Juniper Dance & Fitness School

After 11 years of coaching dancers through choreography creation and development of their own individual style, I find myself giving the same feedback and advice again and again. And what happens when dancers apply these tips is transformational. They can turn a good choreography into a great choreography.

More energy in the arms.
So often dancers cut energy short at the wrist or elbow. Remember that your arms start at your chest and back so the energy should start there too - visualise light starting at the heart and beaming past the tips of your fingers.

Finish your moves!
Cutting things short or skipping over the tricky parts - I see this especially in hip movements like mayas and taxeems, undulations and arm movements. It's usually due to not having a transition or not effectively drilling technique.

Think about pathways and transitions.
Seen especially with arms, not thinking about *how* to get from one place to another. Transitions are an absolute must to elevate your performance. The space between the moves matter just as much as the movements themselves.

Think about gaze, intention and feeling.
What's your piece about? What does the music make you feel? How can you communicate that with your body, expression and gaze?

You don't need to dance to your maximum range of motion.
I'm not saying you can never do this. But when it's the only thing you do it can make a dancer look like they lack control and precision.

Where's the texture?
Like music and movies, the best dance pieces have peaks and lows. If there are no dynamic changes in a piece it can look very monotonous and one note. Adding texture can instantly elevate even the simplest choreographies. A change of movement quality, a moment of stillness, an inhale or exhale... There are limitless options! Your dance should take us on a journey and rarely are journeys a straight line with no bumps and curves.

Did you learn something? Save this post to come back to later and if you're interested in performance coaching send me a DM to be the first to get news on my upcoming programmes!

If you're wondering where I've been, I've been busy building something new!

Apologies for my recent absence from my Instagram account - I've been busy creating a new business focused solely on moms and babies. I know a lot of you follow me here for my dance work, so I thought it was a good idea to branch out and separate my two passions so I can reach the right people and you see the content you want to see.

If you're already here and interested in my work as a maternal wellness specialist, feel free to follow my new account on Instagram (page coming soon) - where I'll be sharing postnatal recovery tips, relatable motherhood moments and ways to involve your baby in your movement practice, building up to local classes and a community of moms.

But don't worry, if this isn't your thing I will be posting here more regularly going forward. Thank you for your patience while I created this new venture!

🌟 We’re back this week! 🌟Ready to dance, move, and strengthen your body - all from the comfort of home? Join me live on Zoom for a new season of weekly classes:
✨ Tuesdays 6–7pm | Level 2 ITS
✨ Tuesdays 7–8pm | Level 3 ITS
✨ Wednesdays 7–7:40pm | Mat Pilates
✨ Thursdays 7–8pm | Intermediate–Advanced Fusion Bellydance

Whether you’re building foundations, pushing your dance technique, or finding balance through Pilates, there’s a class to spark your passion and elevate your practice.

💻 Sign up now: www.juniperdancefitness.com/learn/weekly-classes

Let’s move, sweat, and dance together—see you in class! 💃

Just completed my in-person training to become a breastfeeding peer support volunteer for the Royal Wolverhampton Trust!

I still have some online healthcare related courses, an MMR jab, and induction to complete before I can start supporting mothers on the ward and at support groups, but I'm well on my way there and can't wait to support moms in making informed choices about their infant feeding journeys.

With all the misinformed nonsense spouted by Karen Millen on Channel 5 this week, it's more clear than ever how valuable peer support is in the UK. We have some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world and people like Karen aren't exactly helping to boost those numbers.

I strongly believe that receiving peer support empowered me to breastfeed my child and made it possible to reach a point where I no longer dreaded feeding my baby and actually started to enjoy the experience. 16 months later and we're still going strong with the most wonderful bond. Can't wait to empower women on their own journeys with their babies.

Celebrating with a b***y cupcake! 😁

Join me on Zoom for mat Pilates, all levels welcome!
Sign up at www.juniperdancefitness.com/learn/weekly-classes

Had a lovely, relaxing time off in Crete this week and feeling ready to start a month-long series of classes from w/c 28 April!

What's on the agenda?

