DANCE SCHOOL IN MAIDENHEAD & BEACONSFIELD

Initially, we focus our learning on coordination, timing and rhythm in fun-based routines set to the latest popular music as well as the classics. Building on these early stages, we continue to develop the dancers' ability further and students can learn the various dance forms in more depth.
All our students are invited to take regular examinations in their chosen discipline. As well as working through the graded system, performance medals are also taken and the school show, which brings all the branches together, is performed every 2 years.
Our aim is to give our students a skill that will be with them for life, to develop an understanding and love of dance. In many cases, our students have gone on to become professional dancers and teachers.

Our Founder: Patricia Ann Steel

Pat (Miss Steel) was trained at the Joyce Butler School of Dance where she gained her teaching qualifications in both Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), National Association of Teachers of Dancing (NATD) & Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) examination boards. She founded her school in 1953 in her parent’s front room in River Road, Maidenhead. As classes expanded, she began renting spaces around the Maidenhead area, and later, Beaconsfield where she had set home with husband Bob and their 2 children. Teaching was her passion, and she threw herself fully into her career, keeping her maiden name as her business name and becoming a role model for strong, independent thinking women of the future.

Our Principal: Candy Cox

Pat’s daughter Candy danced as soon as she could walk and clearly displayed a talent. She won a scholarship to train at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance in Battersea aged 11, becoming an RAD Scholar, whilst also training alongside mum, Pat Steel.

Having graduated with a degree in Performing Arts from De Montfort University, Candy went on to pass her teaching qualifications with the RAD, the NATD and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD). She is also a qualified Silver Swans teacher, Pilates instructor and was awarded a Life Membership to the Royal Academy of Dance in recognition of ongoing commitment and dedication to the RAD. More recently Candy has become a mentor for teachers embarking on the Certificate in Teaching Studies, a 2-year programme resulting in qualified teacher status, and to date, has successfully mentored 4 teachers through their teaching qualifications. Candy enjoys using her wealth of experience to guide and support new teachers, in the same way that Pat Steel did for her.

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As Pat’s health began to deteriorate, it was inevitable that Candy would take over the running of the dance school. In 2007, Candy was made Principal and has since directed the school into the success it is become today. The move was made to the wonderful BCA for the Saturday school, new studios were hired in the state-of-the-art Braywick Leisure Centre, contemporary and acrobatic classes were added to the timetables, and new teachers brought in to offer a wealth of new talent and energy.

Candy is incredibly proud of the school’s ethos and family atmosphere, which she has achieved without compromising the high standards set by Pat Steel nearly 70 years ago.