Vera Barclay started to dance at the age of 3.

She is a member of the International Dance Teachers Association and is now a life member. She has taught Rock’n’Roll, Modern Ballroom, Latin American, Old Time, and Dance Exercise & Swing over a period of more than 50 years.

She taught the troubled youth of Lowestoft Rock’n’Roll in the early fifties (with help from her late husband John), appearing weekly with John on the BBC Television show ‘6.5 Special’; and was also a judge for Come Dancing.

She taught Classical Sequence (Old Time) to juveniles in the sixties, with success in competitions at national and international levels; with John she formed the ‘Coleridge Academy of Dancing’ and taught at  the Village Colleges,schools & University around Cambridgeshire, Ely & Suffolk, both to school children during school time, and to adults in the evening. 

She was also asked by the Principle of Homerton College to teach their teachers, who were taking their degrees at the time. She taught Ballroom, which came under the heading of PE. 

Vera and John also taught in their own studio. Her dance exercise classes were taught all over Cambridgeshire, which due to its popularity had a long waiting list.

After moving to Felixstowe on account of John’s illness (he had been diagnosed with severe Systemic Lupus Erythmatosis), she and John taught at the Felixstowe Leisure Centre and at the Walton Memorial Hall, and Leiston sports centre. They also ran Tea Dances at the Leisure Centres in Felixstowe and Woodbridge for the suffolk coastal district council.

More recently, after John’s death she and her new husband Mike set up the ‘Academy of Ballroom Dancing', now renamed as the ‘East Anglia School of Dance'. They taught at the Turner Hall in Newmarket for 15 years, but since their move this has now closed. 

Mike Wakefield is a Licentiate of the International Dance Teachers Association. He started going to Modern Ballroom and Latin American classes in the early sixties. He attended John and Vera’s classes in the seventies.

After a long gap and following John’s death he joined Vera and became a professional dance teacher after their marriage in 2000. He taught at the Turner Hall in Newmarket for the past 12 years and is now continuing with Vera at their new venue, bringing their knowledge to a new area & level.

You will take many things from what we teach, including a life time of making friends, dancing for your wedding, cruise or just socialising. And most importantly, to GET FIT & KEEP FIT, and to have FUN. We also show you how to use your muscles properly. And not forgetting, gentlemen, how to lead your partner.

The International Dance Teachers Association is one of the dance world’s leading dance teaching bodies worldwide. As well as providing amateur medal tests for countless thousands in many countries it provides professional training for teachers at all levels. We are members of this society only.