What dance training does amber davies have and where did she study?
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Executive summary
Amber Davies is a professionally trained musical‑theatre performer who earned a scholarship at 16 to study Musical Theatre and Dance at London’s Urdang Academy and graduated with a Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre and Dance; she has also reported training in jazz and commercial dance and taken dance at GCSE level [1] [2] [3] [4]. Her formal training is rooted in stage‑focused techniques rather than classical ballet or formal ballroom and Latin disciplines, a distinction Davies and multiple outlets have emphasised amid debate over her suitability for televised dance competitions [5] [6] [7].
1. Proven professional training: Urdang Academy scholarship and diploma
Davies won a scholarship at age 16 to study musical theatre and dance at the Urdang Academy in London, where she completed three years of training and graduated with a Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre and Dance in 2016, credentials repeated in alumni material and multiple profiles [1] [2] [8].
2. The style focus: musical theatre, jazz and commercial dance
The core of Davies’s instruction is musical‑theatre performance — a hybrid discipline emphasising singing, acting and dance for the stage — and she has described her dance background as primarily in jazz and commercial styles rather than ballroom or Latin; journalists covering her Strictly Come Dancing appearance and an interview she gave both highlight jazz/commercial and musical‑theatre as her principal dance training [3] [5].
3. Early lessons and extra schooling: GCSE, local coaching and stage school claims
Multiple profiles note that Davies took dance as a GCSE subject and received early vocal coaching in her hometown from Leah Owen, while some outlets also report she attended Danceworld Stage School and performed commercial club work — details that appear across press items though some come from tabloid coverage and vary in depth [9] [4] [10].
4. How training translated into a West End career
The vocational outcome of that training is clear: Davies moved into professional musical‑theatre roles on the West End and touring productions — credits that demonstrate the practical application of her Urdang training to stage choreography and performance, with reviewers and outlets noting her roles in shows such as 9 to 5, Pretty Woman and Back to the Future [2] [11] [9].
5. Limits of the training for ballroom/Latin TV contests
Despite being a trained stage dancer, Davies and commentators have repeatedly stated she lacked formal ballroom and Latin training when joining shows like Dancing on Ice and Strictly Come Dancing; she herself said West End technique helped with musicality and stage presence but that ballroom posture, partnership and footwork were new challenges, a point corroborated by critics and feature writers [6] [7] [5].
6. Media debate and perspectives on “trained” versus “novice” labels
Her background has provoked discussion: some viewers and tabloids emphasise that she is a “trained” performer with a diploma and stage school experience, while advocates and Davies stress that musical‑theatre training doesn’t equate to pre‑existing advantages in ballroom and Latin disciplines; industry voices such as feature writers and fellow professionals have argued both that stage experience is relevant and that it is not the same as years of competitive ballroom training [10] [5] [8].
Conclusion: a stage‑centred pedigree, not a ballroom pedigree
In short, Amber Davies possesses formal, vocational dance education centred on musical theatre — a scholarship to and diploma from the Urdang Academy, supplemented by jazz/commercial training and school‑level dance study — and has applied that training to a West End career, but she has not been credibly represented in sources as having formal ballroom or Latin training prior to her television dance appearances [1] [2] [3] [5].