Excellence in Dance since 1989.

A passion for teaching Dance.

The Goode School of Dance was established in 1989 by Rachel Goode and trains student’s boys and girls in Classical Ballet and Modern Theatre Jazz from 3 years old. Classes are held in a friendly atmosphere encouraging good posture, confidence, musicality, imagination, creativity and a love of Dance.

Our school is led by a group of passionate teachers whose mission is to bring exceptional dance training in a nurturing environment. Dance is for everyone, boys and girls whether it’s for a hobby, or to become a professional dancer we will encourage and support our students in every step.

The school offer students Examinations with the Royal Academy of Dance and excellent results are consistently awarded. The highlight for the students is the biannual show that is held in the Helix Theatre that show cases their multiple genres of dance they have been taught, ballet, character, jazz, contemporary, neo classical.

Students are welcome in Transition year for work experience and also to attain a module for their Gaisce Award.

We also run fun filled Summer Schools with a performance at the end throughout July and August with international guest teachers.

We believe that dance education has benefits that last a lifetime to mention a few, it promotes physical fitness, creative expression, self-confidence, discipline, perseverance, dedication, goal setting, social skills, cultural awareness and lifelong friendships.

“I explained it when I danced it” - Margot Fonteyn

Meet Our Team


  • A.R.A.D., R.T.S, B.R.S.dip

    Rachel's passion for dance began at The Vonnie Goulding School of Dance, she continued her vocational training with Cynthia O’Dunlaing. and furthered her training with Dublin City Ballet and danced in many of their productions. At age 15, she won an Irish Arts Council scholarship to train at the prestigious Ballet Rambert, one of the leading ballet schools in the UK. She then danced professionally in London before returning to Ireland to open her first school in Galway in 1989.

    Rachel is a fully qualified teacher of the Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD)and The Imperial Society Teachers of Dancing,(ISTD) and continues her learning through on going Continued Professional Development courses each year. Rachel continues her involvement with the RAD as a mentor for their teacher training program. Rachel is also a member of the Irish Ballet Teachers' Association (IBTA), and currently serving as the committee treasurer.

    Rachel is delighted to be celebrating over 30 years of teaching, during this time she has overseen consistently excellent exam result  and has produced over 15 amazing memorable productions to sell-out performances in national theatres such as The Helix and The Pavilion. Rachel is immensely proud of all her students past and present , she is continually inspired by seeing the benefits of dance, seeing them grow in confidence, nurture a love for dance and music, and form long lasting friendships..


  • MEd, MSc, Pg Dip., BA (Hons), RAD RTS, ISTD CDE.

    Emma began her dance training in London, is a graduate of Northern Ballet School and has taught in the UK and Europe. She is a fully qualified teacher in Ballet (RAD & ISTD), Modern Theatre Dance/ Jazz (ISTD) and a Pilates instructor. Emma holds a distinction MSc in Dance Science & Education from the University of Edinburgh and a MEd in Higher Education from Trinity College, Dublin. She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology and a 1st class BA (Hons) in Dance Education.

    Emma has taught in the private sector for over 25 years and in the Further Education (FE) sector for 17 years. She is a tutor at Bray Institute of Further Education (BIFE) and a Placement Tutor on the FE initial teacher education postgraduate degree at the National College of Ireland.

    She is registered with the Teaching Council of Ireland to teach Dance, Social & Behavioural Sciences, and Education, and is a graduate member of the British Psychological Society and The Psychological Society of Ireland.

    Emma has been working with Rachel and the wonderful students at the Goode School of Dance since 2006.


  • R.A.D. RTS, BA (Sci)

    Deirdre trained with Patricia Joan McCarthy in Dublin and continued her training with the Metropolitan School of Dance where she gained her RAD teachers certificate with Distinction. Deirdre also gained a BA at Trinity College, Dublin.

    Deirdre is a fully qualified teacher of the Royal Academy of Dancing and has been working with Rachel since 1998.

