Ceroc Inspire: Dance Inspiration
Step into the world of Ceroc with Dance Inspiration, the podcast for dancers who love connection, rhythm and real conversation. We explore social dance, confidence, community and the positive impact of movement on wellbeing. Our episodes are heartfelt, rooted in real stories, real people and a genuine sense of belonging.
Ceroc Inspire: Dance Inspiration
Reminiscing and Exciting News: Welcoming a New Dance Class to our Dance Family
Dance memories and community stories take centre stage in this episode, as Liz and Mark look back on their early days at Burton Town Hall and the journey that shaped Ceroc Inspire. From the grandeur of the Victorian ballroom to the energy of theme nights and unforgettable freestyle moments, they reflect on the highs, lows, and all the people who helped build their dancing story.
They also look ahead to what’s coming next for Ceroc Inspire dancers, from beginner evenings and Rhythm Fusion plans to new DJs and fresh opportunities for the community to get involved. And don’t miss the end of the episode for a special announcement you won’t want to miss.
- Instagram: @ceroc_inspire
- Facebook (Ceroc Inspire) https://bit.ly/4oxszEc
- Facebook (Liz): facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565390853289
Whether you’re new to dancing or simply love a good story about trying something new, each episode will leave you smiling
DANCE | COMMUNITY | WELLBEING | CONFIDENCE | CONNECTION
Hello and welcome Ceroc Inspire's Dance Inspiration Podcast. I'm Liz.
Speaker 00:And I'm Mark. And we're here keeping you up to date with everything that's going on in Sir Rock Inspire.
Speaker 01:So let's get started.
Speaker 00:So we had our Burton freestyle last night. Yep. And we've been reflecting back on our journey to where we are now, what venues we've been to, and how it's been.
Speaker 01:We have. I think being at Burton last night really brought back some memories to us when we were talking about the Burton class nights, didn't it?
Speaker 00:Yeah, well Burton Burton's special for me, isn't it? Because that's where I started taxiing.
Speaker 01:Yeah. So it's like But being in the being in the that place, I mean it is I mean, we've got two really great um venues, freestyle venues, haven't we? Well, three really good freestyle venues. Derby is really plush and sort of the Rolls-Royce of venues with Aircon and Ashbourne is pretty modern, but Burton is like stepping back in time into it's a Victorian ballroom, isn't it?
Speaker 00:Yeah, well, it's like the same. Don't forget the the floor in Burton Town Hall is older than that in Blackpool Tower.
Speaker 01:Yeah. And then it's like Whirlitzer, isn't there, hidden on the stage?
Speaker 00:The surprise one that comes up from underneath.
Speaker 01:I know it's pretty amazing, isn't it? But also, I mean, last night when we had the lights up, once you once you light up that ballroom, wow, it looked amazing last night.
Speaker 00:It's that window at the back as well that just gives you that special that balcony, that window.
Speaker 01:Yeah, it just gives you that beautiful colours big, tall roof. Yeah. It just all lit up, isn't it? And then you've got your blue flame lights on the stage, and we've got all the other lights, the blue light. It looked stunning last night.
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:In a more modern venue, there's no way you could pull that off.
Speaker 00:No, no, there's no way you could get the lights like that up on the ceiling.
Speaker 01:No, no way.
Speaker 00:And it's like it is one of my favourite ones.
Speaker 01:It just makes it extra special. Yeah, I know. It just makes it extra special that venue. I think that's why we we tend to use it for two and three roomers, because it's it is such a gorgeous venue, isn't it?
Speaker 00:Yeah, and I mean we used to have classes there, didn't we?
Speaker 01:We did. Back in.
Speaker 00:That's where we went.
Speaker 01:We went to classes there about 2010, I think.
Speaker 00:I think it was the back end of 2009, beginning of 2010.
Speaker 01:And that was because no, it was 2010, and I'll tell you for why, because we started doing the door at Derby and we were losing classes, so we actually decided to go to classes on the Wednesday. No, we stopped dancing as much. I think it was I think it was probably in fact we started doing the door at Derby in November 2010, so we must have been going to Burton at that point.
Speaker 00:I think we went a bit before we did the Derby ones because we wanted to get more dancing because once once a week wasn't enough.
Speaker 01:Oh, yes, that's right. Because I remember the DJ that was there at the time, he suggested to Jeff that we did the door at the Derby, didn't he? Yeah, so so it's probably it probably was when you said then.
Speaker 00:Caroline was doing the door at Burton.
Speaker 01:Yeah.
Speaker 00:Um, and we went there just to dance.
Speaker 01:We did. We used to do um a Wednesday night lesson, didn't we? It was it was a very different class, actually.
Speaker 00:Yeah, I think I mean I know we went over there mainly because the teacher at Derby was teaching at Burton as well.
Speaker 01:Yeah.
Speaker 00:So we had the same teacher.
Speaker 01:We felt familiar.
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Because even though we'd been going for a little bit by then, because we started in July 2009, didn't we?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Even though we're going for a few months, we were still like a bit a bit nervous newbies, weren't we? Really? Yeah.
Speaker 00:We were no different to you, Lot.
Speaker 01:No, we were exactly the same.
Speaker 00:So it took me ages to actually get my head around the moves.
Speaker 01:Yeah.
Speaker 00:And remember them.
Speaker 01:Yeah, well, me too. You still cough me on the head now, don't you, when we dance together. So yeah, still not got it. But yeah, it was um it's such a beautiful venue and it's got a massive main room, hasn't it? And the the class there, I think there was about 50 to 60 people, do you think, maybe less? Perhaps 40 to 50.
Speaker 00:I think 40 to 50. I think it was about 50 to 60 when we were there. It was quite a bit.
Speaker 01:Initially, yeah. Yeah, it was it was a good there was people that used to go there every single week without fail, wasn't there?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:But it did start to dwindle a little bit. I'm not sure why. But it didn't always busy.
Speaker 00:See, my my memory is obviously we've been a taxi there, it's actually doing it in that little corridor at the back.
Speaker 01:Oh my god, that little corridor. So if you've been to Bit the Burton venue and you know the rooms around the back, the lingen and the dove, well we used to do the we used to do the refresher in that little foyer, didn't we?
Speaker 00:With my little boom box.
Speaker 01:With your little boom box, yeah.
Speaker 00:Yeah. So we're gonna turn and face this way and face the disabled toilet. Then we're gonna turn and face the opposite way and face the kitchen door.
Speaker 01:Yeah, dead part, not like Rolls Royce at all, but no. But yeah, I mean, so you've been doing taxi and you were trained by Rowena, weren't you? Yeah, so I So that's what 15 years ago.
Speaker 00:Fifteen years ago.
Speaker 01:You're a pro, aren't you?
Speaker 00:Well, nearly, I think so.
Speaker 01:She's been doing it even longer, bless her. Yeah.
Speaker 00:But we I mean it was a great mix of dancers and crew there, wasn't it?
Speaker 01:It was, yeah. I mean Yeah, we used to have some, we used to have um the odd theme night, didn't we, with things like V Day or something because obviously the circus came to town. The circus came to town, we did that one, didn't we? And then we had like, didn't we have Land Army girls and like pilots and all the things?
Speaker 00:Well, it was always the Halloween and the Christmas dress.
Speaker 01:Yeah, we always used to have like really big deal theme nights there, didn't we? It was lots of fun.
Speaker 00:I think that was that was Tracy's thing, wasn't it?
Speaker 01:Yeah, she liked that kind of thing, yeah. Yeah, yeah, she liked to get up on the stage and in dress up, didn't she?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Then Tracy left and we had Jeff for a while, didn't we?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:But um he was already busy with other venues, so he drafted in Andy Avis.
Speaker 00:Andy.
Speaker 01:Andy that was working up here for two years, wasn't he?
Speaker 00:He totally changed the concept of the totally changed it.
Speaker 01:So we stopped having the teacher and the demo on the stage, didn't we?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:He brought it down to the floor because actually the numbers had dwindled by that point quite quite significantly. And so it was possible to have a big circle around the teacher and the demo and just do the class that way.
Speaker 00:And he used to I'm gonna say he used to nip in and out with a demo, he used to get rid of his demo and then pull people out of the circle, didn't he? I can remember watching people's faces as he was like, You'll do for my demo.
Speaker 01:It's like what they loved it though, and it really gave them a feel for you know how great it was to just be able to dance with the teacher during a lesson. I it I think it was a really good positive thing. Yeah, he was a very positive teacher, wasn't he?
Speaker 00:Oh yeah.
Speaker 01:And he really built that he built their numbers back up quite significantly, didn't he?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Yeah, then unfortunately he passed away suddenly. So that was a massive shock.
Speaker 00:And I think that was a massive blow.
Speaker 01:I think that's what killed Burton, you know.
Speaker 00:I think so.
Speaker 01:The Burton class nights, yeah. Him going, even though we did try to keep it going, it it just never recovered from that shock, I don't think.
Speaker 00:No, no, I don't think it did. So not only that, there were still quite a few other dance people about in that area.
