Principal
Whitney Featherstone
Whitney Featherstone established Shore Dance in 2008. She grew up in Palmerston North, training at the Maureen Ax School of Dance in ballet and jazz since the age of 3. In 2006, she moved to Auckland to complete a Bachelor of Dance at AUT University, for which she received the Top Academic Scholar award in 2009. During this time, she also completed her RAD Advanced 2 examination and became a Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teacher. Whitney has achieved her NZAMD Solo Diploma in both jazz and ballet, and is now a registered NZAMD and AJDA teacher, living with her husband and three children on the North Shore.
Ballet Teacher
Stephanie Southan
Stephanie was born and raised in Auckland learning to dance at various local dance schools. She first trained at a young age in tap dancing before also studying ballet, jazz and contemporary dance styles. She graduated with a Bachelor of Dance from AUT University in 2009, where she also became a Royal Academy of Dance Registered Teacher. During this time she completed her RAD Advanced 2 Ballet and NZAMD Advanced Jazz exams. She currently lives in West Auckland with her husband and daughter and is looking forward to sharing her passion of dance with her students.
Ballet Teacher
Kezia Crawford
Kezia Crawford was born and raised in Zimbabwe, and it was here, at the age of 3, that her dance journey began. She studied classical ballet, working through the RAD levels and eventually joining the National Ballet of Zimbabwe in their junior programme at the age of 13. She danced with the National Ballet of Zimbabwe for 5 years, in that time making her way up to the senior company, before leaving Zimbabwe in 2005 to move to New Zealand. Here, she completed her RAD Teaching Certificate and Bachelor of Dance at AUT University, graduating as Top scholar in 2007. After completing a one year internship with DANZ, she continued to focus on teaching at Devonport School of Dance, where she had completed her Advanced 2 and teacher training. She has been teaching for Christine Snowball at Devonport School of Dance for the past 10 years, offering classes in both RAD ballet and NZAMD Contemporary. She is really looking forward to joining the Shore Dance family and meeting all the wonderful students she has heard so much about!
Ballet Teacher
Hannah Tang
Hannah is a certified Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) ballet teacher and a current undergraduate of University of Auckland, Dance Studies. Hannah started learning ballet at the age of 4 and has completed her RAD examinations till Advanced 1. Aside from ballet, she is also trained in contemporary dance. Hannah has danced in many works with Republic Polytechnic Modern Dance and National University of Singapore Dance Ensemble. She has also competed in various dance competitions such as the Asian Grand Prix Hong Kong and Get the Beat Singapore.
Hannah has taught syllabus and non-syllabus ballet at The Ballet Academy Singapore and has choreographed for recitals, competitions, and workshops. She has worked with dancers of all age groups and is passionate about teaching and helping her students achieve their full potential. She always strives to create a learning environment where students are comfortable and confident.
Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Musical Theatre Teacher
Stephanie Axtens
Stephanie fell in love with dance at 3 years old. Born and raised in Taupo, Steph’s dance journey started at Allegro School of Dance and shifted to Dale Boddy’s Academy of Dance where she studied RAD ballet, NZAMD contemporary, and AJDA jazz. As she passed examinations up into the advanced levels, Steph competed in regional and national dance competitions such as Tempo Festival and PACANZ, and attended ballet camps in Wellington and Auckland.
At 18, she moved to New York City to study commercial dance which led her to a dance contract in Bollywood, India. Upon returning to NZ to study English at Massey University, Steph returned to her love for teaching dance — gaining experience in teaching a variety of dance syllabi including APDA, RAD, NZAMD, and AJDA. Steph’s biggest passion is choreography, and she has choreographed for various musicals with the Rotorua Musical Theatre and North Shore Musical Theatre. In school holidays, she loves working for the KidsUpFront dance programme.
As a qualified junior AJDA teacher, Steph aims to gain more dance qualifications as she continues to coach dancers towards expressing their joy, strength, and confidence in dance. When she’s not at the studio, she is writing away, still dreaming about publishing her first novel!
Tap Teacher
Lucy Thorne
Lucy has spent most of her 19 years in a dance studio or on the stage! Starting when she was just 3 years old, Lucy trained in all different styles and began dance competitions until the age of 15. Nowadays she spends most of her time rehearsing for theatrical productions with Encore Theatre Collective or studying at AUT for her nursing degree. She is very excited to teach tap to everyone at Shore Dance and looks forward to meeting everyone!
Tap Teacher
Emma Neill
Hi I’m Emma! I’m so happy to join the Shore Dance family this year teaching tap!! I started dance at the age of 4 and have done it ever since, doing ballet, jazz, tap and contemporary as well as a range of dance comps. I love teaching dance and am now currently studying a Bachelor of Dance Studies to be a better dance teacher!
Looking forward to what the year brings
Lots of love xxx
Ballet, Jazz & Contemporary Teacher
Chloe Ogilvie
Chloe Ogilvie has been dancing for more than 25 years and brings a wealth of teaching experience to the team at Shore Dance. Her teaching experience spans ballet, jazz, contemporary and preschool dance across
schools in Auckland - including Shore Dance just last year. Chloe is highly qualified - graduating with a Bachelor of Dance in 2012, expertly trained in ballet, jazz, and contemporary to a senior advanced level and is qualified RAD ballet teacher. Chloe ran and taught within her own dance school for a number of years before taking a break. Now, Chloe is looking forward to meeting all her students in 2024 and helping them to foster a love of dance to last a lifetime.
Stretch/ConditioningTeacher
Bronwyn Murray-Yates
Coming Soon
Tap Teacher
Jo Smith
Jo started ballet at 4 and tap at age 5. She received Honours in all her examinations. (BBO ballet through to Grade 5 and BBO Tap in all levels including the coveted Solo Seal. Jo competed from the age of 6 in NZ Tap Competitions (for around 10 years) mostly in the lower half of the North Island, She also danced in the Lotto Ads, and performed in 42nd Street whilst living in Wellington. She has worked as a tour leader throughout many countries around the world, and as a Police Officer, however after having her own wee girl, has decided she rejoin the dance scene. She has spent the last few months training and brushing up on the NZAMD American Tap Syllabus, as well as taking relief tap classes at friend’s dance schools. She has a huge passion for tap dancing, especially being able to make so much noise with her feet!! A skill she feels everyone will love!! Dancing is a passion she looks forward to sharing with her own little girl, as well as the students at Shore Dance.
Tap Teacher
Agnes Stephens
Agnes Stephens has been dancing at Shore Dance since she was only 4 years old. She began her dance journey with ballet before moving into tap, jazz, and contemporary. In 2023, she completed her Level 9 NZAMD tap exam and received a high distinction (95-100%) and a nomination to attend the national NZAMD scholarship competition in Wellington. Agnes has been assistant and relief teaching for the past few years, and is very excited to be teaching the pre-grade tap class in 2024.