Staff & trustees
Linda Yates – Executive Director
Linda is the Executive Director of Dancers` Career Development in London/Great Britain. She graduated from the Sorbonne in Paris and is a consultant and therapist. She is also a director of the Committee of the Council for Dance Education and Training (CDET) and deputy head of the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOTPD). Linda has many years arts management experience and holds degrees in French language and counselling. Furthermore she worked many years as a volunteer therapist for "Relate", one of the largest organisations for relationship counselling in the UK.
Jessica Carter – Grants Administrator
Jessica is a graduate of Sheffield University, where she studied English Literature. She has worked as a volunteer for various arts events, including a stint at the Regents Park Theatre and most recently the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Jennifer Curry - Administrator
Jennifer graduated from the University of Surrey with a BA in Dance and Culture with Professional Training. She then obtained an MA in Cultural Policy and Management from City University, London. Jennifer has experience working and volunteering within the arts and cultural sector, at organisations such as The Place, The Fleming Collection, the Royal Society of Literature and most recently at the New York City Center in New York.
Philip Philipose - Book-keeper
Philip joined the charity in 1996 and comes with extensive experience in retail, hotels, construction, transport, marketing and especially in the charities accounting fields.
Anja Dobler – Projects & Development - Freelance
Anja studied at the Freie Universität Berlin whilst working freelance at the Staatsoper Berlin and later the Royal Opera House London. She then completed her MA in Dance Studies at the University of Surrey and gained a Diploma in Arts Management. Following that she took up a full-time position as Communications Officer at Central School of Ballet. She worked full-time for DCD from 2003 until 2009 and is continuing her work for the organisation on a freelance basis. Anja is also a qualified Pilates and Gyrotonic Instructor.
Trustees
Tony Dyson Dipl Arch, RIBA
Dancers' Career
Development Chairman
Arts Council England Representative
Chairman of Dancers’ Career Development, Tony Dyson also chairs the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, having been a board member of both Rambert Dance Company and the Michael Clark Foundation. He is responsible for appointing others to maintain artistic control of Frederick Ashton’s ballets ‘Enigma Variations’ and ‘Monotones’, the copyrights of which he owns. Interests include contemporary and classical choreographic development, sculpture, music and historic Muslim architecture. In his professional life as an architect Tony is a Senior Associate at Donald Insall Associates, with particular experience in the repair of historic building fabric and the design of hard landscape and eleven settings for memorial sculptures in conservation areas in London, including the Memorial to King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth, The Mall, SW1; Wallenberg, Great Cumberland Place, W1; the Battle of Britain Monument, Victoria Embankment, SW1; the Young Mozart, Orange Square, SW1 and the In-Pensioner, Royal Hospital Chelsea, SW3. Responsible for major repair and conservation projects at Trafalgar Square, SW1; the Courtyard at Somerset House, WC2; Petworth House, West Sussex and Kew Palace, Richmond, Surrey, he is Historic Architectural and Conservation Advisor to the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.
Colin Nears CBE, MA Cantab, FRSA
Board Member since 1990, and Vice-Chairman of DCD.
Independent Trustee
Educated at Ipswich School and King’s College, Cambridge. On staff at the BBC 1958-87, as Producer and Director of Television Arts, Music and Dance programmes; and a member of the Arts Council and Chairman of their dance panel, 1982-90. Previously a member of the Board of the Royal Opera House, Chairman of Birmingham Royal Ballet, a governor of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School, and a member of the board for Rambert Dance Company. Currently Vice-Chairman of the Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund. Won a BAFTA award and the Prix Italia music prize. Was made a CBE in 1998.
Russell Milton Brown, FCA, FRGS, Hon. Fellow R.C.A, Chevalier de L’Ordre Nationale de Merite
Chairman of the DCD Finance Committee.