Speaker 01:There was a lot more independent operators, weren't there, around at that time. In fact, there was another independent operator doing modern jive in Burton Town Hall the day before our class. Once that came in, I think that was just about the you know, the last nail in the coffin, wasn't it?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Which was really sad.
Speaker 00:But those classes have gone.
Speaker 01:They have gone, they have gone, and it's sad. And people still talk about them, don't they? People that used to go there, talk about them, and people say to us, have you not got a class night in Burton? Or is there any class nights in Burton? We go, No, sorry, we just got done. So we listened, we acted.
Speaker 00:And guess what?
Speaker 01:Burn class night's back! Yay! Right, it's coming back. It is coming back on Wednesday, the 21st of January, 2026, and that might seem like a long way away, but it really isn't. It really isn't. Christmas parties and everything beforehand, we decided to leave it to the new year, didn't we?
Speaker 00:Yeah, because we're just gonna dwindle around Christmas, so it's like, let's do it in the new year.
Speaker 01:Give everybody something to do. Yeah, yeah. I was I'm so excited about that. We're not we're not doing the classes in the main hall, um, it's it's too big and it's too expensive. So we have actually negotiated with Burton Town Hall and we're gonna use the dove room, which is the room if you've been to one of our freestyles that the tango or Daniel has been in doing his pachata. He was there last night. He was there last night in that room. It's a really fab room. Um, so we're gonna be in there doing our uh class night on a Wednesday from half seven till half ten.
Speaker 00:And as you know, Nicola's our latest teacher, and she's gonna be the resident teacher there.
Speaker 01:She's so excited. Yeah, she is so excited, and so we actually now need some crew, don't we?
Speaker 00:So guess what? If you want to become a taxi and try and do it for as long as me, we'll be dedicated. Now's your opportunity.
Speaker 01:We would love some people to come to us and try out being a taxi. We'll get you trained up before Burton opens. We can get you trained up at Derby or Ashbourne, whatever suits you. We'll put you on taxi training, which we do ourselves and give the opportunity to practice. So by the time you we open up Burton, we could have you up and running, just like our Derby and Ashbourne taxis are. So that would be great. So if you do feel like you would like to do a bit of taxiing for us, please come and talk to me out the door or email us or ring us or whatever. Just let us know. Just let us know. Yeah. Yeah. We have we have got a beginner's day, haven't we?
Speaker 00:We have got a beginner's day on Saturday, the 17th of January. So if you know anybody that's been thinking about it and is not 100% sure and would like to give it a little try or come along and talk to us, we're gonna be there on the 17th of January.
Speaker 01:Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 00:Yeah, for you to do that, to pop in so they can come and find out what it's all about, sign up and give a little sample.
Speaker 01:Absolutely. Let me just have a quick check of the time. I think it is oh yeah, I think it's gonna be two till five, isn't it, in the afternoon?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:But yeah, I mean that it's so exciting to get classes back to Burton. I mean, we did look around and think and consider maybe getting a cheaper venue somewhere, a smaller venue, but it doesn't make sense to have such an amazing building and go somewhere else. I mean, you know, business wise. So we've negotiated with Burton Town Hall so that we can afford to have our class nights back where they used to be. And it feels right, doesn't it?
Speaker 00:Well, let's face it, it is the name on the tin, isn't it? It is the name on the tin. Ceroc Burton Town Hall.
Speaker 01:Yeah, it is. So you couldn't really have Ceroc classes anywhere else, could you? Not really. No.
Speaker 00:So what we what we want to do is, you know, I mean, we're so excited about it. We want to get the message out there and get it going so we we've got the vibe going already.
Speaker 01:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 00:So that we can build and get a really nice atmosphere going there.
Speaker 01:We've got three months, we've got three months to get the word out there and tell everybody, please come and dance at our classes at Burton Town Hall. Um, you know, that there are lots of people that live out that way, and lots of people that actually would appreciate another class night. Yeah. You know, lots of people come to more than one class night. Lots of people travel further afield because we don't have another class night. So if we had another class for night, you know, you wouldn't have to travel so far. Obviously, there's plenty of parking around there, isn't there?
Speaker 00:Yeah, you can park on the front. There's a big car park around the back.
Speaker 01:Um but I don't know whether or not we could use that on weeknights, though. That's the only thing. We can use it for freestyles. I would have to check that one out.
Speaker 00:Yeah, we'll have to check that.
