Woking Dance Festival is a company limited by guarantee and with registered charitable status.  It has eight Trustees. All directors of the board are the members of the company and act as the trustees to the charity.  The board members provide leadership, strategy and direction to the festival and embrace its vision, values and culture.                                                                                                                                                                                 

• SARAH ASHER (WAS BAYES) (Chair) - Sarah is Public Sector Grants Manager at Tate with responsibility for managing a portfolio of statutory funders, including UK Government Departments and cross-departmental initiatives; non-departmental public bodies, including Arts Council England; Regional and local government; National Lottery; and the European Commission. She is also part of Tate’s diversity workforce group, Tate for All.  Sarah’s previous roles have included Development Manager for The Charleston Trust, East Sussex and Marketing and Events Manager at The Lightbox, where she was responsible for marketing, fundraising, PR and audience development.                
   
• JANE BELL - Jane attained her A Levels at Winston Churchill School and has gone full circle. She graduated from UCW Aberystwyth with a BSc (HONS) in History & International Politics followed by a PGCE History & PE. Since 1982 Jane has returned to Winston Church School to teach and is Subject Leader for Dance, Arts Faculty Coordinator, Teacher of PE, Dance & History. The skills Jane has gained from above responsibilities include leading and working with a team, communication, interpersonal, problem solving, working with a budget and organising events. Jane became a Staff Governor in 2002 and currently serves on the Personnel and Teaching & Learning Committees. Jane enjoys reading, dance, sport, music, quilting, walking, travelling – all of which have given her an appreciation of the richness and diversity of life.
                                                                               

• JUSTIN DIX - Justin has lived in Woking since 1987, having been born and brought up in South London. As well as a public sector career in the NHS and voluntary sector Justin has a strong interest in the arts and the environment, having started the first local Friends of the Earth group in Woking in the early 1990s. He is a regular theatregoer and visit galleries and museums in London and Surrey, although  a recent highlight was seeing the Montalvo-Hervieu Dance Company production of Good Morning Mr Gershwin at the Sydney Opera House. His particular interest is in the visual arts and as an amateur photographer (and a member of the Royal Photographic Society) he has undertaken a number of projects for local theatre groups, photographing their performances and rehearsals. Justin lives in Horsell with his wife, three children and three cats.
   

• EMMA HARRIS - Emma successfully set up her own dance company First Dance Ltd and First Dance studios in 2003 and provides classes for all ages from pre-school through to 81 years old, the majority of her classes are for adults as she is keen to promote for all ages and abilities. Emma is deeply involved in the Woking area growing up in Woking. Her grandmother, Jeanne Brewer had the Jeanne Brewer School of Dancing in Woking for 50 years until the 1980’s when she retired aged 75. Her dance school was in the old Christchurch (now Barclays!). Emma attended Winston Churchill School where she gained her GCSE’s before moving to Weybridge to undertake her ‘A’ levels at Brooklands Technical College. She then went onto The Jazz Dance School in Bath and Bodyworks Performing Arts to undertake her Professional Dance training before achieving a Diploma in International Sports Therapy and Management of Sports Injuries.
   

• BONNIE JERRARD - Bonnie graduated from University of Surrey in 2009 with a BA (HONS) in Dance & Culture with professional training. She joined the Royal Opera House (The Royal Ballet) Covent Garden in 2007 as an Education Projects Assistant progressing TO Dance Projects Coordinator in September this year. The Royal Opera House Education devises and delivers a nationwide programme of learning and participation activities that enables people to actively engage with ballet, opera, music and theatre crafts. Bonnie coordinate the key dance education projects (Chance to Dance, Monday Moves and the Course in Ballet Education Practice) as well as supporting the wider education programme.  Her roles and responsibilities include project planning, scheduling, evaluation, updating project budgets and preparing educational material. Preparing and delivering events and educational activities both at the Royal Opera House and nationally, liaising with external partners, venues, schools, families and community groups.
   

• MARC RIGGS - Marc is a Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Town Planner and has spent most of the last 25 years as an equity partner of regional property consultancies Robert Shaw and Partners and Vail Williams; providing professional advice to major corporations, public bodies and private individuals on a wide range of property matters. He has also spent 15 years on the committee of an industry networking group which has donated over 40 minibuses to handicapped and disadvantaged children.  More recently he left the consultancy world at its peak to start a fresh challenge as a property developer just in time to find the banking world in crisis but thinks he might be winning. Married to Trudy with two teenage children, Emma and Will, he has lived in and worked around Woking since 1986.
   
• SUBATHRA SUBRAMANIAM - Subathra is an independent choreographer, dancer and educator.  She was the co-founder and artistic director of the former Angika, one of the UK’s leading national touring dance companies in recent years. Their critically acclaimed works involved regularly collaborating with a wide range of artists and designers including commissioning some of the most exciting international composers and musicians to create original soundtracks specifically for the choreography. Subathra’s choreography aims to bring an innovative, contemporary approach to the rich vocabulary of Bharata Natyam, a South Indian classical dance form. Subathra is a trained science teacher and has a Masters Degree in Education. She taught Science in a large secondary school for 5 years. One of her passions is creating and choreographing exciting projects that bring together the arts and science.   
   

• JON JAGGER – Partner, Menzies Accountants