The winner of the top honour at last week’s Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards – Caroline Miller – reflects on the people who have inspired and guided her career.
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Caroline Miller at the Critics Circle National Dance Awards at The Place 25 January 2016 with the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.
Photo: Erin Brown-John
Miss Dorbon was my teacher at a small local dance school in Sidcup, Kent. She is the same age as the Queen and was formidable, but a very good teacher! My mum sent me when I was three, because I was shy and someone told her dancing might help. She had no idea I was going to love it so much and it became a hobby that dominated our family life.
Miss Dorbon demonstrates the power of local dance teachers in young people’s lives. I spent two or three nights a week with her until I went to university. She gave me my love of dance, taught me discipline, how to present in public and the importance of supporting and celebrating my classmates – all skills that have been vital to my career.
I was lucky my parents could afford to send me to private dance classes. This is why I worry so much about the erosion of the status of the arts in education. The lack of specialist dance teachers in schools means that children whose parents aren’t wealthy enough, or don’t have experience of dance, will be deprived of the chance to try dancing or be introduced to watching it.