Speaker 01:We'll let yeah, watch this space, we'll look at that. But you know, there's a lot of street parking, and there is a lot of spaces in the front of the building, so it hopefully it will be easy for people to park. Um, and people will love to come back and join us at Burton Town Hall for class nights. I can't wait, I'm really excited.
Speaker 00:So you can come and join us then, then at the end of January, we've got a three-roomer there again, haven't we?
Speaker 01:We've got our Rhythm, Fusion at the end of January there, our three-room event. Yes.
Speaker 00:So they they could come, get some practice in, yeah, and then come to the freestyle.
Speaker 01:Yeah. Yeah. Of course, we could, you know, Burton, Burton is busy in January. It's a great room. Yeah, and we've got a lot more Burton freestyles next year, so you know, we're going to be using the the venue a lot going forward. We've got three roomers, two roomers, and single roomers. I think we've only got two single roomers, haven't we?
Speaker 00:And we've booked all our freestyles up until the end of 2027, haven't we?
Speaker 01:We really have. So we do all of our bookings a long way ahead because it's, you know, these venues are used for weddings and big parties. So if we don't get our name down and grab the dates while we can, we don't get them. So we are actually now booked all of our dates in to the end of 2027. We actually booked this year's dates last August. Not the August, just gone, the one before.
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:There's the August before the year starts is when we've usually booked, but actually we've now started booking early. We booked a lot earlier this year.
Speaker 00:That's because we had a meeting with Burton Town Hall and we asked them, we they said, yeah, we can book them in.
Speaker 01:Yeah, and just get them booked in. So, you know, we're doing our absolute utmost not to clash with anybody else. We share our dates with other franchisees and independent operators and try to work together to give our dancers a most amazing diary, don't we?
Speaker 00:Yeah, we we want you to have a diary where you don't have to think which one shall I go to? We want you to have a diary that you can go, oh, I'm going to this one that week, this one that week, this one that week, this one that week.
Speaker 01:Dance till you drop, basically.
Speaker 00:Yeah. We want to make sure that you've got a good month of dancing.
Speaker 01:Absolutely. Absolutely. So that's what the aim is. Um, we've been working closely with um other franchisees. Obviously, Ceroc Heaven is right next to our patch, so we work closely with them on dates. Um, but there are a lot of other independent operators popping up all over the place, and it's not possible to work with absolutely everybody and look at every single event up and down the country. But ceroc have started a calendar for franchisees to put their big events in so that we're not clashing with each other.
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Um, because sometimes that does happen. That did happen last night. Shame really, but yeah, we had a great night last night, though. Yeah, it was a really good freestyle. Yeah, it was really good. And everybody said what a great night they had, so it was fine, but it did clash with another event, Ceroc event, or two, and and champs, it's clashed with that as well.
Speaker 00:We have got more exciting plans in the pipeline, haven't we?
Speaker 01:We've got all kinds of exciting plans in the in the pipeline, haven't we?
Speaker 00:We certainly have. So we're going to try and build on rhythm fusion.
Speaker 01:We definitely are. Rhythm Fusion years and years ago used to be called Fresh 3. And Mark and I used to work fresh 3 for the previous franchisee, and there would be three, 400 dancers in that place. It was amazing. The rooms were full. There was a tango room. I can't remember what the other room was.
Speaker 00:It was blues.
Speaker 01:Oh, blues, yeah, tango blues, and mainstream. But we have got a lot of ideas and a lot of DJs that are wanting to do different genres, haven't we? So last night we had Dan Akers doing Latin music, and that was a really nice room. And people that were in that room said the music was really lovely and they loved it.
Speaker 00:So we had Latin bachata salsa.
Speaker 01:Yeah, and he's he was actually asked for a lot more salsa wasn't he? Yeah, so he told me he was asked for more salsa, so he's looking into that more salsa music, and it's something that Dan is really passionate about, so we want to really keep that going at Rhythm Fusion.
Speaker 00:Yeah, we we have a Silc Option.
Speaker 01:Silc Option, and we have Ali Hartland doing tango, yeah, and she's gonna come and work with us as well, isn't she, next year as well. And she's working, she's actually coming to our November rhythm fusion and doing a free tango class. Yeah, so that'll be absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 00:Going on at this rate, we'll be asking Burton Town all to build another room.
Speaker 01:Yeah, four room, five room. You've got another space somewhere, but no, we really do want to build on rhythm fusion. So anybody who has any ideas or things that they might like to see there, please let us know. Again, we're open to suggestions. If we don't take your suggestions on, it's just because they're not feasible for whatever reason. Um, but we are interested in what everybody has to say. Um, we we try to put you the very best freestyle on that we can. We can't fit everybody's views in, can we? We can't please everybody all of the time. But but most people say that rhythm fusion they enjoy it.
