Director, Owner and Head of Musical Theatre

Byron grew up in the small town, Estcourt, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. He sang in one of South Africa’s internationally acclaimed choirs, 'The KwaZulu-Natal Youth Choir', for 3 years, participating in numerous international choral competitions all over Europe.

After completing his studies in which he obtained his Licentiate in both Drama and Musical Theatre, Licentiate Teaching Diploma and a postgraduate course in Stage Directing at the Waterfront Theatre College, Byron joined the teaching staff for two years. Byron won Best Musical Theatre Actor in his third year and was honoured with the Most Outstanding Student award in his final year. In January 2016, Byron opened the doors to his own Drama, Musical Theatre and Dance Academy in Gardens, Cape Town – Byron Bure Academy of Theatre Arts.

Byron has performed in numerous productions including ‘Godspell’, ‘Hairspray’, ‘Preeoudly Seeouff Effriken’, ‘A Chorus Line’, ‘The Yellow Wood’ (the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown), 'Footloose' and ‘Othello’ before co-writing and starring in the touring show ‘The Regulars’. Byron’s directing debut started with Jason D. Martin’s ‘Dying Light’, at the Galloway Theatre in Cape Town, that also toured to The National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. It has since been showcased in the Afrikaans translation, ‘Donker Lig’ at The Klein Libertas Theatre, Stellenbosch and Die Pierneef Theatre in Pretoria. He then directed Doctor Godenstein’s Man in Cape Town, in 2016. In 2017, Byron directed the national tour of the musical, ‘RENT’ before assisting in directing ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Artscape Theatre in Cape Town.

Head of Drama

Tara is originally from Cape Town and passionate about anything and everything related to theatre. Her passion led her to study Drama and Musical Theatre at the Waterfront Theatre School where she graduated in 2015, achieving her LTCL in Musical Theatre with distinction, and ATCL in Drama and Speech.

Her theatre credits include 'Othello: A Woman’s Story' (Lodovico/Stage Manager); 'The Tree Snake and Someone’s Silence' (Stage Manager); The production of 'RENT' (Alexi Darling), 'Pirates of Penzance' (Edith), 'Pop-Up Tales' (Improvised Storyteller), 'the Crucible' (Mary Warren), 'Secret Santa' (Mrs Parker) and 'Romeo and Juliet: Sort of' (Nurse). Her Television/Film credits include 'Signal High' (Betty), 'A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe fits' (Isla/Artsy Girl), 'Dark Towers' (Vampire) and 'Black Mirror Nosedive' (Office Lady).

She is also a Voice Dubbing Artist for Blended Audio (Most notable voicing Indira and Zara on the Indian Soap Opera 'Iron Lady on Zee World') and Cape Town Audio Post (Most notable voicing Mole in the Chinese cartoon 'Panda and Little Mole').

Drama and Movement Coach

Originally from Windhoek, Namibia, Ilona has been based in Cape Town for several years. She has more than 30 years of experience working professionally as a choreographer, performer, theatre educator, and theatre-maker. She specialises in physical theatre, contemporary dance, choreography, voice and acting. She holds the degrees B. Dram from Stellenbosch University (1985), BA Honours (Drama) from Rhodes University (1988) and she recently successfully completed reading for her MA (Music) in Dance at UCT (2019). Ilona was a founding member of Gary Gordon's First Physical Theatre Company. She has taught at various tertiary institutions over the years, including the University of Stellenbosch Drama Department, Wits School of Arts, and at UCT School of Dance, now the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies.

Ilona teaches part-time at LAMTA and has been teaching physical theatre workshops and modules at various schools in the Western Cape for several years. In 2019 she launched Frege Moves, offering specialised training in physical theatre, contemporary dance and movement for performance. Ilona continues to perform and create original work.

