GALLERY: Simply Dance It

BEVERLEY Wood, from Dance It Studio in Glenvista, was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where she began dancing (tap and ballet) at the age of five.

Her family moved to South Africa in 1969 and after matriculating Beverley completed a beauty therapy diploma at the Rene School of Beauty.

However, it seems Beverley was always destined to dance.

“My teaching career began like many others, where I danced as a senior. I assisted Val Murray, a tap and modern dancer, while I was still at school and became a full-time assistant from 1976 to 1983,” she said.

“I spent eight months in London at the Broadway Dance Centre, practising tap, jazz, contemporary and African fusion.”

The main tap and modern competitions at the time were hosted by the South African Dance Association (SADTA).

Under SADTA, Beverley achieved the following:

• Winner of the Senior Tap Dancing Championships: 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982.

• Winner of the Senior Modern Championships: 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1981.

• Most Outstanding Performer: 1974 and 1982.

• Winner of the Teacher’s Section: 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982.

Beverley holds a vast array of teacher and judges qualifications and became the president of the SADTA (stage branch) in 2011. She has been re-elected to this post each year since.

In March 2010, she was acknowledged by the International Dance Organisation (IDO) with an “Outstanding Performance on a World Class level” accreditation.

In 2018, Beverley was elected to the board of the National Executive Body of Dance Sport SA.

It’s in their blood

Beverley opened her own studio 35 years ago with only six pupils in a church hall in Rosettenville.

A year later she moved into a formal studio where she taught for 16 years before moving into a studio in Glenvista, where she has been teaching for the last seven years.

Her dancers have qualified and competed in the IDO World Championships since 1998, with many finalists and winners along the way. Nine of her dancers, including her own son, took part in the 2010 Soccer World Cup opening and closing ceremony with Shakira.

Beverley’s son, Warren, has been a natural dancer from the age of six, growing up in the dance studio. After finishing school he began helping his mother.

He has been dancing at shows all over Johannesburg since 2010.

Warren began teaching in 2012 and competed in many competitions where he represented South Africa overseas.

He mainly focuses on contemporary dance and hip-hop.

In the team they have a lady called Shanon Lage who focuses on ballet.

Representing SA

“My passion is to offer opportunity to all the artists. Just to share the love of dance because it is really a sport. You have to put in a lot of hours to train,” Beverley said.

“I think it’s also a more community-orientated sport. It’s half a sport and half an art,” Warren added.

Warren began helping at the studio towards the end of his high school years, dancing around various studios in Johannesburg.

His dancing at the 2010 FIFA world cup was one of his first and biggest gigs, and from that moment on he knew dancing was truly what he wanted to pursue.

After matriculating, Warren began teaching in the studio in 2012, while also competing. Warren represented South Africa seven times as a dancer and twice as a trainer.

In 2015, Warren was one of the youngest to take a team overseas, at the age of 22.

He took a duo from Randfontien that made it to the finals of the IDO hip-hop world championships.

Simply Dance fund-raised and supported them.

In 2017, when they returned to the world championships, Warren and the team received their South African colours, after which they attended the world championships in Copenhagen where they won the adult group section and adult duo section.

They won the world championships only two years after training.

A different direction

Warren began dancing with dancers instead of only training them, opening up a different network of performing gigs, corporate events and music videos.

This also opened up a lot of doors for the dancers in the studio to enter competitions and get paid for dancing.

In 2018, Havock, the dance group from Dance It, won the intercontinental and African championships. They did choreography for Magic Mike SA and various other music videos.

Dance It has had dancers compete in various styles across the world, making the studio a great success. Dance It also does promotional work at schools and churches, such as Our Lady of Lebanon, in order to get involved in the community.

A big part of their dream is to give back by looking after dancers who do not have the luxury of getting to a studio.

Together, Warren and Beverley are inspired to teach and share the love and the knowledge of dancing with those they teach. Their studio is family-orientated and they have a bond of compassion with each student who crosses their path. They teach them structure and foundation that they believe spills into other area of their lives.

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