Tracie started her dance journey on the 24th of February 2017, after being volunteered by Shelley Coleman, to perform a ‘strictly style’ dance routine in front of 300 people for Plymouth Ladies Club Charity.

Her partner was the owner of the Lemon Frog Dance Company, Kevan Kennedy.

Her first lesson was an initial assessment, to see whether she had any natural dance ability, and more to her horror, to see whether or not, she could be lifted!
The first few weeks consisted of working out the routine, timing to the music and the likes and dislikes of certain moves. Tracie soon learnt that even the basic moves were going to be a lot harder to learn than initially thought.
To help speed up her learning, she enrolled on group dance lessons at the Lemon Frog, that included Salsa and Tango.
Ten weeks on from her first dance lesson, she had lost over a stone in weight and dropped a dress size, due to increased exercise and the thought of performing in front of 300 people.

Tracie was really starting to struggle with nerves at this stage too and enlisted the help of a mindfulness coach, Jackie Taylor.
Jackie taught Tracie some techniques to help calm her nerves and keep the anxiety under control. Techniques such as meditation, visualisation, mindful pauses and anchoring to name a few.

THE BTS VIDEO 'IN TRAINING'.

Take a look at Tracie's personal reflection in this short video below.

DRESS REHEARSAL AT THE LEMON FROG DANCE COMPANY

photographs By Emma Barrow.

Weekly sessions with Kevan and Jackie, led to a 'runner up' placement at The Plymouth Ladies Charity Club Strictly Come Dancing Ball.

Tracie said 'I didn't expect to win, however I achieved my goal, I performed my routine from start to finish, I was composed and confident, I was happy with my performance'.

Kevan at The Lemon Frog, choreographed the dance, took Tracie from a non dancer to a dancer.

Tracie said 'he’s an amazing teacher and has made the lessons fun and enjoyable, but above all he has been patient and encouraging'.

The evening was well attended.

Tracie and Kevan received lots of encouragement from family, friends, the ‘Envy Team’, clients and Lemon Frog members who all came along to support the charity.