I Dance, therefore I Am – coming alive in Suzanne Brown’s Dance Classes featured in documentary
Stockport resident Suzanne Brown, a 77-year-old dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, is an amazing woman and an inspiration to anyone lucky enough to discover her amazing dance classes.
So valued is her work in inspiring and motivating ladies to dance, she is the subject of a documentary and featured on ITV!
Open to women of all ages and abilities, Suzanne’s ladies come together to dance, to have fun and above all else, to take time out and, for an hour every week, to just be themselves.
Suzanne Brown had her first dance lesson when she was just 8 years old and she’s still dancing:
“I loved it straight away; dance is my best friend, it’s never let me down even through the ups and downs of life that we all have, the love of dance has taken me through all those problems and I’ve come out the other side.”
Many dance lessons and shows later, in the early 80s, Suzanne decided to produce a show – Expression – to bring amateur dancers from across Greater Manchester into a show where they have an opportunity to perfect their dance skills and perform on a professional stage for 3 minutes along with a cast of 150 or more. It was a great success!
“It all starts with that lady having the confidence to step into a dance studio which could be quite daunting, so to get that lady through the door and to see how she progresses, which could take a good year and then to see ‘ah she’s got that now’ – that’s lovely! And then finally to be on stage, all from that lady just from coming through the door.”
Suzanne Brown – Choreographer and Teacher
Suzanne continued to put on shows, uncovering and creating opportunities for otherwise untapped talent across multiple genres of dance, giving local dancers a platform to hone and showcase their dancing talents – ‘and there’s a lot of talent across the northwest’! Over the years, Suzanne’s shows raised £000’s for The Christie Cancer Hospital.
Today, Suzanne holds dance classes for her ladies and takes delight from seeing
someone come into the class for the first time and blossom, having the confidence to perform
with her fellow dancers, many of whom are ‘of a certain age’.
It’s obvious that Suzanne lives to dance; it’s also clear to see that her ladies dance to enhance their lives. The documentary has stories of how the dancing group has helped them through life challenges – loss of a loved one, illness and divorce – and gives them friendship and community, all whilst keeping fit as well as showcasing their wonderful choreography and dance moves!
Suzanne and her ladies – recently attended the premiere of a documentary honouring Suzanne. ‘I Dance Therefore I Am’ was screened at Stockport’s Light cinema, showcasing the wonderful mature ladies dance group that she now runs at Life Leisure’s dance studio in Cheadle. Suzanne has previously produced large shows at the Lowry Theatre and Wythenshawe Forum (even working with Take That star Jason Orange before he hit the big time!)
‘a fantastic bunch, really inspirational and with a genuine passion for dance and the benefits it offers’
Take time out, put the kettle on and enjoy Suzanne’s film …
“I started coming to the classes with Suzanne whilst I was having treatment for Breast Cancer and part of a post-chemotherapy course that I went on said dance was really good for clearing the chemo brain fog and for exercise. So, my sister was coming to the classes and I said ‘do you think I can come along? do you think anyone will mind that I don’t have any hair?’ and she was like “‘no – they’ll be fine!’ And that was 8 or 9 years ago and I’m over the breast cancer and still want to come because I’ve just got so involved and enthusiastic for these classes”.
Michelle Grattan – Dancer
The documentary was commissioned by Suzanne’s son Simon and produced by Stockport resident Mark Tuson, the filmmaker from Northern Spark Productions. Directed, produced and self-shot by Heald Green based Mark, with the help of friend and fellow filmmaker James Chapman with setups and additional camera work.
ITV attended the dance class and the screening featured the documentary on ITV news:
