The Hammond School

Irene Hammond founded the Hammond School of Dancing in 1917, when she took over an established dance school in Chester. She expanded the school to include a full programme of performing arts studies. Betty Hassall became the principal of the school in 1946 and was responsible for much of the school's development, most notably the introduction of academic studies in 1965. This enabled the school to become a boarding school offering a full academic curriculum alongside vocational studies, with pupils attending from across the United Kingdom.

Today, The Hammond comprises a Prep school, secondary school and sixth form for pupils aged 11–18 years, which offers specialist vocational training in Dance, Drama and Music. It also has a three-year professional course leading to the National Diploma in Professional Dance or the National Diploma in Musical Theatre, validated by Trinity College, London. Sixth form also offers a BTEC in Performing Arts (acting) combined with 2 A levels. The school is accredited to the Council for Dance Education and Training and is a member of the Independent Schools Association. The Hammond is a MADE (Music and Dance Excellence) School, one of 8 schools in England funded by the Music and Dance Scheme, offering full bursaries to talented young people.

The school's patron is Irek Mukhamedov – famed ballet dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet and Royal Ballet – who teaches students with a dancing Master Class at The Hammond every two years.[1][2][3][4]

In 2018 The Hammond was listed by The Stage as one of 'Seven drama schools where academic achievement is also top class'.[5]

The Hammond is known for training students who have been successful in going on to gain professional work in theatre, dance, musicals, and television; regionally, on the West End, and worldwide.[6]

Notable alumni have included:

Chris Barton

Actor and singer, best known for being one of the finalists of BBC One's Any Dream Will Do.[7]

Tobias Batley

Dancer, choreographer, and director, Tobias graduated from The Hammond to The Royal Ballet School.[8] After training at The Royal Ballet Tobias joined the Jeune Ballet de Cannes, in France, under the direction of Paris Opera Etoile, Monique Loudières.[9] In 2004 he joined the renowned Northern Ballet, in England, becoming one of the company’s Premier Dancers in 2012,[10] and danced as every leading role in the repertoire.[6] In 2017 he was appointed co-artistic director of the Southern California Ballet.[11] Batley has been nominated numerous times for the National Dance Awards: in 2009, 2011, and 2016 for Outstanding Male Performance (Classical),[12][13][14] and in 2015, and 2016 for Best Male Dancer.[14][15] He has been included in Dance Europe magazine’s list of top dancers in the world every year from 2010 to 2016.[9]

Jonny Clarke

Actor, best known for playing Bart McQueen on the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks.[6]

Nicole Deon

Actress, dancer and singer, credits include the 2015 tour of Mack and Mabel featuring Michael Ball, the original cast of The Wind in the Willows (2016 musical), and The West End production of Dream Girls.[16][17]

Amy Diamond

Actress, singer, glamour model, and one of the finalists of BBC One's Over the Rainbow.[18]

Charlie Dixon

Dancer who earned a scholarship to The Hammond after achieving fame on ITV One's Britain's Got Talent. Whilst on the show he competed as part of the dance duo Cheeky Monkeys and made it through to the series 2 final.[19]

Daniel Dolan

Classical dancer, Daniel went on to be the third British male dancer ever to be accepted by the prestigious Russian Bolshoi Ballet Academy.[20] After graduating from The Bolshoi Academy, with a diploma and special honours, he joined the prestigious Corps of The Lithuanian National Ballet, achieving a promotion to coryphée in his second season.[6]

Kade Ferraiolo

Actor, singer and dancer, Kade’s West End credits include Aladdin and We Will Rock You. He has performed in UK tours of significant musicals such as Oliver!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Mack and Mable, and the international tour of Mamma Mia!. Kade also has appeared in a number of operas, performing at The Royal Opera House in Carmen and La Traviata, and at The English National Opera in Jonathan Miller’s production of The Mikado. Kade has also danced for The English National Ballet in their 2008 production of Swan Lake. Kade was a contestant on the second series of Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life where he lasted in the competition for seven consecutive weeks.[6][21]

James Hobley

Dancer who achieved fame as a contestant on ITV One's Britain's Got Talent where he got through to the series final. Before the final he had auditioned for The Hammond and was offered a scholarship.[22] Aged 16 James was awarded a place at the English National Ballet School where he graduated in 2018. In August 2018 James joined Scottish Ballet as an Artist.[23]

Lemuel Knights

Actor and singer, best known for competing on BBC One's The Voice where he was coached by both Jessie J and Will.i.am. He appeared on the programme whilst still studying for his A-levels at The Hammond.[24] Lemuel has performed in Ragtime at the Charing Cross Theatre, One Love: The Bob Marley Musical and The Hundred and One Dalmatians at The Birmingham Rep, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert at The Queen's Theatre.[25]

Joel Harper-Jackson

Actor, credits have included Beautiful: The Carole King Musical in the West End, Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, UK Tour of the National Theatre's production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the lead role of Charlie in the UK tour of Kinky Boots.[26][27]

Jordan Li-Smith

Musical director, arranger, composer, conductor, lyricist, pianist and singer. When he was 13 years old Jordan was one of the finalists of the BBC One's I'd Do Anything, from which later he appeared as part of Fagin's gang in the 2009 London revival of Oliver!. He graduated from The Hammond and, aged 19, was offered one of only two places to study Musical Direction and Coaching at the Royal Academy of Music.[28] Since then he has been the musical director to a number of London musicals and was awarded the 2017 Off West End Award for Best Musical Director for Ragtime at the Charing Cross Theatre[29] and in 2018 he received the BroadwayWorld UK Award for 'Best Musical Direction of a New Production of a Play or Musical' for The Assassination of Katie Hopkins at Theatr Clwyd.[30] He also has his own production company Jord&Co. Productions.

Alex Pinder

Actor, dancer and singer, Alex graduated from The Hammond and went on to study at the Urdang Academy. West End Credits include as Alonzo/Swing in the 2014 - 2015 production of Cats, ensemble/acrobat in the 2016 run of Aladdin, and ensemble member of the 2017 run of Wicked.[6][31]

Fenella Masse Mathews

Singer, model and famous Franco-British dancer of the Parisian cabarets Moulin Rouge and Crazy Horse (where she performed under the name of Fifi Standby). She is particularly known as a member of the Coco-girls dance troupe, where she performed on French television on a variety of comedy programmes during the mid-1980s until the early 1990s.

George-Murray Nightingale

Classical Ballet Dancer, George attended the lower school before continuing his training at the English National Ballet School, London. Since graduating in 2015 George has been a member of leading ballet companies around the world such as English National Ballet, The National Ballet of Romania and The Royal Ballet of Flanders. Currently a dancer with The Australian Ballet, Melbourne.[32]

Jorgie Porter

Actress and model, known best for portraying Theresa McQueen on the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks and for being a contestant on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Dancing on Ice.[6][33][34]