Today is the day that we will all be voting for the European members of Parliament who in probability will never sit in their elected seats. There is a feeling of pointlessness and I have seriously considered spoiling my ballot paper. I just can’t bring myself to do it though. Thoughts of suffragettes marching and dying flood into my mind and I will later today cast my vote. It brings sharply into my mind that I am also standing for an election: that of President Elect of the

I have been out a lot lately in my role as Examiner for the IDTA and thinking about the value of dance and of people being involved in dance generally. I have always thought that dance has the power to provoke thought, to change lives and to promote communication. When people enter the doors of our studios, or in my situation the doors of one of the community halls where I teach, they arrive with their own ideas of why they want to start dancing and what they want to get out

This week I have been extra busy decluttering. I am a convert to Marie Kondo “The magic Art of tidying”. I am actually on a second declutter as I don’t think I was as certain the first time I did it a year ago as to what items, clothing etc. really bring me joy. The charity shops are certainly benefiting. Whilst going through some old memories and write ups about my dance career I found an article by Major Eric Hancox. It was written after the Professional final in the early

At Christmas a rather wonderful thing happened to me. A couple who I have been teaching for a few years decided that they would dance a demonstration for me as a Christmas present. I arrived for our one to one lesson and was met by the couple all dressed in their dancing clothes and looking very smart. I was escorted to a table where there were chocolates and a nice drink and handed the programme of dances. They had their own music system sorted and all I was asked to do was

This week I was nearly the victim of a scam concerning a request for choreography for bridesmaids. I had read about this scam on a newsletter from the IDTA and some time had passed. Then we received a request to choreograph for a group of bridesmaids. It was a large group and I started deciding what was the appropriate charge and thinking about the choreography. Somewhere in the middle of the night following many emails I lay awake and thought about the content of the emails

The IDTA congress held at the beginning of July in Southport was such a joy to attend this year. It started for teachers with business lectures on Saturday afternoon covering subjects such as GPDR, and Chaperoning, how to run a successful dance school, and an informative question and answer session. It continued with a fun Las Vegas evening on the Saturday, lectures on Sunday, and the IDTA Annual Dinner. This was followed on Monday by the Annual General Meeting in the morning

This is the time of year when a lot of us are feeling under stress. There are end of year shows, exams to finish, presentation evenings, end of term parties, dances and information to get out to students before the end of term. In addition we are keeping up with all our usual private lessons and forward planning. “I haven’t got enough time to do all the things I need to do” is heard from many colleagues and dance teachers. However we all have 24 hours a day so how is it possi

What does it mean to me to be a Director of the IDTA? We will very soon be setting off to Southport and I will have completed two years as a Director of the International Dance Teacher’s Association (IDTA). There will be a new vote and some people will be successful and others will not. Being a Director of an organization I have known in some form or other for so many years is probably one of the things of which I am most proud. I first took medals with the then IDMA when I w

Today I am flying to Larnaca to examine in my role as an Examiner for the IDTA. I have been examining for around 25 years now but I still feel the sense of excitement and privilege to go into schools to assess students. This is a particular joy when I go back to schools where I have examined a few years ago and see the improvements they have made. BECOMING AN EXAMINER For those wishing to become examiners it can be a long struggle as the requirements are high ensuring that th