Performer, educator and Can You Dance? (CYD) Co-Founder Tom Shilcock is launching a new elite dance training programme, TS Training Academies, to help train tomorrow’s professionals across five sites.
Shilcock, who has performed for artists such as Jason Derulo, Rita Ora, Meghan Trainor, and Take That, and on shows including The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, The Royal Variety Show, and The Brit Awards, is “excited” to launch the yearly programme that will open in January 2026.
TS Training Academies will take place over 16 Sundays each year. “I’ve got a great team around me, who all share in my vision,” Shilcock explains. “I’m very big on team and making sure I’ve got the right people in place for the right roles. I’ve been doing this for 15 years now with CYD, creating opportunities and producing events and putting shows on. So it’s what I do best. So it’s just leaning into those skills.”
TS Training Academies will have locations in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Chester and Nottingham, and Shilcock says the regional locations are all about “taking the opportunities to the dancers.”
He adds, “The dancers will have access to my contacts and networks. So there will be opportunities that will come alongside just being an academy member; they might be able to be scouted for various other opportunities as well.”
Shilcock, a passionate educator himself, takes pride in the faculty and opportunities he brings to CYD, and shares that the TS Training Academies programme is designed to help younger dancers thrive. “I think consistency is key for progression. It’s a program that’s going to be guided with purpose, with professionalism and care. It’s a program that I’m super passionate about putting together. It’s going to be another way for me to communicate with communities around the UK.”
The training will build on the foundations that dance schools have given their students. “It’s something that will complement their dance school training that they have,” Shilcock notes. “It’s something that will work alongside the studios. We want to work with the studios behind the dancers. By that, I mean, I want to champion these schools to help promote them through the program. So, if your dancer is part of the TS Training Academies, they will wear the studio name on the back of their uniform. We will invite the teachers to attend any open days and performances. We will credit the teachers if we ever feature the dancers in any of our marketing materials, promotions, or similar initiatives. So, we’re going to be lifting the schools up as well.”
He continues, “This is why the schools are so important because they lay the foundations. They spend years and years and years laying these foundations for these dancers. We are just adding to that. We are just tweaking. We are just, you know, finessing. We’re just sprinkling the finishing touches onto these dancers, and that’s how I kind of see it. I haven’t taught that dancer their foundations, so we can’t take credit for that, and we shouldn’t take credit for it. So, it is making sure that we credit the schools behind every dancer.”
The programme will offer progress tracking, which will include:
-TS Dancer MOT – Assesses technical foundations like flexibility, leaps, kicks, and turns
-Performance Report Cards – Focuses on musicality, style, and expression
-Video Assessment Week – Dancers are filmed performing and critiqued to track visual progress
-Industry Seminars – Guidance on colleges, careers, and professional mindset
Shilcock says, “Let’s track. Let’s monitor. Let’s give you feedback. Let’s do assessments. Let’s do reports. Let’s invest in your training and see where we can progress. So, we’re looking for dancers who are eager and keen to progress their training and upskill. It’s suitable for dancers who are 10-plus and at an intermediate/advanced level.”
TS Training Academies is by audition only, held once a year, and enrolment is only open during that period. Auditions are scheduled to begin in September 2025, with more details on how to participate available on the website.
Each venue will have a designated studio dance manager, and Shilcock will vet all faculty, ensuring quality control and utilising his network of educators to provide the students with the best training possible.
The aim is also to help dancers improve their confidence and ability to speak up. “The classes are all built around conversation,” Shilcock explains. “The studio is very conversational. So, we encourage the kids to talk. We encourage them to have a voice. We encourage them to be able to ask the teacher questions, and we want all the faculty to give advice and guidance. And they’re not just learning steps in these sessions. They’re being told the reason behind the steps and movement. This is why we do that. This how you improve your dynamics. This is how we work on contrast. This is how we work on performance skills. This is how we work on your confidence.”
With the dancer and dance community at the core, he hopes that it is the “catalyst” for dancers to take hold of the opportunity, opportunities that might not often happen outside of London.
He says that he wants young dancers to think, “This is actually possible. I could go to TS Training Academies, and I could be exposed to all these incredible professionals, and who knows where that would lead.”
TS Training Academies is set to be challenging yet rewarding, and with its tag line of training ‘tomorrow’s professionals’, he speaks about how dancers need to train.
“I think all dancers should train like athletes. I think strengthening and conditioning are so important for a long career.”
He adds, “And I think being versatile is important. So being able to do a jazz routine, but then whacking out a commercial routine into a ballet combination, then finishing off into a little tap routine, I think is important because it makes you more employable. It opens more doors.”
To find out more, head to www.tsacademies.com.
By Jamie Body of Dance Informa.