Independent Trustee
Educated at Stowe School. Finance Officer for Sadler’s Wells Opera and Theatre Ballet, and Clerk to the Governors, 1956-63; Chief Accountant and Production Controller for the Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford and London), 1963-66 and Royal College of Art Bursar, 1966-86. He is also a Trustee of the Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund.
Felicity Clark
Board Member since 2000.
Represented the Rambert Dance Company, 2000-2003.
Currently an Independent Trustee.
Director of Royal Opera House Trust, 1989-1995; and Acting Director of the Appeal to rebuild the new theatre, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, 1995-6. Governor, Royal Ballet School, 1998 - 2008, currently member of Advisory Council. Board member, Mariinsky Trust; Trustee, Dancers’ Career Development; Board member, Rambert Dance Company, 1997-2003; Management Development Committee, Royal College of Music and Trustee of Royal Opera House Benevolent Fund 2009.
Richard Panton Corbett, F.R.A.D.
Board Member since 2002
Independent Trustee.
Attended Eton 1950-55, then a 2nd Lieutenant in the Welsh Guard from 1956-58. Worked for Singer & Friedlander, 1961-1998, becoming Managing Director, 1974-1993.
Chairman, Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange from its inception until 1998; Trustee of the Royal Opera House Trust, 1988-1994; Chairman of the Finance Committee, Royal Academy of Dancing, 1989-2005; Trustee, Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund, 1985-2001; Director of South Staffordshire Water, 1998-Present and of other public companies.
Janet (Mop) Eager, MBE
Board Member since 1997
Company Representative for the Richard Alston Dance Company.
Administrator, Contemporary Ballet Trust (Dance Studio| Group), 1966-68; A Founder of The Place in 1969. Executive Director, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, 1969-1994, and Richard Alston Dance Company 1994-1997. Currently a Trustee of the Robin Howard Foundation; a Governor of The Contemporary Dance Trust, The Place (London Contemporary Dance School, Robin Howard Dance Theatre & Richard Alston Dance Company). A practicing complementary health practitioner.
Paul Mead
Board Member since October 2010
Equity Representative
Paul trained at Rambert and RADA. Paul has worked in musicals, plays and pantomimes as an actor, director and choreographer, and has choreographed over 80 productions. Paul has also taught at many leading musical theatre schools including Birmingham School of Speech and Drama, Arts Educational, and M.A.D.D, as Head of Musical Theatre and Movement and Dance and Head of Acting. Paul is an active member of Equity as the chair of the Choreographers Committee and also on the Council. He is also a member of the Shakespeare 2012 steering committee.
Hilary Hadley
Board Member since 2001
Equity Representative
Currently Head of Equity’s Live Performance Department, a Department responsible for safeguarding the interests of dancers employed in all areas of live performance in the commercial and subsidised sectors of the industry, both in the workplace and with external agencies.
Maxine Room M.Ed. B.Ed.(Hons) Cert
Board member since December 2010
Company Representative for Northern Ballet.
Maxine Room is the Principal at Lewisham College, a large urban college based in South East London. With over 14,000 students, Beacon Status and a grade of Ofsted Outstanding; the college is committed to achieving its mission of “Creating Successful Futures”.
Prior to joining Lewisham College Maxine Room was Principal and Chief Executive of Park Lane College Leeds, the largest further education college in Leeds. Before joining Park Lane College, Maxine was Principal and Chief Executive of Swansea College, a post she held for four and half years moving the college from good to great, improving both its quality profile and its financial one.
Maxine is a member of the 157 Group, Chair of the London Capital Colleges’ Group, the AoC Skills Strategy Group, the Network for Black Professionals and is a mentor for the Black Leaders’ initiative. She is also a member of a range of boards and committees linked to education, skills and training in London, Leeds and in other parts of the UK including the Northern Ballet Board, Helena Kennedy Foundation, Women’s Leadership Network, a governor of the Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance and has just recently been appointed as a governor of London Southbank University.
Ken Marchant
Board Member since 2005
Currently an Independent Trustee.
