Head of Dance
LastAct Studios, Formby, Merseyside
Salary: £35,000 to £38,000 per annum, dependent on experience
Contract: Full time, permanent, 37.5 hours per week, annualised hours
Location: Formby, Merseyside
Start date: Late August / 1 September 2026
Responsible to: Greg Last and Catherine Last, Co-Directors
A bit about us
LastAct Studios is a performing arts academy for children and young people aged 3 to 18. We started in Formby in June 2018, running out of borrowed school halls, and in October 2022 we moved into our own purpose-built home: four fully equipped dance studios with mirrors, barres, tap flooring, air conditioning, two music practise rooms, and a custom Yamaha sound system. LastAct Ltd wholly owns the building.
We have over 425 students across our Main School and Mini School, and they span all ages from three-year-olds discovering what dance and music feels like to eighteen-year-olds preparing for conservatoire auditions. Our co-directors trained as Actor Musicians at Rose Bruford College and have careers between them spanning the West End, touring productions, TV, and radio; our company is run and steered by people who have spent their lives in the industry.
We are seven years in. We have students who joined us at the very start who are still here. We have graduates now studying at institutions like Italia Conti and Arts Ed. We survived COVID, went fully online, came back socially distanced, and came out the other side with our community intact, demonstrating the commitment of our students and our team.
We are not a school that just talks about inclusion and kindness. We are a school that lives it: in the way our staff speak to students, in the way we cast our shows, in the way we handle situations that other schools might find difficult. For us, it is simply how things are done. We mention this because this is who we are, and we want to ensure that everyone in our team feels the same way.
The role
This is a full-time role, part of the senior leadership team at LastAct Studios. The Head of Dance is responsible for the running and strategic development of the dance department: its quality, its growth, its staffing, and its culture. You will be responsible for a programme that currently consists of 41 weekly group classes plus one-to-one slots, covering ballet, tap, modern, commercial, lyrical, acro, jazz, stretch and conditioning, and pointe. That is a serious amount of teaching, across a wide age range, and we are looking for someone who finds that energising rather than daunting.
Alongside the teaching programme, you will lead the Competitive Squad across four age groups (Minis, Juniors, Inters, Seniors) with Saturday sessions running from 1:30pm to 7:00pm and a minimum of nine competition weekend days per year. The Comp Squad is in the middle of a significant rebuild. We will say more about this below, but we want to name it here: this is not a steady-state role in that area. It requires someone with the expertise and clarity of vision to redesign and operationalise things properly and the commitment to see it through.
The Head of Dance has a major role to play in the strategic development of the Dance Department; we are looking for someone who is excited by the prospect of being able to shape and develop the school in partnership with the Co-Directors.
The Head of Dance focuses on the dance department, with senior input where dance and our flagship academy intersect; the wider musical theatre and performing arts academy programme is led by Greg and Catherine.
LastAct Studios is a community, and this is a senior position within it. The Head of Dance will be expected to attend certain whole-school events, including The Big Show, our annual flagship production, and to chaperone where required. Being present at those moments is not an administrative duty; a senior figure showing up signals to students, families, and colleagues that the dance department is a full and invested part of the school.
This is not a freelance arrangement dressed up as a salaried role. We are offering a permanent, full-time position with a real salary and associated benefits, and we want someone who sees this as a career home.
What you will be doing
Teaching and class leadership
You will carry a full weekly teaching timetable. We expect the Head of Dance to take on approximately 18 to 22 contact hours per week within the 37.5-hour contract, with the remaining hours going to leadership, planning, and the Comp Squad. You will maintain and develop standards across all dance disciplines, deliver and develop the 1:1 programme, and bring expertise and genuine warmth to every class you lead.
Holiday workshops are part of the role. LastAct runs workshops across half-terms, Easter, and summer, and the Head of Dance is expected to be actively involved in their planning and delivery. The annualised hours contract is structured to account for this.
You will also oversee the quality of teaching across the department more broadly, supporting and developing the staff who teach alongside you.
Freelance staff oversight: Nearly all staff at LastAct Studios are freelancers. The Head of Dance is responsible for overseeing all the dance staff: their standards, the quality of their delivery, and their professional conduct. This includes observation, feedback, and, where necessary, direct and honest conversations.
