About Us

The dance school was started in 1987 by Jackie Cox, Louise Ringshaw took over the dance school in December 2004 and in December 2005 decided to rename the school to Chameleon Theatre Arts. The name was chosen by Louise to represent the performer, as she felt is described appropriately how performers must adapt to new environments, dance and performance styles. At Chameleon, we aim to train students to become good all-around performers, adaptable to space, social situations, teaching them life skills as well as strong technique, fun show work and graded qualifications. We are well known for our confidence-building skills also! Many of the students have gone on to Perform or to teach with the encouragement received from teachers at the school.

Louise danced professionally across the globe for some years before taking over the school and renaming it Chameleon Theatre Arts in January 2006, a name she felt summed up the need for performers to be versatile and ever-changing to their environment. Louise has taught at the school alongside her 2 now-adult daughters Elicia-Rose and Madison and with her youngest daughter Amber (3) in the primary classes. Louise Steers is a qualified teacher and member of the Association and also coaches for the South East of England. Louise also regularly trains in upcoming styles and completed her teacher training in Street with Urban Strides. The next step for the school will be introducing the education around healthy living and Louise has taken a course with the CHEK institute.

The school offers classes for all ages and abilities in Ballet, Tap, Modern/Jazz, Drama, Singing, Street, Acting and many more new classes opening all the time. Teacher training and qualifications can also be achieved in Ballet, Tap and Modern under the AAD syllabus within the school.

As of January 2022, Miss Louise's first daughter Elicia (21) has taken over the dance school and has been appointed the title of Principal, so that Miss Louise can focus on her Wellbeing Centre. Elicia has danced at Chameleon since the age of 2 and has gone on to gain qualifications in ballet, tap and modern as well as earning a distinction in her street dance teacher training qualification with Urban Strides. Elicia also performed on the Young Voices Arena tour for 3 years in a row at as young as 16. The show is a 4-5 week annual tour of the biggest arenas in the country, of school choirs and an audience, raising money for charity. Elicia was a part of Urban Strides Senior Crew and performed street dance with them for 3 tours!

Chameleon now has 7 main teachers; Miss Elicia, Miss Louise, Miss Jayne, Miss Helen, Miss Bella, Miss Hannah and Miss Caitlin. Alongside their student teachers and junior helpers!