Kate Stober trained at the prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School before moving to London to train with both English National Ballet School and the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburgh. She went on to dance professionally with the English National Ballet Company for 6 years, performing in the UK and internationally under the directorship of Ivan Nagy and Derek Deane. Kate danced soloist and corps de ballet roles in many of the classical ballets and worked with choreographers in the original cast of Derek Deane’s Alice in Wonderland, and Maoro Bigonzetti’s X-Ntricities.

Kate has also appeared in acting roles in a number of television series including Fanny Price in Mansfield Park, The Treasure Seekers, Nanny, Constance Kent, Harry’s Game, Five Days One Summer, and Roger Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Upon hanging up her pointe shoes, Kate travelled in Africa for 6 months and then returned to the UK and obtained a Business Degree at King Alfred’s College, Winchester.

Kate is a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance, having completed her Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma in 2002. She proceeded to teach at various dance schools in the London area before establishing her own dance school in 2005. Kate has over 20 years of ballet teaching experience which she now brings to Firebird Academy of Ballet while maintaining her own dance school classes on a more limited basis.

For Kate, the most important thing about teaching ballet is to nurture a love for dance, to teach through encouragement and positivity so that each and every child can reach their full potential.