His early teachers, including Carol Kennedy and Val Armstrong, nurtured his curiosity and discipline, while Merville Jones — his first male dance teacher and the director of Cleveland Youth Dance Theatre — introduced him to the expressive possibilities of choreography and stagecraft. These formative experiences shaped not only his technical foundation but also his artistic voice.
At Blakeston Comprehensive School, Simon’s interests extended beyond dance. He played the euphonium in the school orchestra, an experience that deepened his connection to rhythm, structure, and collaboration — qualities that would later define his creative work.
1992 marked a pivotal year. At just sixteen, Simon took on a summer job selling burglar alarms door to door — an experience that proved short-lived but unexpectedly transformative. After only a week, he was offered a paid position as a dancer in Kay Ward’s Big Bang!, a vibrant variety show featuring comedian and singer Kay Ward alongside two dancers. The act toured British army barracks across Northern Germany and performed in working men’s clubs throughout the UK, introducing Simon to the demanding but exhilarating rhythm of life on the road.
In 1997 after a year of further training at the prestigious Geneva Ballet Junior under the direction of Beatriz Conseulo, Simon moved to New York where he was engaged with The former Joffery II Concert Dancers directed by Edward Morgan and as a dancer with America singer and musician Al Jarreau. During his time in New York Simon was awarded contracts with all-male drag ballet troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and the legendary Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Outside of New York he performed in new versions of Nutcracker and Coppelia with The Los Angeles Classical Ballet and Connecticut Ballet.
Returning to Europe Simon was engaged in television (Bavarian Film Awards & Wetten, dass..?) as well as musical theatre productions including Grease the musical at Capitol Theater Düsseldorf and Theater Des Westens Berlin, where at the age of 22 he was appointed dance captain by director and choreographer Dennis Callahan for the show.
In 1998 he moved to Vienna to work alongside director Roman Polanski and composer Jim Steinman in the stage show Tanz Der Vampire at the Raimund Theater. Simon was further engaged in musicals Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with director Werner Sobotka and Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical with director and choreography Kim Duddy, for which he received a gold disc for his appearance on the original cast recording, selling over 7,500 units.
During the three years in Vienna, Simon trained privately with vocal coach Jack Poppell and received German phonetics training. He was engaged as a full-time faculty member at Performing Art Center Austria teaching dance for singers and actors as well as dancers at a professional dance level.
In 2002 Simon was invited by Turkish composer Sabri Tuluğ Tırpan to choreograph the musical HEARTS, inspired by George Orwell’s novel 1984. Premiered at Museumsquartier Wien, the show was rated in the magazine MusicalCoctail as the best musical in German-speaking countries in recent years.
2002 – 2005, Simon was based in London where he joined Matthew Bournes’ Company New Adventures. He performed in the award winning production Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake which included two world tours and lengthy residencies at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. Working closely with Matthew Bourne was a huge inspiration to Simon especially in his ability to connect with audiences who do not usually interact with ballet.
In 2004 he met French composer An Ton-That and formed SWATT collective in Paris France. Together with American dancer Kristina Berger and former 70’s fashion model Karen Isgrig (AKA The Lost Star) they created original dance performances, Parisienne art salon parties and theatrical concert productions in Paris, Zurich and Taipei. It was at this time Simon began exploring mixing different artforms together with a collective of artists.
2007 – 2009 Simon became a resident artist at Taipei Artist Village in Taiwan where he directed and produced multi-media arts events and short films. He collaborated with British film maker Chris Churcher and was funded through the UK Arts Council to produce short films Wander Woman & On the Wire (FIVU Festival Internacional de Videodanza del Uruguay and Urban Nomad Filmfest, Taipei). In Taipei he was invited to teach dance at Taiwan’s National University for the Arts (TNUA) and choreographed for dance companies all around Taiwan.
In 2009 Simon was invited to choreograph a dance piece for UK break dance champions Bad Taste Cru. The work imreadywhenyouare was first show at The Place Theatre in London and then later by invitation at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden London.
From 2010-2013 Simon was engaged at Zurich Opera House where he performed as a dancer and assisted choreographer Renato Zanella. He worked alongside stars including Anna Netrebko and Vesselina Kasarova and with directors including Peter Stein, David Poutney and the late Harry Kupfer. At Hamburg State Opera, he was invited to assist in the re-staging of Borodin’s opera Fürst Igor, under the leadership of Australian star conductor Simone Young.
In 2012 Simon self-produced and directed ‘Enough’ a series of sell-out concerts with British spoken word artist and electronic music pioneer Anne Clark at Dynamo Art Centre in Zurich. This was a personal dream come true for Simon. They would collaborate again at The Ballery in Berlin 2015, this time performing pieces by Warhol Factory Star and poet Bibbe Hansen with composer and pianist An Ton That and cellist Carlota De Aldecoa Silvestre.
Simon was drawn to Berlin in 2013. At the time Berlin seemed like an affordable place to experiment with new creative ideas. Soon after arriving in Berlin he founded a language exchange event Speak Easy located at Sally Bowles events bar in Schöneberg. The event was created for people from around the world to meet and connect in a friendly and easy-going atmosphere. Tables were set up throughout the room with flags representing what languages were spoken at that table. Speak Easy quickly became one of the hottest networking events in town moving to a bigger venue Bar Franzotti in Kreuzberg. Attracting over 100 participants each week with between 10-20 different languages being spoken each night, Speak Easy ran for over 5 years developing a rich network.
In summer 2013 Simon opened a Pop-Up Gallery in Schöneberg for Berlin based artists. What started out as a summer project turned into a one-year adventure with art exhibitions opening every Friday evening. Pop-Up Art Gallery Berlin brought together a close community and in its first year showcased the works of over 100 artists, selling over 150 artworks for Berlin artists.
In September 2014, Simon got the keys to a new bigger venue on Nollendorfstrasse, which in former times had been the operations office of the original ‘Theater am Nollendorfplatz’ which was later partly demolished after WWII. A few doors away on Nollendorfstrasse, British writer and inspiration Christopher Isherwood had lived and written his famous Berlin stories that would later be used as inspiration for the 70’s Oscar winning movie Cabaret.
The Ballery opened with an exhibition and performance event entitled The Birth of the Cool.