Currently Group Programme Director for Maxima and having enjoyed a lifelong career within the IT business, Ken Marchant has been a passionate follower of Ballet since his first experience of it in Covent Garden at the age of fifteen. Ken joined the Trustees of DCD during his 8+ year period of service on the Board of Scottish Ballet and, after stepping down from that position was pleased to accept DCD’s invitation to join the Trustees as an Independent. Active on DCD’s Board, Finance and Development committees; Ken is always willing to help applicants with their business submissions; an opportunity to pay something back to an art form that has given him so much pleasure.
Marguerite Porter
Board Member since 2007
Company Representative for The Royal Ballet
Full biography to appear shortly
Gillian Raine
Equity Representative
Independent Trustee.
Trained at RADA, working both in theatre and television. Her most recent theatre appearances were in ‘Hedda Gabler’ at The Almeida and Duke of York Theatres and ‘The Reporter’ at the National Theatre. Gillian is also a trustee for the Equity Trust Fund.
Gerry Weiss, B Com, FCA, FIPA
DCD Founder Member.
Independent Trustee.
Qualified as a chartered accountant, specialising in dealing with businesses etc, in financial trouble. This led to the rescue of a major Ballet Company, and an involvement in Ballet ever since.
Founder member and past president of the British and the European insolvency practitioner organisations; founder trustee of the Dancers Pension Scheme; Trustee of Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund 1982 - 2007; Chairman London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet) 1974-1983; founder board member of Northern Ballet Theatre; Trustee of Pension Scheme for Technical and Administrative Staff in the Arts.
Paul Hackett
Company Representative for Scottish Ballet
Full biography to appear shortly.
Robert Robson
Board member since 2010
Company Representative for Phoenix Dance Theatre
Robert comes from Scotland and studied at Glasgow University and University College, Cardiff. He worked extensively in community theatre and in 1983 became Artistic Director of Cumbernauld Theatre, a multi-purpose theatre presenting a wide variety of work and promoting community involvement. In 1990 he became Festival Director of Mayfest, Britain’s second biggest arts festival. In 1994, he became first the Theatre Director of His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen and then General Manager of Performing Arts Venues for Aberdeen City Council.
Robert Robson joined The Lowry in 1998 as Theatres Director, responsible for programming the Lowry auditoria plus additional public spaces including the foyers and open-air plaza. In early 2003, Robert was appointed Artistic Director of the award-winning arts complex for visual and performing arts.
Alison Beckett
Board member since 2010
Company Representative for Phoenix Dance Theatre.
Full biography to appear shortly.
Paul Mitchell
Company Representative for Rambert
Board Member since 2008. Company representative for the Rambert Dance Company. Partner in Taylor Wessing LLP, Solicitors. Director of Ballet Rambert Limited and Rambert Trust Limited. Chairman of the British Copyright Council. Director of The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. A practising solicitor.
Charles Glanville
Company Representative for Birmingham Royal Ballet
Full biography to appear shortly
Development Committee
- Victoria Mather - Chairman Development Committee
- Colin Nears CBE Deputy Chairman Development Committee
- Russell Brown
- Tony Dyson
- Aletta Collins
- Angela Rippon OBE
- Anthony van Laast MBE
- Cherry Gillespie
- Gillian Raine
- Hilary Hadley
- Jan Francis
- Kathryn Wade
- Ken Marchant
- Dr Scilla Dyke MBE
- Dr Susan Jones
- Toby Norman-Wright
- Wayne Sleep
- Paul Mead
Finance & General Purposes Committee
- Panton CorbettChairman Finance
- Tony Dyson
- Russell Brown
- Colin Nears CBE
- Gerry Weiss
- Ken Marchant
- Paul Mitchell
Patrons
- Dame Ninette de Valois OM, CH, DBE – Founder Patron
- Dame Beryl Grey
- Leslie Caron
- Gillian Lynne CBE
- Sir Peter Wright CBE
Founder
- Peter Williams OBE