About The DanceSport Academy
The DanceSport Academy has over 35 years experience of providing the highest quality of dance training. Every child matters, thats why we don't just teach children to dance, we teach them skills for life. Through a series of relaxed lessons or classes, children develop confidence and a sense of social awareness.
The professional team at the Academy strive to keep upto date with the latest teaching methods and technique by attending external training organised by corporate members of the British Dance Council, the governing body of dance in Britain.
About our dance principal
All our classes are run under the
supervision of Reg Challinor, the academy principal. Reg holds qualifications
with the National Association of Teachers of Dancing, qualifications and membership
with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing and the International Dance
Teachers Association. In addition he is a member of The Ballroom Dancers Federation,
The National Dance Teachers Association, The Bedford Dance Teachers Network
and the Ballroom Dancers Federation International.
Reg started his dance career with the famous Syd Perkin and Edna Duffield in Newcastle under Lyme. He took his first teacher qualification with them. Further training was taken with Guy Howard, Michael Needham and Monica Needham (Dunsford). He worked for 10 years with Court Schools of Dancing where he developed the business knowledge of running a dance school. He then ran the two Sydney Francis schools in Hendon and Balham. In 1977 he formed the Courtlands School of Dancing which later became the DanceSport Academy.
In 1994 he started a programme to take dance into educational schools, this programme continues today. He is well known in the dance industry and regularly writes and speaks on a variety of topics and has made a number of television appearances, including the Channel 4 ‘Faking It’ series with Sammy Stopford and Paul Harris. The most recent project was for ‘Children in Need’, where Reg was the Choreographer and Head Judge for BBC Three Counties Radio ‘Dancers in Need’. This involved training a number of Radio Presenters in a series of Ballroom and Latin American Dances, to enable them to dance in competition broadcast on television and what must be a first on Radio.