Jen Blackwell Peter Pamphlett Jodie Turner Lizi Boothby Jonathan Rodman Becky Rich
David Corr Pauline Hall Helen Cherry Jessica Reid Lucy Burgess
Jen Blackwell
Jen Blackwell is Creative Founder and Director of DanceSyndrome. Jen has Down’s syndrome but at no point has that got in the way of her aspiration and determination. Ever since leaving mainstream school she wanted to be a community dance worker, but after more than 10 years of searching she never found appropriate training.
Read MorePeter Pamphlett
Peter was born in 1978 at Bolton Royal Hospital. When Peter was a child it became clear that he had a speech impediment, a learning disability which means that although his brain processed information quite quickly he couldn’t always communicate what he was thinking and people found it very hard to understand him.
Jodie Turner
Jodie Turner is a young lady with quadriplegia cerebral palsy and non-verbal communication. Before enrolling in DanceSyndrome’s Dance By Example course she had taken part in a range of dance activities and though she loved to dance, she never thought it would be possible for her to pursue it as a career.
Lizi Boothby
Lizi is 25 years old and started dancing at the age of 3 with Dimensions Dance School, in Oldham, where she lives. Dimensions are a large school who do annual shows at Middleton Arena – consisting of ballet, tap, jazz and modern dances. Lizi loves the shows because everyone has really glamorous costumes to dress up in!
Jonathan Rodman
Jonathan Rodman, aged 35, is from Chorley. His parents had looked for dance classes for him for many years and had never found anything suitable until they discovered DanceSyndrome. Jonathan has Down’s syndrome and is supported by Carole.
Becky Rich
Becky is 25 and lives in Fullwood in Preston. She joined DanceSyndrome in 2014 after her dad had heard about the charity through a leaflet. Becky loves DanceSyndrome! She has been dancing since a young age and has always wanted to teach dance, so the opportunities that DanceSyndrome has given her make Becky feel happy!
Read MoreDavid Corr
David is 18 and lives in Chorley with his parents and older brother Chris. He happens to have Down’s syndrome. He went to local primary schools and then Astley Park School in Chorley. He now attends Cardinal Newman College and is studying Foundation Skills.
Read MorePauline Hall
Pauline Hall is a Dance Leader and performer with DanceSyndrome. She joined DanceSyndrome in 2015 when she took part in our Dance By Example leadership training. Since then she has taken part in our weekly Clitheroe workshop, joined our performance troupe and participated in our weekly performance sessions.
Read MoreHelen Cherry
Helen Cherry, from Merseyside, joined DanceSyndrome in 2017 at the age of 27. She took part in our unique Dance By Example leadership training course. She really loved the course and when it came to a close she really wanted to continue working with DanceSyndrome, so she joined the weekly sessions in Preston with the DS Collective performance team.
Read MoreJessica Reid
Jessica Reid is from Preston and she has mosaic Down’s syndrome. She is the youngest member of the DS Collective team and was only 16 when she joined the charity in 2018 – she has achieved a great deal already though!
Read MoreLucy Burgess
Lucy Burgess from Poulton-le-Fylde joined DanceSyndrome in 2014. At that time she was 21 and was attending Preston’s College to study dance and drama. She heard about DanceSyndrome through the college and came along to try a workshop. She has been with us ever since!
Read MoreTogether we can make a difference
If you are inspired by the amazing stories of how our Dance Leaders became involved with DanceSyndrome, why don’t you join us too? Everybody is welcome and there are lots of ways that you can get involved.