Jo started at the Finch Stage School at the age of 4 and has never left! She has been in the 50th, 60th, 70th, 75th and now 80th shows! Even at the age of 4, dancing was very important to her, she would dance at any and every opportunity, this lead to her helping at classes and eventually into teaching. Teaching was something Joanna always enjoyed and loved helping children achieve their potential and seeing them do well in exams and on the stage.

She now teaches the Dagenham babies and assists at other classes throughout the school. Over the years she taught at all levels and disciplines. She gained her teaching qualifications with the BATD and iscurrently working upon fellowship exam to enable her to examine the future stars. Joanna has an interest in injury prevention within dance training and this led to her completing a degree in Physiotherapy. She also has completed BTEC level 5 in sports and remedial massage and is a member of the Institute of Sports and Remedial Massage, the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science and Australian Physio- therapy and Pilates Institute. She was lucky enough to work at the London Olympics 2012 and London Pre- pares as a Physiotherapist and was the physiotherapist for the American National Canoeing team when training in England prior to London 2012. She is currently working on her research proposal for a Master degree focussing on knee injury prevention within dance training. Joanna has enjoyed her time at the Finch Stage School and is very grateful for all the encouragement that Linda and Betty gave her over the years. She is especially grateful to her parents who enabled her to attend so many lessons and encouraged her throughout her dancing career. Congratulations on becoming a Mummy Jo!