Ballet Nights Glasgow Masterclasses: Inspiring the Next Generation

With Ballet Nights Glasgow coming to town on the 4th July, we are thrilled to announce a day of masterclasses with the Stars of the Show, with Ballet Nights Masterclasses Glasgow taking place on the 5th of July; a fantastic opportunity to learn from an extraordinary faculty in the beautiful studios of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

“The Glasgow Ballet Nights Masterclasses are an exciting opportunity for the young aspiring dancers of Scotland to learn and develop their skills with prestigious industry professionals. The day has been uniquely curated to provide a versatile mix of dance and wellbeing to inspire the young people, alongside their everyday dancing. This is a rare opportunity and not to be missed.”

Megan Peasgood, Course Leader, Glasgow Ballet Nights Masterclasses

About Ballet Nights Glasgow Masterclasses:

When:

5th July, 2025

Where:

Wallace Studios, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow

Ages:

9-11 Junior

12-14 Mids

15-16 Senior

RESERVE YOUR PLACE TODAY

Meet the Ballet Nights Star Faculty:

Megan Peasgood (Course Leader):

Megan trained at Central School of Ballet and joined the school’s touring company Ballet Central. Whilst with the touring company, Megan performed Princess Florine - Bluebird pas de deux The Sleeping Beauty, Neopolitan - Swan Lake, Waltz of the Flowers - Ashley Page’s The Nutcracker and Christopher Hampson’s Capriol Suite. Megan graduated in 2008 receiving a BA (hons) Degree in Professional Dance and Performance.

Upon graduation, Megan worked with Scottish Ballet and Ballet du Rhin as well as the touring companies Vienna Festival Ballet and Ballet Theatre UK. During her performance career, Megan performed many notable roles such as Cinderella, Myrtha (Giselle) and Clara (The Nutcracker). 

Megan led The Young Ballet Company at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland from its infancy for 4 years. During her time leading the company she restaged and choreographed many pieces each season for the young dancers. She also taught on the Scottish Ballet Associate programme. 

Megan achieved her Masters of Education Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts in 2021 and her Fellowship of Ballet with the SDTA in 2023. For the past 5 years Megan has been part of the faculty of The Dance School Of Scotland as the lead ballet teacher for S1 and S2 and Dance Studies tutor.

Megan is passionate about teaching the next generation, developing intelligent and confident dancers in an innovative and nurturing environment.

Steven McRae (Classical Masterclass):

Australian dancer Steven McRae is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. He joined The Royal Ballet School on a Prix de Lausanne scholarship in 2003. He graduated into The Royal Ballet in 2004 and was promoted to First Artist in 2005, Soloist in 2006, First Soloist in 2008 and Principal in 2009. 

McRae was born in Sydney and trained with Hilary Kaplan and at The Royal Ballet School. He won the 2002 Adeline Genée Gold Medal and the 2003 Prix de Lausanne. His roles with The Royal Ballet include all the classical repertory and leading roles in works by choreographers including Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, David Bintley, William Forsythe, Kenneth MacMillan, Alastair Marriott, Wayne McGregor, Liam Scarlett and Christopher Wheeldon. His role creations include Magician/Mad Hatter (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), Jack (Sweet Violets), Sandman (Hansel and Gretel), Florizel (The Winter’s Tale), Emble (The Age of Anxiety), Creature (Frankenstein) and roles in Three Songs – Two Voices, Children of Adam, Chroma, Acis and Galatea (Royal Opera), 24 Preludes, The Human Seasons, Tetractys, Connectome, Woolf Works, Multiverse, The Illustrated Farewell, Yugen and concerto pour deux.

McRae has performed as a guest artist with companies including American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, Australian Ballet, Tokyo Ballet and at numerous international galas. His awards include the 2006 Emerging Male Artist (Classical) and the 2011 Best Male Dancer awards at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. In 2014 he was named Young Australian Achiever in the UK by the Australia Day Foundation.

Abby Brown (Lyrical):

Abbie is an Urdang graduate and trained full time at The Dance School of Scotland and Brisbane School of Dance prior to training at the Urdang Academy. 

