a former pupil of Welland School of Dancing where she started dancing at the age of 3. Under the training of Miss Purr, Jorja completed her RAD Grades through to Advanced 1. At 16, Jorja left Welland School of Dancing to continue into full-time vocational training at The School of Ballet Theatre UK, where she is currently in her graduating year on the BA (Hons) Ballet Performance course in partnership with The University of West London.

During her younger years, Jorja took part in many youth ballet companies around the country, including English Youth Ballet and Cambridgeshire Youth Ballet, performing in Swan Lake, Giselle, Alice in Wonderland and Coppelia. Some of her most recent performances with Ballet Theatre UK Company and School include Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia as Corps de Ballet and George Balanchine’s Who Cares? as a soloist.

Jorja began teaching Ballet to all ages in 2021 around the East Midlands sharing her own experiences and knowledge she has gained so far. Jorja also uses her fitness and anatomy training to teach a range of fitness classes such as Pilates, HITT, Barbell and Yoga. Jorja has been part of LYB since it’s first inception, as a rehearsal assistant, guest artist and latterly as an assistant choreographer. 

Lucy is a professional ballet dancer. Lucy trained at the School of BTUK, graduating in 2022 with a BA Hons in Ballet Performance. She went on to perform with the company in productions of Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, Beauty and the Beast, The Snow Queen and Swan Lake. Lucy made her debut with LYB in 2023 dancing the lead role of Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream. Of herself Lucy says “I am a highly motivated and ambitious individual who has developed a mature and responsible approach to tasks or situations that are introduced to me. As a graduate with 3 years of full-time training experience, I am familiarized with long schedules and hard-working hours while still maintaining a healthy personal life… An interest of mine is Formula One, it’s something I got really into from a young age due to my brother’s past experiences with Go-Karting. I especially like the McLaren driver Lando Norris. I really admire how the young 22 year-old driver manages to compete with the highly experienced drivers such as Lewis Hamilton by taking risks whilst also learning to enjoy the experiences and opportunities. These are qualities I can see within myself as a dancer in the studio. Lucy is returning in 2024 to play the lead role of Alice in LYB’s production of Alice in Wonderland. The students love Lucy’s approachable nature, her generosity of time when giving advice and tips to students about the life of a professional ballerina.

Marco is a professional ballet dancer with Ballet Theatre UK. Originally from Sicily, Marco moved to the UK to study at the School of BTUK, graduating in 2023 with a BA Hons in Ballet Performance. Marco made his debut with LYB in 2023, taking on the lead role of Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Of himself Marco says “I am a guy with a very high determination and with the idea that if I want something that is impossible to achieve, I will be able to get it by working harder and harder. I love to travel to meet new people and have new experiences. I love to fish with any type of fishing rod, from boat or land and above all with the speargun.” Marco is a firm favourite of the boys and girls with his kind manner and cheekiness. We are thrilled to announce that Marco is joining us again in 2024 for Alice in Wonderland.

Parent Review – Sleeping Beauty 2022

"LYB is the highlight of my daughter's summer!  We are so grateful she had something productive to do in the holidays - great exercise and a fantastic opportunity to rehearse, train and perform with professional dancers. Plus all the excitement of performing on stage in beautiful costumes.  She's made lots of new friends and can't wait till next year!"

Parent Review – A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2023

Wow, wow wow!!!What can I say, what a show in fact we felt it was the best one yet!

It was so polished, professional and the choreography was just outstanding. I simply don’t know how you and miss Henri do it in such a short space of time. The principals were magnificent this year and so super kind. Marco and Lucy were just so lovely to them, and that was just so appreciated.

I feel very privileged to have watched the very talented dancers and it really is the highlight of my year, it is a huge commitment each year and I wouldn’t change it for the world. To see my daughter on the stage radiating her ‘ show face’ is a dream come true. I was waiting for the Miss Purr difficult pointe dance and she was bursting with pride as was I!

To watch my daughter on pointe was breathtaking, the control and poise and confidence she has developed at 12 years old I can’t thank you and Miss Henri enough for!

I hope you all have a super rest of the summer holidays.

Please pass on our thanks to your tremendous team.