On professional development: where the school chooses to invest in a freelance member of staff's training or continuing education, that investment comes with an expectation of corresponding loyalty and commitment. This is not a punitive position. It is simply an honest one. The school has limited resources, and when it puts them into someone, it is reasonable to expect something in return. The Head of Dance will be expected to communicate and uphold this with their team, clearly and without apology.
Comp Squad leadership
The Comp Squad is at a crucial point in development. As a recent creation, the Comp Squad evolving and still finding its feet. The new Head of Dance will guide and design the Comp Squad from the ground up: its structure, entry criteria, expectations, conduct standards, and culture.
A Development Squad is a new structured pathway into the full Comp Squad. The Head of Dance will help shape what that looks like, working alongside the Co-Directors and existing staff.
The Head of Dance also holds full budgeting responsibility for the Comp Squad, including costume sourcing, allocation, tracking, maintenance, and competition entry costs. Financial responsibility comes with the territory. We need our Head of Dance to be someone with the courage to hold a line, the clarity to communicate it, and the drive to build something excellent and exciting from a position that needs real leadership. If that sounds like your kind of challenge, this role will suit you.
In practice this means: Term time Saturday sessions run from 1:30pm to 8:30pm, and competition days are part of the role throughout the year. Choreography development, costume management, competition logistics, and direct communication with Comp Squad families are all part of what this involves.
Department development and strategy
You will take ownership of timetable development, exam entry coordination with RAD and ISTD, and grade progression oversight: deciding when students are ready to move up, when they need more time, and how the exam pathway connects to the broader teaching programme. There is a growing pipeline of younger students moving through the school, and the advanced end of the programme will develop significantly over the next few years. You will work with Greg and Catherine on the direction of the dance department, contributing to decisions about new class offerings, staffing, and the shape of the programme as the school continues to grow.
External opportunities
Building an ambitious, connected programme means looking beyond the studio walls. The Head of Dance is expected to actively seek and create opportunities for students outside LastAct: West End experiences, performing arts festivals, industry visits, and professionally connected activities that give students a genuine sense of what this industry looks and feels like is a key part of the role. We want our students to encounter the industry before they have to audition for it, and we want the dance department to be the part of the school that makes that happen. If you have existing connections and a track record of creating those opportunities, tell us about it.
People and culture
Every interaction with students, parents, and colleagues should reflect what this school stands for: high standards, genuine kindness, and the kind of consistency that makes students feel safe. We have worked hard to build a culture that is professional and warm in equal measure, and we want a Head of Dance who understands that those two things are not in tension.
What we are looking for
The most important things are not the ones at the top of most person specifications. We are looking for someone who is genuinely kind. Not kind as a management style or a performance, but kind as a default way of being with people. Someone who takes their responsibilities seriously and shows up fully, week after week, year after year. Someone who understands that working with children and young people is a privilege and treats it as one.
Training without trauma
This is a foundational principle at this school, and we want to name it clearly. We believe excellence and kindness are not opposites. We believe the best outcomes for students come from positive, specific, driven guidance delivered with genuine care. High standards are non-negotiable here. We expect precision, effort, and progress from students and staff alike. What we do not accept, under any circumstances, is the use of fear, pressure, humiliation, or belittling as teaching tools. Those approaches cause harm. They also produce worse results. The evidence is clear on this, and so are we.
The Head of Dance will be working with children and young people every single day. The way they teach, the way they give feedback, and the way they speak to students will set the tone for the entire dance department. We need someone who understands that the most effective teaching is also the most humane teaching: not as a nice sentiment, but as a professional conviction they act on consistently.
If you have relied on fear or pressure as motivational tools in the past, or if you believe that severity and excellence are somehow linked, this is not the right environment for you. If you believe, as we do, that you can demand the highest standards while remaining a kind, respectful, and encouraging presence, you will feel at home here. Candidates should expect questions about this at interview.
Skills and qualifications
You will be a skilled, experienced dance educator with real breadth across multiple disciplines. Teaching one discipline well is not enough for this role. The timetable demands genuine knowledge and confidence across ballet, modern, tap, commercial, and ideally more besides. You will have experience working with children across a wide age range, including young children from age 3 upward.