Tuesdays:
6-7pm ITS Level 2
7-8pm ITS Level 3

Wednesdays:
7-7:45pm Mat Pilates (Beginner/Improver level)

Thursdays:
7-8pm Fusion Bellydance (Intermediate/Advanced level)

What else have I been up to recently?
* Completed a training course on working with menopausal clients.
* Started breastfeeding peer support volunteer training.
* Working on choreography for Juniper Project and going through the audition process for both pieces.
* Finally finishing the Infusion Emporium show video editing! 🙏🏻
* Preparing the next edition of Infusion Emporium.
* Caring for my 14 month old 💗

What have you been up to recently?

Auditions for Juniper Project incoming!

Put the dates in your diaries if you want to audition for one or both.

Piece 1: 'Elysian Shadows' - elegant and fierce fusion bellydance piece, this is one for all the technique and aesthetic junkies. Think fast isolations, fancy arm patterns, turns aplenty and all the usual Alexis-style flair.
Applications open 7th-20th April.
Rehearsal dates: 20-21 September.

Piece 2: 'Rush Hour Crush' - a more contemporary inspired piece, expect elegant turns, dramatic lines, floorwork and dancing with props. While this is a more theatrical storytelling piece, there will still be plenty of challenging technique, and we're using some unusual props for this one! We'll be getting up close with our fellow dancers so being comfortable with invading each other's personal space is helpful 😁
Applications open 21st April - 4th May.
Rehearsal dates: 27-28 September.

Both pieces are to be performed at Infusion Emporium on Saturday 18th October.

You can apply to be part of both pieces but you must send two auditions. After applying you'll be sent a link to a combo you need to learn to audition. This is either a combo from the dance itself or a similar style. You have 7 days to learn and return a video of you dancing the combo. Applications will be invalid without this.

To clarify, if you apply on the final day (eg 20/04), you'll still have 7 days to learn and return (ie deadline 27/04) - this gets asked every year 😉

I endeavour to give you a response about your audition within 2 weeks of the closing date.

Questions? Comment below!
I'm so excited to begin this year's Juniper process! 💃🏻

What's new with you? I would love to hear what you've been up to.

I just finished some training on exercise for women going through menopause with the Well HQ. It's only taken me a year to finally complete it around juggling my work and caring for my baby 😅 Better late than never.

M starts a couple of sessions a week at nursery in May, and while I am feeling anxious about how that will go down for her and for me, I am looking forward to having some actual time to pump into my business as I feel the stress of being behind on admin, choreo tasks, etc. I just hope I can focus on those things rather than how much I will miss her!

So what's new in your world? Let me know in the comments!

No Pilates tonight, I have a new series starting next Wednesday on Zoom at 7PM. Perfect for beginners, pre and postnatal friendly, suitable for all levels as I'll offer advancements for those who desire them 😊

Have questions about how Pilates can make a difference to your health and wellbeing? Drop them below and I'll be happy to answer! ❤️

There are literally no flattering photos of me during labour 😂 Hard to believe that this time last year I still had 13.5 hours to go before meeting my baby. It was long and painful and nothing how I'd pictured it. I would do it all again but if I knew what I knew now I'd have stood up for myself more in the last hour so I could have birthed how my body wanted to. I still hold on to a lot of anger, hurt and upset about my birth but the kid I got at the end is amazing, my absolute world, and I love seeing something new about her every day.

Tomorrow is a celebration of her first year on earth but it's also a celebration of me and what I went through to bring her into it. And it's a celebration of mine and Dan's first successful year as parents. We have loved her unconditionally from a tiny, fragile little thing into this cute, funny, inquisitive small human.

Also, if you're interested, I only watch TV when I'm feeding M. It's crazy how many hours I've spent breastfeeding this year. If I tell you that I've watched 5 seasons of Angel, 8 seasons of Desperate Housewives, 2 seasons of Bridgerton and 21 seasons of Greys Anatomy and that only covers daytime feeds while at home and not the dozens of hours I've fed her on the go and overnight.... Ooof, that's a lot of hours! The number of feeds are declining so who knows when I'll get to watch TV soon 😂

Happy almost birthday, M 💖