23 October 2026
Miley Bell joined our after-school dance club at Carol Gale School of Dance at the age of six and instantly showed a natural flair for dance. We invited her to join our competition team and core classes, and she soon began her ISTD Dance Freestyle and Rock ’n’ Roll exam journey. Starting with the Under 8 Dance Test, Miley completed every grade through to Student Teacher over the next ten years.
Throughout that time, she achieved honours in all her examinations and enjoyed a successful competitive journey. Miley qualified for the ISTD Grand Finals numerous times, won first place in Set Dance in 2019 and reached many other finals. She completed her ISTD competitive journey in 2025 with a podium place before taking her Student Teacher examination the following month.
Her development has been about much more than results. Miley has overcome setbacks, worked hard to recover from injuries and shown real resilience and commitment. She has also become a wonderful role model within our school, demonstrating good sportsmanship and always supporting her teammates.
One Grand Finals memory stands out above all others. When Miley won her Set Dance, the suspense as the results were read, the astonishment on her face, and the cheering and the happiness that followed will stay with us forever.
Miley was later granted permission to take her Associate examination. She was determined to become a teacher.
Watching Miley grow and mature as both a dancer and a young woman has been an absolute honour. Seeing how much she has taken from my teaching and how she now applies it to her own studies and teaching techniques is incredibly rewarding. She shares her years of dance knowledge with our pupils while showing kindness and compassion to every child she teaches.
Miley is now teaching after-school clubs and classes that I have passed on to her, as well as training a competition squad while attending dance college full time. This year she returned to the Grand Finals as an ISTD member and teacher, having helped ten of our dancers qualify. She experienced the event from the other side for the first time.
For teachers supporting pupils who may one day want to teach, my advice is simple: keep supporting them and keep encouraging them!
I hope Miley continues to develop her own dance career and pursues further dance education. For now, she is enjoying teaching at the school where it all began and she is doing an amazing job. I am so excited to see what happens next.
