My Dancing Journey

My name’s Charlotte and I’m the proud owner Tappy Toes Chelmsford. I’ll also be the dance teacher leading your classes!

I grew up in Corringham, Essex where I started dancing at the age of 3 at Susan Stephens Theatre Dance School.  All through my school years I attended evening classes in ballet, tap and modern along with jazz classes on a Saturday morning!

I skipped a year at school (completed reception then jumped straight up to year 2) so quickly got used to being around children quite a little bit older than me. When my friends went out to play/to netball practice/to girl guides etc after school I’d be busy going to a dance lesson! This is me as a child in my ballet uniform…

Love of Dance

I loved dancing so much even from a young age and around the age of 10 I decided I wanted to be on the stage as a career.  Performing in lots of competitions and shows with my dance school, is what took up a lot of my weekends growing up.

I had the pleasure of performing on Cilla Black’s Surprise Surprise when I was 13 with my 2 sisters for Mother’s day as a surprise to my mum!!She was in total shock! We also got to meet Westlife backstage as they were on the show as well! A teenage girl’s dream!

Professional Dance Career

I absolutely loved school and by the age of 17 had 12 GCSE’s, an AS level plus 3 A levels under my belt.  It was at this point I auditioned for a place at Performers College in Essex.  I got a place on the three-year diploma course in Professional Dance and was awarded a full scholarship.

This was where I spent my next three years training full time in dance, drama and singing! I gained my ISTD teaching certificates whilst at college as well as my Diploma and also studied Pilates and anatomy alongside my main performance subjects.  I graduated at age 20 and went on to secure my first professional contract.

Travelling the World as a Dancer

For the next 10 years I went on to have an amazing career as a professional dancer, travelling the world, performing in wonderful shows on beautiful stages on a number of cruise ships.  In 2007 I started out dancing onboard Fred Olsen’s Boudicca around South America.

I went on to perform on P&O Oceana in the Caribbean where our home ports were Acapulco and Barbados! I danced onboard the Saga Ruby travelling Norway, the Baltics and Africa and I also danced on board NYK cruises -a Japanese company whose ship was named Asuka II.  We were based in Japan and Yokohama quickly became my second home over the 7 years I spent onboard.  I also completed many round the world cruises.  It was onboard Asuka II where I met an amazing choreographer (and now very good friend) Gail Davies.

I not only worked for Gail as a dancer but also as her Company Manager and Dance Captain, so I was in charge of the scheduling/admin/payroll side of things as well as leading rehearsals and making sure the shows were ready for an audience!

My Family

I decided when I turned 30, I wanted to start a family. So came home to Essex and that’s when I moved to Springfield, Chelmsford.  I wanted a bit of a change and got myself a full time job in Financial Services (just a slight change I know!).  A couple of months later I found myself pregnant with my little girl Jasmine Ruby. She was born at Broomfield hospital in October 2018.  I took about 13 months off during maternity leave then went back part time 3 days a week…. Which only lasted a few months until Coronavirus came along!

Working from Home

Our entire office began to work from home and so I did this alongside a 17 month old.  It didn’t take me long to find a way to split my hours across the week in a way that I could work around Jasmine and her naps etc.  I made it work for us! Two years down the line I have to go in just 3 days per month. The other hours I complete across the week at times that suit me.

Finding Tappy Toes

I came across Tappy Toes when it popped up on my Facebook! To be honest for a while now I’ve been thinking that I miss the dance side of things. I don’t obviously want to be jetting off here, there and everywhere again but I would like to be involved and to be doing a job that I really love.  I’m so so excited to get started in September and to share my love of dance with you all and of course your little ones!  I’m so happy to be bringing classes to Chelmsford. We will be starting in Springfield and Great Baddow.

You can book classes with me at tappytoes.com/toddler-classes-chelmsford and I can't wait to meet you!