Principal 

Cecchetti Ballet,  Escuela Bolera, SDS syllabus and Teaching Diplomas 

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Deborah started dancing at an early age in Zambia. At the age of 7, she took up ballet classes with Tanya Bayona in Malta until the age of 13, where she left for the UK to take up full-time vocational training at Elmhurst Ballet School specialising in classical ballet, jazz, contemporary, drama and it was here that she was introduced to Spanish Dance by Charo Linares (Sherrill Wexler). Upon leaving Elmhurst she was awarded the Dancing Times Cup Senior award for choreography. 

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In 1985, she took up a teaching post at the Tanya Bayona Poutatine Academy of ballet, teaching classical ballet and jazz dance and introduced Spanish Dance to the Island of Malta. Simultaneously, Deborah joined Malta’s first contemporary dance company Tanya Bayona Dance Theatre performing locally and overseas.

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 In 1990, Deborah went to Hong Kong and taught some of the SDS work. On her return, she opened her own school, Deborah McNamara School of Dance. It was during this period that Deborah met Jose de Udaeta in Spain and after working with Deborah and her dancers in Malta, Jose became patron of the school. In 1995, Deborah amalgamated with Point 2 Ballet studio to form the central Academy of Ballet. In 1998, she was appointed the Malta Representative for the Spanish Dance Society.

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After a short break to raise her young children Deborah reopened the Deborah McNamara School until 2010 when she left the island with her family to live in Ecuador. During this period, Deborah was invited by the International Board of the SDS  as a junior examiner and in 2013 was promoted to a Senior examiner, coaching and examining in several countries including, Mexico, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, U.K and Russia.

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On her return to Malta Deborah took up the post of Head of Dance at School of Performing Arts( SOPA). She also formed part of the ballet faculty of the Johane Casabene Dance Conservatoire and was guest ballet mistress for Malta’s national contemporary dance company Zfin Malta. She also taught Spanish Dance at the Malta Youth Ballet and College of Jazz.

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Over the years, Deborah has trained dozens of teachers at associate and licentiate levels in  Cecchetti ballet and all three levels of SDS teachers qualifications. Many students have also moved on to vocational training overseas.

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Her students have been the recipients of several scholarships and awards and have  performed in Maltafest, Stuttgart Festival, Valencia SDS 50th Anniversary,  and in Fama in Teatro villamarta in Jerez de la Frontera and in London at the Gable and Bloomsbury Theatre. 

 Deborah's continual professional development in Spanish Dance and Flamenco  over the years consist of  workshops  with Matilde Coral, Mercedes y Albano,José de Udaeta, Manolo Marín, José Merino, Javier Bagá, Juan Polvillo, María del Mar Moreno, Victoria Ramos, Miguel Ángel Espino, Ángel Muñoz, Virginia Domínguez, Inmaculada Ortega, Alicia Márquez, Cristian Lozano, José Manuel Buzón Ruiz and Tamara López amongst others. With ballet she has attended courses  with several Cecchetti examiners such as the late Eve Pettinger, Elizabeth Swan, Gill Hurst, Kate Simmons and Cara Drower. 

Deborah until recently, was also an administrator of The Sharon Sapienza Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to promote and organise activities such as workshops, courses, and lectures in all aspects of Spanish Dance. She was also the local representative and organizer of the SDS and held international workshops on their behalf of the Spanish Dance Society and independently welcoming many foreign guests to the studio such as Alejandro Molinero, Israel Galvan, Alejandro Farino, Javier Palacios, Katerina Voulgari, Cristina Ortega, and Laura Segovia.

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For the past five years, Deborah’s passion has been redirected back towards her own school which she reopened again teaching both Spanish and ballet.

Deborah holds her Licentiate of the Imperial Society of teachers of Dancing Cecchetti faculty with Distinction and her profesora de Baile of the Spanish Dance Society. She is the recipient of three special Awards from the Spanish Dance Society for the advancement of Spanish Dance on the Island. She is currently on the International board of Examiners and Management (IBEM)