Born in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1966, then moved to Norwich in 1970. Throughout my childhood I attended dance classes in Ballet, Tap & Modern and even belonged to the dancing schools troupe of majorettes. This was not my only taste of dancing, with my family we also attended English Folk Dancing classes, and I also occasionally accompanied my dad to Scottish dance classes. My parents even met through dancing, so you could say dancing is in my blood!
In 1996 along with my sister Alison we attended a line dance class being run by our old dance teacher’s daughter thinking it would be good to just meet up again, and ended up getting hooked. Not long after this I was persuaded to set up my own class, the first of which was held at the Dussindale Centre in Norwich, where I was already at that stage training my own majorette/baton twirling troupe. From there I went on to set up several other classes before being invited to teach at The Wild Stallion Dance Ranch in Norfolk, where I continued to teach at until leaving the county in January 2005. I’m now living in the beautiful tourist town of Bridgnorth, Shropshire with my husband Gary, who I met whilst teaching on a line dance holiday in Madeira.
I choreographed my first line dance Senorita Margarita in 2000 to the Tim McGraw track of the same name, which although not a massive hit did get taught in several countries throughout the world and eventually go on to be published in the Up Country magazine. My first big hit came with Evergreen which was written to the Will Young version of the song of the same name, which went on to not only reach the Linedancer Magazine Top 20 but making it to No. 1, and then not only being a nomination in the Linedancer Magazine Crystal Boots Awards, but actually winning Australia’s version of the Awards with International Dance Of The Year. I went on to have a few other hits, including Badda Boom! Badda Bang! which not only reached the Linedancer Magazine Charts but also went on to be an official competition dance for the UCWDC. I have also co-written dances with some other well known choreographers, I Don’t Care (About Trouble) with Teresa & Vera, and Indigo Moon, New Dreams and Do You Really all being co-written with my good friend Robbie McGowan Hickie.
After a short break from teaching line dancing after my move to Shropshire, just over 3 years, I was persuaded to start a class up at a local village hall at Ditton Priors, where there had been several classes in the past but for various reasons had finished with members having to travel to other areas in search of classes. It’s a really lovely class, and not only have I got the locals but also a lovely group of people travelling from the Craven Arms area to the class every week. With that classes success I now have another lovely little class for beginners and improvers in another local village hall at Chetton, and am currently looking to set up more classes in the new year providing I can find available halls and enough people that are interested in coming and giving it a go!
What else is there to say about myself… well I have three lovely children, Danielle (the teenager), Aidan (the future footballer when he grows up), and not forgetting the youngest member of the family, Luke (Thomas The Tank Engine’s biggest fan)!
Well that’s enough about me, hope I didn’t bore you too much…. That is if you’re still reading at this point….LOL
Love Karen x
