‘Dance is a form of expression without words.’

My whole life I have embraced dance. I remember at a young age putting on my first pair of dance shoes and walking into class. From that day on, there was no looking back. I would attend dance classes weekly in styles of jazz, tap, ballet and funk. All styles were different in many ways – movement, music and even the dance wear and shoes. I found jazz movements were free flowing and I would move to Top 40 music such as Michael Jackson and Madonna. Tap dancing allowed me to focus on my feet, beat and rhythm. I loved the sound that my tap shoes made as they shuffled along the dance floor. Music from musicals and theatre were used in tap class such as Singing in the Rain evoking memories of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Ballet focused on balance, stretching and slower movements. I perceived ballet as a traditional dance form watched in the theatre, entertainment for people in days when television and the internet did not exist.

My dance journey from a young age allowed me to experience a broad spectrum of emotions from joy of my first dance performance to the fear of my first exam. Nevertheless dance became part of me and I developed a passion for dance.

Following this passion, I did V.C.E dance in Year 11 and a Dance Teacher’s qualification. At university, I also studied a unit in contemporary dance. In 2012, I started learning Latin American dancing involving styles such as Cha Cha, Rumba, Jive and Samba. Since then I have obtained my bronze and silver medals in Latin dance and am working towards my gold. At this stage I train for three hours a week.

‘Dance is a form of expression without words,’ interests me as an author as well. Writing and dance have a strong connection. They can be seen as a form of storytelling. Writers need to show their characters’ emotions in various ways. In my opinion some of the best writers do this. It is about the feeling, writing from your soul. I guess how I connect the two is when I dance I feel the emotions and dance with passion. The same applies to my writing I try to feel the characters emotions and write with passion.

My third novel, Dance Demons introduces readers to the world of Latin dance, the Salsa, Cha, Cha, and some other styles.

Dancing is all around us, in movies, the theatre, on the internet, and television. Dance is part of culture, tradition, history and new age. Some of my favourite movies are Strictly Ballroom, Dirty Dancing, Billy Ellliot, Mao’s Last Dancer and Singing in the Rain.

Dance is a global language that is used throughout the world. It is storytelling shown through movement. My third novel has allowed me to combine two passions. Happy Reading.