Emma Groves- Principle
Emma began dancing at the age of 3 where she started tap, ballet and jazz at a dance school in ware. from the age of 4 emma also started training in freestyle, ballroom, latin and line dancing at 'salliannes dance studio' in potters bar. she joined theatre school 'capital arts' where she was musical theatre trained from a young age. at 11, emma added street dance to her repertoire, training and competing with 'street dance productions' and 'alter ego'. at the age of 16, emma gained her associate teaching qualification with the idta and has been teaching ever since originally under salliannes dance studio until she launched rhythmix by starting a street dance class on fridays in a local gym back in June 2012.
in september 2012, emma launched rhythmix street dance classes in a local church hall on monday evenings and it is from here that her school has grown from strength to strength. in february 2012 she opened her first studio, followed by her second in march 2015. rhythmix now has over 50 weekly classes for children and adults!
outside of the studio, emma has taught and continues to teach in a number of local schools across hertfordshire and north london, teaching clubs and dance as part of the national curriculum. she has taught at hertfordshire university, hertford college and provided classes for the royal vet college. throughout lockdown emma taught internationally for flexibility company alixa flexibility, delivering teacher certifications globally via zoom. she is the uk course conductor for alixa flexibility.
emma holds the following qualifications: streetfit aerobics, piyo, boxercise instructor. she holds full memberships for the idta and istd and holds her associate freestyle teaching qualification with the idta and has her diploma in acrobatics. she is acrobatic arts module one & two certified and has completed the aerial backhandspring intensive. emma is qualified in alixa flexibility in all 5 modules. emma has also trained with rebecca davies learning the radar technique and she is a proud acropad center. emma holds her full qualification in first aid and holds safeguarding training. she is a hertfordshire county council coachmarked instructor and a fully licensed professional chaperone.
emma teaches street, freestyle, lyrical, flexibility and the acro programme at the studio.
alicia o'neill - head of musical theatre
Alicia is an experienced performing arts teacher and performer, currently working as Head of Musical Theatre and a Private Singing Tutor at Rhythmix Dance School. She is passionate about creating a positive and supportive environment where children can develop their confidence, creativity and performance skills.
Alongside her freelance work, Alicia also runs her own performing arts school, Dare to Dream Performing Arts, which she founded in late 2025.
Alicia previously spent three years as Vice Principal at Stage Academy, with responsibilities including leadership, staff and student development, and safeguarding. She has almost a decade of experience working within education and the performing arts.
Alicia trained in Musical Theatre at BOA and graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London, with a BA (Hons) in English and Drama. Alongside her teaching career, she has professional performance experience in the UK and overseas, including performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, Camden’s Etcetera Theatre and The Marriott Hotel in Cyprus.
As Head of Musical Theatre at Rhythmix, Alicia brings together her extensive teaching experience, professional training and passion for musical theatre. She loves helping students grow not only as performers, but also in confidence, self-belief and their ability to express themselves.
charlotte hathaway - company manager
charlotte has been a student at rhythmix for many years, taking weekly dance and fitness classes at the studios. for the past 7 years she has run reception for the studios and manages all the admin of our school. she is also responsibile for organising rhythmix music tuition at our studios.
charlotte assists with teaching acro, flexibilty classes, birthday parties and holiday camps. She has a background in childcare and works alongside emma to ensure the children are always having the best time possible. charlotte is alixa flexibility certified and holds her module 1 certification with acrobatic arts. she is a fully qualified first aider and has her safeguarding children qualification. she is also a licensed chaperone.
charlotte still takes classes and dances in our showcases and performances alongside the rest of the team. you can find charlotte in reception or sneaking into a class, she'll be more than happy to help out with any enquiries you have!
terri bodell - ballroom & latin teacher
Terri began dancing aged ten at North 20 ballroom and Latin dance studio, Barnet, where she took her IDTA ballroom and Latin medals.
She studied dance and drama at the Corona Theatre School & College, Hammersmith, where the likes of Patsy Kensit and Nicholas Lyndhurst attended.
After a break, Terri started teaching dancing in 2008 and helped to set up Nick’s Dance School in 2010 with her fiancée Nick Peacock.
Nick and Terri had lessons from numerous Strictly stars including: Anton Du Beke & Erin Boag; Aljaz Skorjanec and Janette Manrara; Natalie Lowe & Ian Waite; Kristina Rihanoff & Robin Windsor and Darren Bennett & Lilia Kopylova. They have also enjoyed lessons with IDU World Ballroom Dance Champions Warren & Kristi Boyce and regularly went on dance weekenders, learning from former undefeated World Latin American Champions Ian and Ruth Walker.
Sadly Nick passed away in 2015 however, Terri keeps the dance school going in his memory. In 2016, she began teaching Latin line dance classes at Rhythmix Dance Academy where she has become an instrumental part of the teaching staff and loves to choreograph Latin dances for the school’s shows and teach fitsteps as part of the timetable.
Terri is a member of One Dance UK, the national body for dance. You'll find terri with us most weeks and at all rhythmix showcases and performances.
gemma barlow - ballet teacher
Gemma has always had a passion for dance. She started dancing at the age of 7 and never looked back. She trained at various dance schools one of them being Elmhurst associated with Birmingham Royal Ballet. She danced professionally for over 16 years and got to travel the world doing what she loves “DANCE”. One of her favourite jobs was working on cruise ships where she became Dance Captain and Production Manager.
She now teaches dance to children and adults and loves to spread her love, passion and knowledge to them. She thinks as well as teaching good technique, it’s important to allow each dancer to feel they have space to be creative and allow them to bring their own personality into their dancing. She wants to help dancers to become the best version of themselves, so they shine bright and that dancing becomes part of them forever.
gemma is also a proud judge for stage dance competitions around the world.
Sully Maccormack - teacher
Sully started out his journey at the age of 9 with freestyle at rhythmix. after his first lesson he quickly became inspired from a young age to enter the performing arts industry. sully became a dedicated student training full time at rhythmix in all disciplines to open doors for him into the industry.
at the age of 16 sully furthered his training at Bird college on a 3 year diploma course where he trained full time with industry professionals and developed his skill set from dance to musical theatre, to open more doors for him within the industry. During his final year at bird, sully extended his training at Laine Theatre Arts where he attended the Degree Top up course, along side bird, gaining him a BA(Hons) in musical theatre at the age of 19.
Sully has recently graduated and is thrilled to enter the industry and see where the path takes him aswell as helping the studio grow and develop to bigger and better things xxx
ruby toye - teaching assistant
ruby started dancing at the age of 13 at rhythmix, she started with just street and progressed into every genre a the studio. she trained with us for 5 years, competed and was nominated for idta scholarships. she was a crucial part of the family and began assisting at competitions, shows and classes.
after rhythmix ruby completed a degree in performing arts at bedford university and obtained a first class honours. she was always back at the studio in every holiday and remained a huge part of our team.
since completing her degree ruby has returned home to assist in younger classes and help with keeping our studios running smoothly.