Who we are

Ben Douglas, founder and creative director of Fusion
Ben started out in showbusiness at the age of six, working in the theatre, on advertisements and as a television presenter. He won rave reviews playing the Butler Drake in 'Annie' and presented Owl TV with Michaela Strachan as well as acting in 'The Labours of Erica' with Brenda Blethyn. After training at Arts Educational and the Rambert School of Ballet he worked as a dancer before being snapped up by Granada to be their social commentator on Livetime and co-present Sixtalk with Esther Mcvey. He also presented Perfect Parenting with Sharon Davis. In 1999 Ben expanded into the printed media and is now a fixture on the international party circuit, reporting from such glittering events as the Oscars, the Venice Film Festival and the Baftas. He is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, OK! Magazine, Hello, the Sunday Times and many others. As a lifestyle commentator and friend of the stars he has been the subject of articles in numerous magazines including Elle, In Style and The Stage. Along with It Girl Clare Beckwith he was an Ambassador for the British Luxury Council.
A passionate campaigner on youth issues, he was until recently a member of the London Appeals Board of the NSPCC.

Simon Downing, Head of Drama
Simon Downing has over 25 years experience in professional theatre.
Initially trained at the Guildford School of Acting, he then worked for various theatre companies including Pandemonium, Liquid Acrobat, Soapbox Theatre Co., The Phoenix Theatre, and touring Europe with the English Teaching Theatre.
He also has nine Shakespeare credits to his name, including the lead in 'Macbeth', Petruchio in 'The Taming of the Shrew', Edmund in 'King Lear', Mercutio in 'Romeo and Juliet', and Bassanio in 'The Merchant of Venice'.
As well an actor, Simon is an accomplished musician and spent three years touring for Bill Kenwright in 'Only the Lonely', playing Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and George Harrison.
Prior to joining the Fusion teaching staff, Simon has also worked as a mime teacher, a lecturer in body language and a guitar tutor.

Aimee Mcgoldrick
Aimee’s training began at the age of three when she joined The Ellis School of Ballet and Tap, since then she has been training for 18 years and recently achieved a 2:1 BA(hons) in Drama. Her theatre credits as an actor include: the lead in a Theatre in Education tour, Pam in ‘A day in the death of Joe Egg’, Elizabeth Farley in ‘Playhouse Creatures’, a site specific installation performance of ‘When a Man and a Woman Love Each Other Very Much and Sybil Bulington in ‘Daisy Pulls It Off’ (The Compass).
Her theatre credits as a singer include: ‘Support for Africa’ (The Albert Hall), ‘The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Celebration’ (Buckingham Palace),’ and ‘Blow’em Away the Musical’ (The Etcetera Theatre).
Her television and film credits include: ‘Missing’ (BBC), ‘Wolfman’ (Universal Films starring Anthony Hopkins), ‘McDonalds Californian Summer Burger’ (ad) and ‘Yes Adventure’s’ (book, voiceover and T.V series).  

Indra Shepherd, Head of Dance
A professional dancer of huge experience, Indra trained at the School of American Ballet in New York before moving to the English National Ballet School. In a varied career she has worked with the likes of Wayne Sleep, Nanette Glushak and Derek Deane.
For several years she pursued an acclaimed ballet career in Germany, dancing in 'Swan Lake', 'The Nutcracker' and a musical adaptation of 'La Traviata'.
Since 2002 she has focused on musical theatre, touring in lavish productions of shows such as 'The Lion King' and 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'.
She is an experienced teacher of various dance styles, particularly ballet, jazz and tap.

Helen Parker, Dance teacher

Helen started dancing at the tender age of three and competed and performed in various festivals and shows with the Phoenix School, as well as with local amateur dramatic societies. At the age of ten she began studying tap, jazz and modern theatre in earnest, and by 17 had achieved top grades in her Advanced Tap and Intermediate Jazz exams. Helen subsequently qualified as a freestyle Disco teacher and is currently undertaking her tap and modern teaching exams for the I.S.T.D dance syllabus in outer London.
Helen has assisted with dance teaching at Fusion Academy for two years and now holds her own advanced freestyle class there on Saturday mornings.
As well as teaching at Fusion, she also works as a choreographer. Helen recently choreographed the musical ‘Honk’ for a local dramatics society as well as some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s best work at the Epsom Playhouse.

Natalie Francis, Head of singing/creative
As a drama teacher Natalie has guided pupils through LAMDA examinations and coached several to gain places at the National Youth Theatre, Laine Theatre Arts, Sylvia Young Theatre School, Arts Educational, Italia Conti and the London School of Musical Theatre.
As actress Natalie Ogle, she began her career at the age of sixteen when she was plucked from Redroofs Theatre School by Tony Richardson and cast in his film 'Joseph Andrews'. This performance won her a nomination for the Evening Standard British Film Awards, which led to a stream of roles including many for the BBC television classics: Little Nell in 'The Old Curiosity Shop', Lydia Bennett in 'Pride and Prejudice' and Agnes in 'David Copperfield'.
Her stage work over the years has covered every style, from musicals to Stoppard, from Coward to Ayckbourn.
Other TV credits include 'We’ll Meet Again' and 'Poirot' for London Weekend television and several more costume dramas for the BBC, including 'Time and the Conways', 'The Aerodrome', 'The Master Builder', 'The Miser' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest' as Cecily - a performance that she repeated in the West End. Natalie also starred in her own comedy series for the BBC, 'A Touch of Spice'.
Over the years Natalie has taught drama at several schools, including St Edward's Oxford, Kingston Grammar School, Waldegrave Girls' School, Hampton Court House and Staines Preparatory.

Lucinda Francis, Singing assistant
Lucinda’s theatre credits include: 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' (New Victoria Theatre, Woking, Theatre Royal, Windsor, New Wimbledon Theatre), 'Whistle Down the Wind' (New Wimbledon Theatre, New Victoria Theatre - Woking), 'Scrooge' (The London Palladium), 'Dick Whittington' (New Wimbledon Theatre), 'Cinderella' (Theatre Royal, Windsor), 'Aladdin' (New Wimbledon Theatre).

Operations manager – Ginny Upshall
Ginny is the friendly face of Fusion Academy! Drawing on years of experience in customer service Ginny’s business acumen is invaluable to Fusion. A Mum of two, Chairman of a Health Club (Mint Condition), as well as being a qualified Master Personal Trainer and Nutritional Advisor, Ginny is busy! Students and parents all get to know Ginny really well as all general correspondence is managed by her ‘front-of-house’ team.

Technical Support - Nick Upshall
After training at the University of Hertfordshire as a production engineer, Nick has worked on many technical projects and has skills from show rigging, music mixing and production as well as  technical production for all of Fusion's shows to date. Nick also encourages the students to get involved and learn the technical skills of producing an amazing show! Nick is also co-owner of Mint Condition and is Personal Trainer to housewives and business executives as well as celebrities.

Laura McGoldrick
As well as working closely with Ginny at Fusion, Laura is deputy leader of a club for children Monday to Friday as well as training in Childcare in the evenings. Laura is looking to become primary school teacher within the next few years. As well as being dedicated to the care and wellbeing of children, Laura has also performed and trained in drama, singing and dance for 10 years; her credits include a Paul McCartney music video, ‘Qualqarst’ (advert), ‘Great Expectations (BBC), Ford photo shoot.

 Ken Foster Company Secretary and Financial controller
An accoutant of over twenty years standing he has long experience of dealing with companies and finantial control.