Abbie has performed in Richard Quinn’s feature film for London Fashion week and walked the red carpet for the British Fashion awards with Billy Porter. Abbie has also performed on Britain’s Got Talent, successfully getting through to the live semi-finals. 

Abbie was seen on The Greatest Dancer and BGT, winning “Best performance in reality TV” whilst attending the National Reality TV awards. Most recently, Abbie has performed in Wembley Arena at the HUM awards and filmed the new movie “Wicked” with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

Daniel Davidson (Creative/Neoclassical):

He joined Scottish Ballet in 2005 where he performed works by renowned choreographers including Richard Alston, George Balanchine, Matthew Bourne, Trisha Brown, Christopher Bruce, Jorma Elo, William Forsythe, Christopher Hampson, Kenneth MacMillan, Hans van Manen, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Ashley Page, Krzysztof Pastor, Stephen Petronio & Twyla Tharp.

From 2014-2022, Daniel danced with Rambert and performed in works by Mark Baldwin, Christopher Bruce, Kim Brandstrup, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Merce Cunningham, Ben Duke, Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar, Andonis Foniadakis, Hofesh Shechter, Wayne McGregor, Imre & Marne van Opstal, Jo Strømgren, Marion Motin, Shobana Jeyasingh, Didy Veldman, Wim Vandekeybus & Alexander Whitley amongst others.

Daniel now works as a freelance artist and choreographer. His choreographic work includes pieces for Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, Elmhurst Ballet Company, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Ballet Central, The Juilliard School, National Youth Ballet, The Dance School of Scotland, The National Theatre’s River Stage, Covent Garden Dance Company, Young Ballet Company of Scotland, Rambert’s ‘Blueprints’ Evening & Ballet Nights. 

In 2023 he joined Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show as Assistant Choreographer and in 2024, completed an MA in Choreography through Central School of Ballet and University of Kent.

Louisa Ross (Classical Coaching/Variations):

Louisa Ross is a Lecturer and Programme Coordinator for the BA Modern Ballet programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Since joining in 2014, Louisa has taught daily ballet classes, pointe work and classical repertoire as well as staging works for performances. Louisa has also taught for RCS Juniors and Scottish Ballet’s Associate and community programmes. Louisa has a first class BA (Hons) in Dance Education from the Royal Academy of Dance and completed her Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Arts Education with the RCS in 2017 achieving her Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

Previously a dancer with Scottish Ballet for 11 years, Louisa performed in many works including Darrell’s La Sylphide and Giselle, Ashton’s Two Pigeons and Scene de Ballet, Page’s Nutcracker, Cinderella (Stepsister), Sleeping Beauty (Pina, Red Riding Hood), Cheating Lying Stealing and Fearful Symmetries, Balanchine’s Four Temperaments, Rubies and Episodes, Davies’ White Man Sleeps, Forsythe’s Artifact Suite and Pastor’s Romeo and Juliet.

Michael Barnett (Accompanist):

Michael Barnett hails from Glasgow and is a double graduate in Music from Glasgow University. Since then, he has worked predominantly in Dance and is now the staff accompanist on the BA Modern Ballet course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and a lecturer on its Piano for Dance course. As a freelancer he plays regularly for Scottish Ballet and on various courses.

He is also a very experienced concert performer, equally at home in the ‘pit’ as the stage. Michael is a regular keyboards player with the RSNO and other orchestras, recent highlights being Jonathan Sheffer’s Four Ten-minute Operas and a little harpsichord cameo in the forthcoming Wes Anderson film The Phoenician Scheme (RSNO), The Crucible and A Streetcar Named Desire (Orchestra of Scottish Ballet) and the Scottish Festival Orchestra (Paddington Live, Stardew Valley Live and regular ‘pops’ gigs. He has also played for Katherine Jenkins, and The Priests! During the 2020 lockdown his neighbours enjoyed a back court concert series!

For many years Michael was MD of the vocal group Caledon; they toured the world, from a Burns Supper in Trump Tower to a concert in the Sydney Opera House to long residencies in a Berlin cabaret theatre, recorded several CDs and DVDs, and designed a tartan. 

RESERVE YOUR PLACE TODAY