Dance Instructor

Leila began her dance career with modern dance at the age of 10. She later went on to train in hip hop dancing, which led to her representing South Africa at the Hip Hop World Championships in Las Vegas, USA for three years in a row. Leila has also studied contemporary dance at UCT as one of her majors in her degree. In addition, Leila has also completed her modern dance teaching associate through the Association of International Dance Teachers (AIDT).

Leila also Co-founded the Elevation Dance Company which was established in 2017. Her professional career has seen her cast in commercials such as Adidas, Volkswagen and also starring in the Bring It On 6 movie. She worked professionally in Johannesburg for 3 years and worked with many companies for corporate gigs. She even had the opportunity to dance on live TV for Idols South Africa twice, even choreographing a dance.

Dance Instructor

Tristen, affectionately known as Tris, has a passion for performance and a heart for people. Born and raised in Cape Town, she has been dancing since she was 5. When she was in high school, Tris represented South Africa 3 times on the hip hop world championships stage, choreographed and performed in numerous productions at Curro High School, and was a dancer in Cape Town’s Most Wanted Dance Crews 2017. 

After matriculating, Tris went on to study performing arts full-time at the Waterfront Theatre College, where she studied under the ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance); achieving advanced levels in tap dance, street dance and modern theatre dance, her teaching qualifications in street and tap dance; as well as attaining her Licentiate in Musical Theatre Performance through Trinity College, London. In her years of studying, she has been accredited for her performances in “Headliners” (2021 at the Waterfront Theatre School), “We Belong to the Stars” (2022 at the Waterfront Theatre College), choreographer and performer in 2022 WTS Choreographic Competition, acting in multiple play festivals, and featuring in the music video for ‘Ophou’ by Karlien van Jaarsveld. 

Tris hopes to encourage her students to embrace all aspects of life through movement and dance, enjoys working with people above all and will never let anyone give up on their dreams. 

Dance Instructor

Robyn-Dee Van neel, is a University of Cape Town, Performance making undergraduate who majored in Choreography. She has been training as a performer for 15 years ranging in, Ballet, African Dance, Contemporary, musical theatre, afrofusion, latin and hip hop.

As a performer she has been on the Baxter and Artscape stage on multiple occasions, along with other hype events like the KFM Twilight Run, Heart FM events and many others. 

BBATA Social Media and Marketing

Nadine Suliaman studied Musical Theatre and Dance at the Waterfront Theatre School where she achieved her Trinity LTCL in Drama, Musical Theatre and Drama Teaching, as well as her advanced levels in Tap, Modern and Ballet. During College she performed as a member of the ensemble in 'Footloose' the Musical, the role of Pilar in 'Legally Blonde' the Musical and Tituba in 'The Crucible'. Since College she played the role of Mimi in Rent the Musical, worked for Hooked on Books, performed in David Kramer’s 'Langarm' at the Fugard, performed in many children’s theatre shows including 'Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears' and 'Pinocchio' and she starred in 'Kaapse Stories' at The Rockwell Theatre. Most recently she performed in the ensemble of David Kramer’s 'Danger in The Dark' at the Baxter Theatre and in Pieter Toerien’s 'The Producers', at Theatre on The Bay, as a member of the ensemble.

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While Nadine performs around the world, she manages the BBATA Social Media, keeping you all in the loop of the exciting things happening in the BBATA building!

Vocal and piano coach

Casey is a born and raised Capetonian with a passion for music and teaching. Growing up she was always involved in music, from choirs, the church band, orchestra, eisteddfods etc. She matriculated as the dux learner of her high school, having maintained first place in her music class for all 5 years there. After matriculating, Casey studied a Bachelor’s Degree in Education at Stellenbosch University where she graduated cum laude at the top of her class. She enjoyed the cultural experiences in Stellenbosch, getting involved in her residence’s acapella group and joining their music society. She has been teaching for the last 2 years and is eager to share her passion and excitement for singing. 

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Casey likes to create a calm, warm atmosphere during lessons, making sure that each student feels comfortable to engage in the lesson in a way that gives them the best chance to succeed. She enjoys working with people of all ages and is excited to help her students thrive.