It all started one afternoon, when I was three years old. I recall spinning quite vividly around to Perry Como on the radio, singing 'catch a falling star'. Then, I attended Miss Mckinnon's Ballet School in Kent, learning ballet, modern and tap until the age of 12. During competitions, I would watch with interest what was then called national dance. This nurtured a seed of interest which has resulted in my current work teaching multicultural dance in schools.

I have always aspired to being a dance teacher. I started at the age of eight! At weekends I would instruct fellow kids in my back garden, using the window sills as a ballet barre. Some of them were even inspired to take up dance classes which pleased me immensely.

I come from a working class family, so whilst attending dance school was possible, it was a financial struggle for my parents, and at one time my mum was working just to pay for my classes. Despite this, my parents always endeavored to give me nurturing experiences, like trips to see musicals and ballets. Home was also full of a wide range of music and dancing, from big band, blues and jazz to sixties pop and reggae. In fact, I really came to love reggae music and highly recommend the book Reggae Bloodlines by Steven Davis and Peter Simon, which is about its history.

Still wishing to become a professional dancer and teacher, I studied Egyptian dance in greater depth with Suraya Hilal and ZaZa Hassan, gaining an advanced teaching certificate, and touring North Africa, Egypt, Oman and Bahrain as a performer.

Then in 1991, I embarked on a small business providing world dance workshops for schools, and teaching adults Egyptian dance. I’ve been teaching ever since then and cover workshops in dance styles including Egyptian, African, Aztec, Australian Aboriginal, Indian Classical, Bollywood, Japanese fan dance, Tibetan sacred dance and many others.

My mission statement is that “to create a fun, flowing, non-competitive space, encouraging each student to explore their own creativity, whilst enhancing their knowledge and appreciation of different cultures”. I feel it is my job to nurture and encourage every child or adult that attends my workshops. I gain

 

tremendous satisfaction when a child comes in stating nervously ‘I don’t dance’ or ‘I don’t like dancing', and an hour later bounces out the room with a refreshing new outlook on their own potential.

My African workshops focus on dance of the African continent. I bring percussion instruments including the Djembe which I play a little, and get the pupils to clap with the rhythm. The first part is always a discussion with the children as to why people dance. This is thrown open to the group in an informal way and students contribute ideas, bringing in their personal experience of dance and their wider knowledge of the outside world.

I intersperse their ideas with some pointers, so that gradually we cover areas including praising gods and goddesses, celebratory rituals such as births, courtship dances, social events, wedding dances, agricultural/seasonal dances, magic and healing dances. There are many other reasons for dancing too! I bring with me a wonderful and colourful reference book by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher entitled African Ceremonies which documents many sacred rituals with superb images.

I want to give the pupils as many opportunities to explore ideas and feelings and gain hands on experience with the instruments. We have a thorough warm-up and introduction to technique, starting with walking on the beat, earthy grounded movements, fluid rotating hips, soft knees and more punctuating movements in the chest, shoulders, hips and arms. There are also shimmering movements with shoulders and hips.

I have two set routines that I teach pupils, and then they are placed into small groups to devise their own choreographies, choosing a reason for their dance and using at least six basic movements. There is also opportunity to try the instruments and sometimes children incorporate them into their dances. Of course, the workshop is adapted according to the needs and age of the group before me. I have quite a lot of flexibility in my classes, so if one approach does not work, just try another.

Joining The Dance Register is important for me as an artist and teacher, so that I can share my knowledge with more students. I am still teaching and learning at 58 and hope this will continue for many years to come.

I greatly appreciate being included in The Dance Register as prestigious organisations such as Dance UK, the Foundation for Community dance and ADAD support it. Being an artist working alone, whilst satisfying, one can feel somewhat isolated at times. Through The Dance Register, I have gained on-going support, guidance and endorsement and that is so important for dance professionals, particularly individuals.