I founded Shuffle Dance Company in 2007 and started my preschool dance classes exclusively to private nurseries; but as dancers grew and moved on, there was more and more demand for our style of dance for primary school age children in Dunfermline. After having little ones of my own, I wanted to be able to teach dance near me, and work around my little family. So in 2010 I placed an advert in the Dunfermline Press for preschool dance classes and primary jazz dance classes and the response was amazing!! In a matter of weeks our timetable grew from preschool dance, to add primary school jazz dance, then jazz and street dance for high school students, and ‘Acro-dance’ – our popular dance classes are so loved we are still welcoming new dancers every week! Some of our preschool dancers from those first weeks are now in our high school advanced jazz class, over a decade later!!
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All Shuffle Dance staff are trained professional dancers and are passionate, qualified dance teachers. We’ve been teaching dance in Dunfermline for over a decade, and beyond Dunfermline for even longer so have a vast knowledge and experience of teaching dance for all ages and abilities. We all go through specific training to mirror our high standards of being great teachers, but equally important, we are brilliant with children and know how to deliver fun dance classes. We pride ourselves on hosting inclusive dance classes that are fresh, exciting and age-appropriate, all in a venue near you (Duloch Leisure Centre, Dunfermline Learning Centre).
With our styles ranging from RAD ballet to Acro-Dance, our inclusive policy and our buddy system, we have a class for every child who wants to dance in Dunfermline!
Our little preschool shuffle dance classes are full of the cutest little dancers and make us smile every day. Our jazz and street fusion dance classes for P1-3 and P4-7 are picking up very complex moves and developing impressive coordination in their movement. Our jazz and contemporary dance for teens class impress us constantly with their ability and their intelligent approach to learning new skills. Our acro-dancers are executing some serious tricks that really wow our audiences every time they see them!
I am SO proud of all of our dancers and look forward to seeing them grow each week, whether they go on to professional dance training or not, we know that we have given them the best foundation possible to reach for the stars!
GILLIAN
Meet our Team
GILLIAN
Gillian graduated from Edinburgh’s Telford College, PASS (Performing Arts Studio Scotland) in 2005 with a BA (hons) Dance degree. While studying towards her honours degree she focused her dissertation on early years dance, how music affects the way children move and the physical, emotional, social and cognitive advantages that dance provides for children. Gillian went straight from college to perform with the very popular and well established X Factor Dance Company. From there she worked with the National Theatre of Scotland, choreographing surrounding works as part of their production of ‘The Crucible’ performed in The Byre Theatre in St Andrews and their large scale site-specific project ‘Creations’.
Following NTS Gillian taught for dance schools and councils all over Scotland, as well as in primary and secondary schools for Scottish Youth Dance (Y Dance). While teaching for Y Dance Gillian started teaching in private nurseries and founded Shuffle Dance Company to provide quality dance classes to young children.
MISS MARTINA
Shuffle Dance feels VERY LUCKY to have Miss Martina on our team as our RAD Ballet teacher. Miss Martina is an award winning dance artist from the Philippines, having been dancing since she was 2 years old, she graduated with ‘Honours Plus’ from the Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dancing at the Halili-Cruz Dance Company. From there she went on to perform professionally, gaining lead roles in many Ballets including the role of The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.
As well as dancing professionally, Miss Martina has been teaching Ballet and dance for 20 years all over the globe, including Austria, Hungary, Hong Kong and London! And while the Artistic Director at Edge ‘n’ Pointe Dance Centre in Hong Kong, Miss Martina restages a number of classical contemporary and neo-classical pieces like ‘Cinderella’ and ‘La fille mal gardèe’.
Miss Martina is very happy to be teaching here at Shuffle Dance and we are super excited to be able to offer her expertise to our dancers!
MISS LUCY
Miss Lucy gained her level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance at Northern Ballet School just 4 years ago and has been teaching and performing ever since. Teaching in Ballet Schools in Edinburgh and the Lothians, while performing regularly including solo pieces with Edinburgh Festival Ballet and Memoria with world renowned Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.
We first met Miss Lucy at Shuffle Dance as a ballet teacher, and when we learned about her Acrobatics and Gymnastic skills we couldn’t wait to offer Acro-Dance to our Dancers! Miss Lucy’s ballet background makes her the perfect Acro-Dance teacher for Shuffle Dance as her strong training follows Shuffle Dance’s value of child safety coming first. The dancers LOVE Miss Lucy’s Acro-Dance class and performed amazingly in our 2024 Showcase with only 5 weeks notice!
MISS ELLIE
Miss Ellie danced with Shuffle Dance from the age of 9 and followed her love of dance all the way to her professional training! In 2023 Miss Ellie gained her HND Dance Artist qualification and as well as teaching with Shuffle she is enjoying gaining performance experience, having danced professionally in both the 2023 and 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Miss Ellie loved dancing with Shuffle Dance when she was younger, she learned how supportive and challenging that dance can be and is still friends with many of the people she danced with then! She loves being back as a teacher to give other young dancers the opportunity to make as many positive memories as she did while at Shuffle Dance!