You will hold a dance teaching qualification. A ballet teaching qualification is preferred: nine of our 41 group classes require a teacher with RAD or ISTD ballet qualifications, and this will shape how we structure the timetable. However, if you hold qualifications in other disciplines but not ballet, please do not let that put you off applying. We would want to discuss it with you at interview and work through the timetable implications together.
You will be available full time, and this will be your primary professional commitment. The role requires Saturdays for Comp Squad, and competition days at weekends and unsocial hours throughout the year. If that sits alongside a busy performing career or several other teaching commitments, this probably is not the right time for this role.
You will hold an Enhanced DBS check or be willing to obtain one. We will support the process. Safeguarding Level 2 is the minimum.
You will have a genuine commitment to inclusion. This school supports students of all backgrounds, abilities, and identities, and we do it as a matter of course, not as a policy exercise. The Head of Dance will be working with those students every week. We need someone who approaches that consistently and without fanfare.
Desirable (good to have, not a barrier):
Experience managing or coordinating a competitive dance team would be valuable, though we recognise not everyone has had this opportunity. Given the current state of the squad, a candidate with the appetite to build a culture from scratch and the organisational capacity to manage it with rigour may be better placed than someone who has only ever maintained a well-functioning one. Courage and clarity matter more than a CV line here.
Experience with RAD and/or ISTD exam entry and grade progression is helpful but not required if you hold appropriate teaching qualifications and are willing to learn our current processes.
Experience working with students with additional needs or SEN is a strength we would value.
Breadth across commercial, lyrical, or acro disciplines, in addition to classical training, strengthens the match with our timetable.
What we offer
£35,000 to £38,000 per annum, dependent on experience. We are stating the range clearly and openly because we think that is respectful, and because we believe it reflects the seriousness and scope of the role.
Room to build something. The dance programme is well established but with enormous potential for further growth and development. The Comp Squad is a genuine rebuild opportunity with real potential. The advanced pipeline is developing as younger students mature through the school. The person who takes this role has real scope and freedom to shape what the dance department becomes over the next five years.
50% off classes for immediate family members allows those with dependants to bring them along.
A permanent full-time contract with annualised hours. This means your total working hours are agreed across the year as a whole, distributed across term time and non-term time in a way that reflects the natural rhythms of a performing arts school. It is standard in this sector and, we think, a benefit rather than a complication.
A facility you will be proud to teach in. Four studios, purpose-built and properly equipped. You will not be dragging equipment across a school corridor or teaching on a wooden floor that belongs to someone else.
A leadership team that means what it says. Greg and Catherine are hands-on directors who are invested in the people who work here. We are not a franchise, we are not a chain, and we are not run by people who have stopped caring about the quality of what happens in the studio.
A community of students and families who are in it for the long term. We have students who have grown up with us. Their loyalty and engagement is real. Working here means being part of something that has roots.
How to apply
If this job feels like the right move for you, we would love you to apply.
Please send us a CV and a covering letter. The covering letter matters more than the CV. We want to hear in your own words why this role interests you, why LastAct specifically, and what you would bring to the school. Generic covering letters generated using AI tools, that could have been sent to any dance school will not make the shortlist. We will notice if you have done your research, and we will notice if you have not.
Closing date: Friday 7th August 2026
Applications should be sent to: [email protected]
For any questions about the role before applying, please get in touch directly: [email protected]
Interview process: First-stage interviews will be held during the week of 10th August 2026 (30 minutes, structured, video or in-person). Second-stage candidates will be invited for a half-day visit to the studio during the week of 17th August 2026, which will include an observed teaching session.
We will be in touch within five working days of the closing date to let everyone know whether they have been invited to first-stage interview. We do not leave people waiting without a response.
LastAct Studios is committed to equal opportunities in employment. All applications are considered regardless of background, and we actively welcome applications from people with a diverse range of experiences and perspectives. All successful candidates are subject to an Enhanced DBS check.
lastactstudios.com | Formby, Merseyside
Pay: £35,000.00-£38,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
