Teacher shares her passion for dance

When the studio where she worked was forced to close its doors, she offered a full programme of online classes for those who needed a welcome distraction.

They were available via Zoom for any child, not just the ones she knew, and Megan even had children from Germany log on each day.

To supplement her income during the pandemic, she worked as a front-line receptionist within the NHS and did this around her dance classes.

“We kept our normal timetable and the children would dance in their bedroom or living room,” says Megan.

“It encouraged the children to keep going and keep moving and gave them something else to think about while they were stuck at home,” she tells Weekend.

Now the 24-year-old has opened her own studio in Brierley Hill where she hopes to continue sharing her passion for dance.

Megan has been dancing since she was four years old and attended the Birmingham Ormiston Academy, which specialises in creative, digital and performing arts.

After leaving school, she attended Addict Dance Academy in Leicester, which provides training in a wide range of dance styles and Megan graduated with a BA Honours degree in Dance and Performing Arts.

For the past six years she has been teaching all styles of dance, including ballet, tap, jazz, freestyle, commercial, street, acro and musical theatre.

Her new dance studio, D2 Studios, which is based on Portwest Retail Park, off Waterfront Way, Dudley Road, caters for all age groups and abilities and offers fun classes and professional training.

There are currently around 70 students enrolled at the school, ranging in age from two to 26, and daytime and evening classes are available, seven days a week.

Megan, who grew up in Cradley Heath and now lives in Birmingham, also offers Sunday workshops with some of the country’s best choreographers.

So far they have included masterclasses with lyrical dancer Megan Paxton and hip hop specialist Elliott Richardson with more sessions planned for the coming months.

Opening the studio has been a long-held ambition of Megan’s and she has been delighted to see her vision become a reality.

“I’ve been dancing all the way through my life. It’s always been a dream of mine to open my own dance studio. It was just a shell when I got the unit and I had to get a builder in to create the kind of studio I had envisaged.

“It’s been a lot of hard work but it’s been very exciting. I couldn’t wait for the children to see it for the first time,” she explains.

To celebrate the studio’s completion at the end of November, Megan, who also runs exercise classes, hosted an open day giving pupils the chance to view the new building and its facilities.

She has been delighted by the response to the studio, which opened its doors for the first time on January 3, and is grateful for all the support and positive feedback she has received since starting the business.

“We train children from the age of two in our disco divas class on Saturday mornings up to any age.

“We can train them whether they just want to have fun or they want to pursue a performance career. We can prepare them for a career in performing or teaching.

“We have trained some of our older pupils to be assistant teachers on Saturday,” says Megan, who previously worked at MSA Dance Academy.

She finds teaching incredibly rewarding and she loves watching her students enjoying the classes and learning the different moves and steps.

“I’ve been teaching dance for six years and I really enjoy working with the children and helping them to improve their skills.

“They have a lot of fun,” says Megan, who has two fellow teachers as part of the D2 Studios team.

Enrolment is under way and Megan says there are still plenty of places available in classes. She says she would love to hear from anyone interested in joining the sessions.

To find out more about Megan’s dance classes email d2studios.enquiries@gmail.com, visit www.facebook.com/D2dancestudios or follow @ d2studiosd2 on Instagram.