Dance Fitness Classes with Miranda Palmer

I grew up with the privilege of attending local, after school dancing lessons. Initially these were at my aunt’s school, Angela Symonds School of Dancing and later, from the age of 13 at the Arnould School of Dance.

My mother and both her sisters had all had professional dance and theatrical careers, so I was never short of advice and encouragement. Angela taught me ballet, Laura choreographed my competition solos and my mum, Caroline, taught me tap briefly and she encouraged me, practised with me, paid for the lessons and carted me around in the car to all the events! My grandmother made my costumes, it really was a family affair.

I took part in dance festival competitions and dancing school shows from a young age and enjoyed the opportunity to perform and win a few medals along the way!

When I decided to do an academic Geography degree at Bristol University, encouraged by my A level teacher, I ended up spending a good deal of my spare time dancing & performing in musicals.  I admit I never completely fitted in with the students on my course, although they were a great bunch - I was often mistaken for a drama student!

Having gained a BSc Hons degree, I inevitably ended up going back to my first love – dance and musical theatre, at The London Studio Centre where I spent a year gaining as much experience and training as I could in acting, singing and of course dancing.

My professional career involved dancing in a touring circus in Mexico to gain my Equity membership, playing principal girl in a couple of pantomimes, performing in West Side Story at Edinburgh Festival & dancing with The Jiving Lindy Hoppers. I also went to a lot of auditions, suffering plenty of rejections often because I was too short and chunky for the look they had in mind. I did find my true calling eventually, working with Springs Dance Company as dancer and co-director, a long-established contemporary dance company, which combined my love of dance with wonderful team camaraderie (we are still great friends to this day) and a sense of bringing a message to the audience as well as entertainment. During this time, I realised I loved teaching as much as performing and became very interested in working in schools.

In my late twenties, I embarked on and completed a PGCE in primary teaching and then, over the next decade, worked in several prep schools, teaching all subjects initially but finding my passion once more with the creative arts subjects in these schools. As well as teaching I was able to produce and direct various school productions, collaborating across arts and music departments, which I loved. I also enjoyed seeing the children reach their potential as performers – it was such a rewarding role.

My final position as a teacher, before deciding to concentrate on my young family, was Head of Dance and Drama at Bute House Preparatory School, where I was a form teacher, taught drama and dance to every class in the school, helped to develop the extracurricular drama department and created numerous pupils’ shows for parents, staff and friends.

More recently I have been a guest lecturer at Kingston University, working with students on the primary teaching course. It has been wonderful to be able to impart some of my knowledge and experience to these potential next generation teachers and instil in them the love of getting children dancing. It is such a wonderful way for children to learn, improve their fitness, work together and gain confidence in themselves and their creative abilities.

I had always been keen on exercising to music, seeking out group exercise classes whenever I could in gyms and leisure centres, during my time working as a teacher. Like many people I found them great for stress relief and for boosting endorphins.

I trained to teach exercise to music back in the 1990s – this was a 3-week intensive course, ETM level 2, that gives a general aerobics qualification that is recognised around the world. This was to be an excellent and thorough grounding for the one-day Zumba training that I undertook later.

My children were small, I was not working at the time, I had lost some confidence in my abilities, I was keen to get my fitness back and I discovered a local, dynamic Zumba class. Here I found I could have an hour of time to myself, away from the family, and became hooked on the moves and music.  I also made some close friends who shared the same joy of dancing and fitness.

I immediately loved Zumba because each routine follows the pattern and musical phrasing of the song, which is important for dancers and of course uses uplifting world music with a range of infectious dance rhythms.

Encouraged by my husband and friends, I took the Zumba training in October 2010, began my classes immediately and found I was hooked. Initially my classes were a hobby but over time I realised that I had found my true vocation. Instructing these classes combined my love of dancing, performing, teaching and engaging with people! It was everything this extrovert, ex-dancer, ex-teacher wanted in a job!

I have been teaching in the community ever since and haven’t looked back. The morning schedule works well for me now, as a mother of teenagers, but in the future I may open some classes in the evenings once more.

During the lockdown of 2020 and into the following year, I successfully established online classes on Zoom and many of my regular customers came along with great enthusiasm and commitment. I also started recording some classes, creating a catalogue of on demand classes that can be accessed from home on any day of the week.

I have been teaching for a decade in some of my venues, and many of my participants have been with me from the beginning. This loyalty is very humbling. It is also rewarding to see people find an exercise class that they love, make friendships within the group and take part in social events that foster the family feel that I am so keen to sustain.

Newcomers are especially welcome – I know I can always rely on my regular participants to be friendly and inclusive. This is my number one priority with the classes – that anyone would come along and feel immediately at home.

During the pandemic of 2020-21 I worked hard to keep my classes going online but also to extend my training in many areas that would benefit my participants. I took several courses with Zumba, designed to improve my instructing skills, such as Zumba Toning and also took a course about using social media. I also began to think about a new form of fitness class for musical theatre lovers  – it would be easy to follow, easily accessible for a range of fitness levels and would be set to music from stage and screen.  Razzle Dazzle was born!

I am currently working on a further qualification with ActiveIQ – Level 3 Award in Designing Exercise Programmes for Older Adults – to help me further understand the needs of the older population with regards to exercising safely and effectively. It is really important for me to continue to learn and gain more knowledge and understanding, to serve my community as well as I possibly can. I always welcome constructive feedback too!

I hope to continue teaching in the community for many years to come!