At the age of 9 my mum decided I needed a hobby so naturally threw me into the nearest dance class, which happened to be with a Latin and Ballroom school, DCDance, and I’ve never looked back since. During the 10 years I spent on the Latin and ballroom scene, I represented Essex across the country and competed five times at the British National Open Formation Championships, in 2001 achieving 4th place. At the age of 14 I began assisting in adult classes and teaching classes for children aged 3-16. Whilst at DCDance, I achieved Gold Bar Level 2 in both Ballroom and Latin with the IDTA and NDTA.
After splitting with my long term boyfriend (also my dance partner) in 2007, I found that simply teaching dance wasn’t enough – I wanted to dance too! Whilst looking for something to satisfy my hunger, I stumbled across the Salsa SOS website. I emailed the organiser (Stuart) to try to get a feel of what I could expect, and after a very heated discussion regarding the differences between ballroom and salsa dancers, I decided I simply had to go – if only to meet the man (Stuart) who was sending me emails!
I started on a Tuesday @ Colors, in beginners with Kerry and did my obligatory minimum of 4 weeks before moving up to improvers with Nik. From there I moved up to intermediate with Kimmy and finally to advanced with Stuart, at which point Stuart approached me to teach. After detailed training with Stuart, I began teaching at Salsa SOS in Jan 08 at beginner level.
Since Jan 08 I have taught on 5 different club nights at 4 different venues for salsa SOS. I have also trained with Joe Davids of The Latin Collective Team and am now a valued member of both Salsa SOS and The Latin Collective. I appreciate and enjoy all styles of salsa and my favourite style changes depending on what mood I’m in. I also Love dancing meringue, bachata, cha cha and many other Latin dances – I just can’t get enough. To me dancing is extremely important, it’s a great way to keep fit, meet new people, build self confidence and make friends. I can’t imagine my life without dancing, I’d make it compulsory in the work place if I had the chance.
