Meet our Teachers and Chaperones
Denise O'Rourke
Teacher
Denise is a highly experienced, professional singer with over 20 years’ experience in the Industry. She has performed countless times, to venues of all sizes, both in Ireland and abroad.
Denise fronted her own Wedding and Corporate Band, The Illusion Band for fourteen years. She has appeared many times on Irish TV and has sang backing vocals for some of Irelands well known entertainers.
In 2010, Denise decided to put her passion into the children of Ratoath. She retrained in Drama at the Abbey School of Acting. Today she uses her many years of stage experience, helping children develop as individuals and mature in confidence. She very much enjoys seeing them reach their full potential in a FUN and SAFE environment, while gaining valuable life skills and stage experience.
Steph Dalton
Dance & Drama Teacher
Steph holds a BA honours degree in Drama, Film & Literature. As an actress and performer, Steph has performed in many theatres over the years including The Olympia, Helix, Draiocht & Venue.
Steph has taught Drama and Dance at a summer camp in Upstate New York for six summers. She has also choreographed two recent Panto's, ‘Cinderella’ (2017) & ‘Beauty & The Beast’ (2018) with Ratoath Musical Society.
Steph's Musical Theatre roles to date include:
- - Broadway Revisited (RMS - 2017)
- - Pilar in 'Legally Blonde' (RMS - 2016) AIMS 2016 Best Overall Show Nominee
- - the Genie in 'Aladdin' (RMS - 2016)
- - Fiddler On The Roof Ensemble (RMS - 2015)
- - Buffy Karkrashian in 'The Wizard Of Oz' (RMS - 2015)
- - Oklahoma Ensemble (RMS - 2014)
- - Anto in 'Robin Hood' (RMS - 2014)
- - Hanky Panky in ‘Aladdin’ (DMS - 2014)
- - Anto in 'The Adventures Of Anto & Deco' (Addicted To Dance - 2013)
- - Anto in 'Little Red Riding Hood' (RMS - 2013)
- - Kylie Karkrashian in 'The Wizard Of Oz'(DMS - 2013)
- - Felicieh in 'Snow White' (RMS - 2012)
- - Rizzo in 'Grease' (Castleknock - 2010)
Steph is looking forward to another exciting year with Stage Performers.
Aisling Breen
Drama & Tap Teacher
Aisling is an established Performer and Teacher who has been fortunate enough to work in Theatres all across Ireland, the U.K., The Netherlands and the U.S.A. Having worked professionally as a dancer for many years, Aisling began to focus on acting too and is delighted to be able to pass on her vast knowledge of performance when teaching.
Aisling focuses on confidence building in class and loves making performance fun and accessible to every age.
Lauren Mooney
Dance Teacher
Lauren started dancing at the age of 7 and was one of Stage Performers original students. Lauren trained full time for 3 years at Phoenix Performing Arts College where they focus on multiple styles of Dance as well as Singing and Acting .
Lauren is passionate about teaching dance to her students and regularly travels to London to take classes and workshops with Industry Professionals to expand her training and knowledge.
She loves to perform herself, one of her favourite and most memorable times was dancing alongside Jack Whitehall in the 3Arena.
Leah Barniville
Singing & Drama Teacher
Leah Barniville is 22 years old and a Ratoath native. She is trained in both Classical and Musical Theatre Singing, where she spent over a year training and grading under the direction of Rob Johnston (UK) and before that, under, Helen McHugh (Ireland). Her love of singing, dancing & performing began at a very young age right here in Stage Performers. At 14 years old she found herself on one of the UK’s biggest talent shows, Britain’s Got Talent, where she made it through to the LIVE Semi-Finals receiving a standing ovation from all 4 judges, including Simon Cowell. Since her appearance on the show, Leah has received over 60 million views on YouTube and has sold out multiple solo concerts.
Since then, Leah has performed as a solo artist in many prestigious venues both at home, in Ireland, and abroad. Most notably, the Royal Albert Hall in London, the National Opera House (Wexford), The Convention Centre, Dublin and in Áras an Uachtaráin for Ireland’s President, Michael D. Higgins. Recently, Leah was also very privileged to perform alongside Chris de Burgh, where they sang his iconic song “A Spaceman Came Travelling”.
In addition to her performing career, Leah has been developing her career as a recording artist and has been releasing music across all digital platforms since 2019, her most recent single being a cover of Lara Fabian’s ‘Adagio’ in June this year. Other releases include, her interpretation of Britney Spears’, ‘Everytime’ and Coldplay’s, ‘Fix You’, to name a few.