A DUNFERMLINE dance school has celebrated 30 eventful years – which have included a wedding proposal!

The Dance Academy was opened in January 1992 by owner Louise McLauchlan and has been bringing girls and boys through the school ever since.

Louise, 53, first started juggling dance tuition with working as a dancer.

She opened her school in Baldridgeburn Community Centre, with several satellite classes around the region, before moving to their current base at Limelight Studios around nine years ago.

"I trained as a dancer but always loved dance teaching even as a young girl. I loved performing and I adored teaching – I have been exceptionally lucky I have been able to do both of these," she said.

Louise said the school took off and they made the decision eventually to centralise all classes in Dunfermline.

"My biggest, proudest thing is I have girls that come in and they come back. They maybe leave to go away to train or have children then they come back and I still have some pupils that have never left," she said.

"Lynne Evans, my colleague, I taught her at Lumphinnans when she was nine. She became a dance assistant and went to get her qualifications."

Many students have gone on to dance around the world after leaving.

"I have a lovely track record of the people that do it are so driven because it is such a difficult field to go into," said Louise. "You really have to push it and have thick skin and the personality to drive to keep pushing forward."

Over the course of the 30 years, a regular highlight has been the school's shows which have taken place every 18 months since it started.

An opportunity for classes – from toddlers to seniors – to show off their skills, the showpiece event has even included a successful marriage proposal! After agreeing to allow the romantic groom to pop the question, Louise admitted they did have to have a back-up plan just in case.

"I asked is this going to be a 'yes' – we had a back-up plan as it was in front of a full audience," she recalled. "If it was 'yes', there was a sign saying 'She said yes' and the other option was a 'We will get back to you' just in case."

This year's show is due to take place in the Lochgelly Centre in September and Louise is hoping for no hitches after already missing out on one event because of the pandemic.

"We missed a show last June so my seniors who left were robbed of their last show. The show is to inspire the kids to give them a taste of being on the stage with lights and costumes and rehearsals."

Reaching the 30th birthday milestone has been particularly poignant for Louise after the battle to get through the last two years of the pandemic.

"I would say the school has survived but it has taken a hit," she reflected. "The arts has struggled. It was the first to be closed and the last to be allowed back. Then there were very grey areas with restrictions.

"I have learned how to Zoom but not everyone wanted to go online. Zoom is not a teaching platform for dance because it doesn't like music but we managed to make a way to make it as best as possible."

Now back in the swing of lessons, Louise is still loving life at The Dance Academy.

"What is better than going to dance every day?" she added. "The admin bit, I am not an admin fan and am never going to be an Alan Sugar but he cannot dance!"