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:So and we've got we have got um a couple of two roomers booked in, so you know, we with plans for that as well.
Speaker 00:Yeah, we'll be mixing that up as well.
Speaker 01:Yeah, and even looking a little bit like maybe doing some workshops before rhythm fusion starts, so people can come to the workshop, go and have their tea and then come back for the freestyle.
unknown:Yeah.
Speaker 00:No, so maybe maybe what you could do is let us know what workshops you want before the freestyle to see what we could sort out.
Speaker 01:Yeah, and I've also spoken to a salsa teacher who's prepared to do a taster class at rhythm fusion as well.
Speaker 00:So that'll be That'll be something different for you.
Speaker 01:That'll be really different and really fun, I think. So yeah, we've got lots of plans going on. We do like our three DJ fix, don't we, the fixture that we have in the main room if we can. But if it's rhythm fusion, possibly just two DJs in the main room, otherwise it might be a little bit much. But um yeah, it's really exciting actually planning them, isn't it? And working out who's gonna be there and who we can get. And we we ask a lot of weekender DJs to support us. Obviously, they're in great demand, so we we're probably not at the top of the list, but we're doing our best, aren't we?
Speaker 00:We're doing best best we can to get what we can.
Speaker 01:Talking of DJs.
Speaker 00:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 01:Yes, our now ex taxi Chris has just completed the Ceroc official DJ training course.
Speaker 00:So guess what? He's gonna be a resident DJ at Burton on Trent on a class night.
Speaker 01:Yep, he's actually getting up and running. He has come on amazingly in the six weeks he's been doing his course. He's been DJing at Ashbourne and learning how to DJ for a class, which isn't easy, is it?
Speaker 00:No, no, it's DJing is not easy. It's not just a case of slapping a track on and let's see how it goes.
Speaker 01:No, definitely not. Definitely not. So it's something that you have to learn, isn't it? So it's quite difficult. But we actually have another guy starting his DJ training on the next course, don't we?
Speaker 00:In progress.
Speaker 01:Yeah, well, it's not in progress yet because he hasn't started yet, but he has DJ'd before, um, just not for Ceroc. So we are excited about that. So that will be three DJs that we have within Ceroc Inspire. So that'll be a great. They are all being trained by John Gammon.
Speaker 00:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 01:John Gammon is immense, he's brilliant, you know. So these are people that he's trained.
Speaker 00:You'll all know you all know Johnny.
Speaker 01:Yeah, they're gonna be good. They're gonna be good. So yeah, exciting times.
Speaker 00:So a little recap on what's happening.
Speaker 01:So beginner evenings uh on the 6th and 7th of October, so 6th at Derby and 7th at Ashbourne, and rhythm fusion. Obviously, we're starting to grow that and build it and make it a little bit more special. Yep. And we'd love ideas for that. And we are starting our classes at Ceroc Burton on the 21st of January.
Speaker 00:Get that date in your diary, and don't forget your beginners' day on the 17th of January. Oh, the beginners' afternoon.
Speaker 01:Yeah, any of our regular dancers that would love to come and support us in recruiting beginners on that beginner day, we would love to see you. It's an opportunity for a few hours dancing in the lovely Burton Town Hall in the Dove Room, and also to help us support people that may want to give it a go, dip their toe in, um, the people that live around the Burton area.
Speaker 00:So or if not, just come along, meet meet the crew.
Speaker 01:Come along and have a dance. Yeah, yeah, just come along and have a dance, meet the crew, you have a drink with us, it'd be great, won't it?
Speaker 00:Yeah, I mean, we can't wait to see everybody on the dance floor.
Speaker 01:I know, I can't wait to see Burton light thriving again with the class nights. I'm really excited. Yeah, it's gonna be brilliant, isn't it?
Speaker 00:Yeah, it's gonna be a great time.
Speaker 01:Okay, see you all next time then.
Speaker 00:See you next time.
Speaker 01:Thanks so much for joining us on today's Ceroc Inspires Dance Inspiration podcast.
Speaker 00:We hope you've enjoyed the chat as much as we have.
Speaker 01:And you know that you can find us at Ceroc Derby, Ashbourne and Burton or online at ceroc.com/ Ceroc Inspire.
Speaker 00:And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Facebook for class updates and event news. And also check us out on TikTok and YouTube.
Speaker 01:We'll be back very soon with more stories, insights and inspiration and some special guests.
unknown:See you.
Speaker 01:See you on the dance floor.