  • BaBE, LRAD, ARAD, RTS

    Philippa grew up in the Lake District where she began her training at a young age. She then moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dance, on the Ba (Hons) Ballet Education Program – on completion Philippa also received her Licentiate for the Royal Academy of Dance.

    Philippa has worked in Perth, Western Australia, where she taught Ballet and Contemporary in both private and vocational dance schools. During her time in Australia, Philippa was part of the RAD Regional Advisory Panel of WA where she took on various artistic roles.

    Philippa is also a qualified Pilates Instructor. Philippa started working with The Goode School of Dance in 2018.

  • Rachel Started dancing at the age of 4 with The Goode School Of Dance. She was a member of the Irish National Youth Ballet and attended The College Of Dance then furthered her training at Laine Theatre Arts Graduating with a National Diploma in professional Dance Trinity College London. Most recently Rachel has taken her certificate in ballet teaching studies in R.A.D under the mentoring of Rachel Goode. She is also qualified as a fitness barre instructor.

    Rachel has travelled the world performing with P&O cruises. She has also performed in The Gaiety Theatre, Cork Opera House, The Helix, Croke Park, The Aviva stadium, 3Arena and The Mansion House along with TV and Film featuring in Penny dreadful, Ripper street, Love Hate, Little Women and Mrs. Browns boys D’movie.

    Rachel is Delighted to be teaching and sharing her knowledge from the performing world with the students at The Goode School Of Dance as that is where her journey began and she will forever be grateful for the training she received from the school.

  • BA hons Dance, MA Contemporary Dance Performance.

    Eimear is a dance artist from Ireland and works professionally as a dancer, teacher and choreographer working for the past 11 years in the dance industry.

    She was chosen to dance the female role in the repertoire of ‘Coupled Reflections’ by the Artistic Directors of Dance Theatre of Ireland, Robert Connor and Loretta Yurick in 2016/17. This was part of the ‘Live Archive Project’ curated by Emma Meehan in which the company’s (DCDT) 30 years of work was celebrated, this toured nationally in Ireland.

    Her most recent choreographic work ‘Renewal’ was performed both nationally and internationally in 2017/18 in both Ireland and the UK. She has also worked with choreographer Mihaela Griveva (Bulgaria) researching and training in Gaga influenced techniques and exercises while undertaking choreographic research labs with other professional dancers.

    She is currently engaged with ‘Two Can Do’ by choreographer, Bianca Paige Smith (USA), performing the work across Ireland and the US. This year ‘Two Can Do’ had performances at Gibney, Broadway, NYC (January 2019) Green Space Queens NYC and Art House Productions in Jersey City (June 2019). She completed an Irish tour of the award winning duet- ‘Two Can Do’ where she performed at Nun’s Island Galway, D Light Studios Dublin, The Hunt Museum Limerick and St. Peter’s Cork, Cork (August 2019).

    She is the Contemporary Dance Tutor and Dance Course Coordinator at Bray Institute of Further Education and was selected two years running to be part of the prestigious Pushkin Trust project founded by The Royal Duchess of Abercorn.

  • Niamh began dancing in Dublin with The Dunbar School of Dance & The Goode School of Dance. Following this, she was accepted into Tring Park School for the Performing Arts where she completed her professional training, graduating with Distinction in Trinity London’s Diploma in Professional Dance.

    While in the U.K. Niamh was a member of Encore Dance Company and The National Youth Ballet of Great Britain. She performed multiple U.K. tours with the companies and performed at Sadler’s Wells & Royal Albert Hall.

    Niamh joined Ballet Ireland in 2018 and since then has toured Ireland performing shows such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, & Minus 16. In addition to being a company member of Ballet Ireland Niamh has danced with Chrysalis London, WhyNot Dance Company and Merlin Productions. Niamh has also danced for TV advertisements and music videos. Niamh is a fully certified Stott Pilates instructor.

    Niamh teaches alongside performing & began working with The Goode School of Dance in 2018. She is also involved in their annual Summer School. Niamh is also a teacher for the Ballet Boost Associates Programme in the U.K. & Northern Ireland.