Laura Sway

A bit about me.... I have now been line dancing for 24 years, where has that time gone?

I started at age 10 when my mum decided she would like to try it out, at the time I thought it was funny. she then started asking me to go for company, I was horrified ! I went with her so she didn't have to walk in alone....The teacher called me up to learn " Black coffee" haha.. I did it reluctantly but I must say I did secretly enjoy it. Everyone in the class was so friendly and encouraging. I went the week after and was totally hooked. Since that day I haven't looked back.

I truly believe through my school life it kept me in line (excuse the pun) I wasn't ever interested in nights out, house parties ... I just wanted to go dancing.

I spent my whole childhood attending ballet tap and modern dance classes, entering competitions and exams. That's when I started competitions for Line dancing which were/are amazing!! The experience was incredible But line dancing became more important to me than all those things. I then left school age 18 after all my A-levels and passed the audition to attend full time dance college (What a dream!) It was the hardest but best 5 years of my life. There was certainly ups and downs but I learnt and experienced so so much. I was dancing everyday 8.30 am - 6 pm at night and still made it to my line dance classes.

Once i graduated from college... I was in 12 different shows performing street dance, tap contemporary and musical theater, Carnival Cruise ship for 2 months, Madonna tribute backing dancer plus many pantomimes. Once I had finished all my performing I started up all my own classes teaching children ballet tap modern street Dance musical Theater plus more . I love being able to pass on my talent and experiences to them. There is so many things I can include but in a nutshell, I have had the time of my life growing up with dance/line dancing. I have met the most amazing people, made friends I'll always have and Experienced the most memorable things good and bad Haha. I now work along side Jo Conroy at Funky Country which is where we do many events together, workshop days, weekends, beginner weekends etc.

I have started up my very own classes now which I absolutely love ! and hope to continue to grow.

My choreography started in 2014 , I heard a piece of music and thought I can do this. Since then I've loved doing it. I don't always write dances to make them successful, I write dances because the music inspires me and I enjoy challenging myself. My first successful dance was Brave. We had the privilege of that one being nominated at the crystal boot awards a few years ago and the experience of being included in that was something I'll never forget.

Twisting was one I choreographed with Julie Lockton. Again it was nominated this year 2018 for beginner dance of the year. It was amazing to be included in the show and a privilege to be along side some of the choreographers I've always looked up to and more importantly be nominated with a close friend of mine who iv dance with now for 22 years...it felt surreal but was the best feeling ever!.. Since then I have wrote many more dances... All different levels, and have been very fortunate to now be getting more and more bookings to teach on line dance weekends. I absolutely love it. I get to teach my new choreography, have fun, party, and meet up with old friends and make new ones too of course.

My favorite piece of choreography so far has to be " Friday at the Dance" with Rob Fowler. It took us a while to count the beats in that song, probably the biggest challenge yet Haha, we did have a laugh and many of times nearly give up (well me not him). But with a bit of encouragement we managed to work it out and write a dance we both loved and still are proud of now and what a privileged to choreograph a dance with a choreographer in my opinion is one of the best. Thanks Rob for the opportunity. I have a new dance with Julie called Sh boom which is a great little absolute beginner dance, a new beginner one called goody goody, and excited to be release mine and Rob Fowler a new dance called " See Ya Cecilia" which is an intermediate dance and another called "Just My Type"....