About

Helen has loved performing since she was a very young child, she was lucky enough to attend wonderful local dance schools and the prestigious Italia Conti in London.

After living her childhood dream and having one of the best times of her life, singing and dancing at potters, she gained a place at the Millennium Musical Theatre College graduating with Honours.

Helen unexpectedly was given the opportunity to teach A level dance and drama at a large comprehensive school. It is from this experience Helen realised her love for teaching and writing school productions. Alongside full-time teaching, Urban Street was born which gradually evolved into what is now known as HAPA.

For many years HAPA was run over 4 locations involving several teachers and hundreds of children and young adults with Helen at the heart of it.

A surprise chance find came in 2018 when Helen found premises that had huge potential and changed the shape of HAPA completely.

Helen now runs The Billericay Theatre, alongside HAPA and The Billericay Theatre company. She continues to teach classes and writes the school productions and pantos and is the creative director for all her new shows as well as the occasional waitress!

Rachael graduated from university in 2009 and went straight into teaching primary children. Her passion has always been in Music and Performance and throughout her teaching career she has always been responsible for a number of productions. This has included writing an original production of Wind in the Willows which included 7 original musical numbers, Rachael also spends a lot of her time arranging and composing music for the HAPA theatre companies and loves being creative with harmonies.

Rachael has been teaching Music and Performance across Essex and also has a number of private singing, instrumental and drama pupils – all with 100% exam pass rate. She has a bubbly teaching style, and it has been remarked that she can make even the shyest of children come out of their shell. Rachael is one of our music teachers that can often be found teaching an inventive warm up or improving pupils’ techniques in fun and accessible ways. Whether it is rehearsing for a full-blown show, or a termly showcase, Rachael strives to get the best out of very child all while ensuring that they have fun performing. Rachael has a firm belief that every child is musical – they just need to be taught how to harness it.

Amelia trained at Central School of Dance and Drama for 15 years in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Modern Theatre. Alongside this she also trained at Danceworx Academy in Ballroom, Latin and Disco Freestyle. 

She then went on to the University of Surrey and graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) degree in Dance. Alongside completing a placement year with East London Dance. 

Since completing her degree Amelia now teaches Dance and Drama across numerous schools and companies across Essex and East London. Offering syllabus classes, after school clubs, technique classes and performance opportunities. 

Amelia has completed training in Inclusive Practice, Dance in Cancer Care and is a Mental Health First Aider. Amelia also enjoys working with older adults and has worked across programmes in Dance for Parkinson’s and Dance for Dementia. 

With eight years teaching experience Amelia is passionate about enabling all children to shine in dance. Providing equal opportunities, encouraging creativity and fostering a lifelong love of dance.

Mia started dancing at the age of 4, she is now beginning her Degree in Musical Theatre and Dance at Performers College for 3 years.

She has been very lucky to have had multiple opportunities before starting her degree, from  dancing in DisneyLand Paris, dancing in music videos to playing Rapunzel in Billericay Theatre’s 2024 Christmas Pantomime. 

Mia has been teaching for three years in multiple different styles and age groups, she loves to see the children progress in their acrobatic skills every week. Mia believes Acro is so important for all dancers, not only for flexibility and strength, but also for perseverance and team work! 

She adores working with the children, helping them achieve their goals, but most importantly having fun and being confident upside down!