ABOUT ME
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
When I was 32, I went on a week long residential writing holiday called, The Writers’ Summer School. As part of the evening entertainment, they offered Ballroom & Latin Dancing and I got talked into going along to ‘have a go’. It was much more difficult than it looked, despite being passed around to various well-meaning and patient dance partners, I was pretty useless at it, so in order not to be quite as useless at it, should I go back to the Summer School the following year, (yes, I did go back!) I decided to treat myself to a few dancing lessons. I enrolled in a ten week beginner course at The Spencer Dance Centre (Frank & Peggy Spencer) in Penge in SE London and soon discovered that I LOVED dancing so much that once that first course was over, I bought myself a pair of Latin shoes and enrolled on the intermediate course. I did all my Latin & Ballroom dancing medals and eventually, dancing became so important to me, that at the age of 37 – I gave up my career in publishing and retrained and qualified as a dance teacher.
I started teaching professionally in 1999, first teaching Line Dancing, which was the latest dance craze hitting the UK (I absolutely loved Country Music too – so that was even better!) and then I also qualified in Freestyle Dance with the IDTA and started my own dance school – Dance Generation – offering classes in Jazz, Freestyle, Street Dance and Lyrical to children and both traditional and modern Line Dancing, Dance Fitness and Ballroom & Latin to adults.
I’m now 65 and I have never regretted giving up my corporate job to help people become healthier, learn new skills and discover the joy of dance and movement. Everyone should be dancing!
HEALTHY LIVING
I’ve always been super interested in healthy living and eating the right foods too, but particularly since my little sister – www.barbarajhunt.com – landed her first Saturday job at the local Health Food shop where we grew up. Back in the late 1970’s, while I lived on fags, Coca Cola and Wimpy’s, she was lecturing me on the virtues of sesame seeds, green powder supplements and LIVE yogurt (who knew there was such a thing?!). She never had a cold or as many spots as I did – so I decided to look into this ‘Health Food’ thing a bit more…
In the early 80’s I dabbled with food combining, eating raw (not for me!) and I was vegetarian for many, many years – although I always struggled with not eating bacon and none of the substitutes – you know the kind of thing – ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bacon/Butter/Sausages’ stuff – never really worked for me! When I got married and had children, I also wanted my children to be healthy and well nourished, so we started buying organic food and cooking from scratch. But, although I thought I had it all under control – I was trying to follow the best lifestyle I could and follow the NHS Guidelines – basing meals on energy giving carbs, eating five a day, avoiding salt and limiting saturated fats and sugars… I still didn’t FEEL healthy! Even though I was still dance teaching and trying to keep myself fit, when I hit my menopause (around 50) I put on weight, felt horrible and I even got spots again! I just didn’t like my body anymore and I absolutely hated getting old. Something wasn’t working.
LOOKING INTO LONGEVITY
The Christmas, I turned 50 I made a promise to find out how I could support myself mentally & physically and to grow older, but in a healthy and active way. After all, there’s no point in living to be 100 years old – if your last 25 years are spent sitting in a chair being spoon fed. In 2010 I decided to study for a Level 3 in Diet & Nutrition and after that, I continued my research into how our diets (& lifestyles) have changed over the last 50 years. I studied physiology, anatomy and exercise science and I also began to look at Human Biological Evolution.
I also made a point of always looking BEYOND what the mainstream media and Big Pharma and Big Food have been telling us about health, especially in relation to our diets and particularly sugar, processed foods and starchy carbohydrates. I began to discover that so many things that I had believed to be ‘healthy’ were in fact, detrimental to our health and well-being and in some instances are actually killing us (slowly). I also took a deep dive into the science of longevity and how important it is to maintain flexibility, strength and muscle as we age.
In 2011 I qualified to teach another new dance craze that was sweeping across the fitness industry called Zumba – which is Latin based Fitness. I also took up KARATE (that’s another story!). And in 2017, after practising Yoga on and off for many years, I also decided to do my RYT200 yoga teacher qualification. You can read all about my Yoga Teacher Training here – it’s called LIFE IN THE BENDY LANE!
With my passion now expanding into diet, lifestyle and well-being as well as dance and yoga – during the Covid pandemic where there was much focus on health, I qualified as a Nutrition Network Advisor (https://nutrition-network.org/) and an Ambassador with the PHC (Public Health Collaboration). I’m also an Approved Health Results Practitioner (healthresults.com)
In addition to the core subject of DANCE – I also now teach YOGA & MARTIAL ARTS and following my interest in diet and nutrition, since I retired from teaching children – I have done further CPD and I also now offer personal HEALTH COACHING.
On the website you’ll also find lots of FREE information DIET & NUTRITION, METABOLIC HEALTH & THE PROPER HUMAN DIET. There is also a BLOG.
I always try to be an inspiration to others as to what’s possible, so I practice what I preach. I believe that we are all students and everyday is an opportunity to learn something new or expand our knowledge.
I am fully qualified through the IDTA (International Dance Teachers Association), a Yoga Alliance RYT200 (Registered Yoga Teacher) and I hold a 1st Dan black belt in Shotokan Karate as well as a Level 3 NVQ in Diet & Nutrition. I am a Registered Zumba Instructor and I am a qualified Nutrition Network Advisor, an Ambassador for the PHC and an Approved Health Practitioner with Health Results.
Oh – and I’ve also written a couple of children’s picture books!
International Dance Teachers' Association