Yes2DanceBreaks: Dance Breaks with Ian & Penny

Ian & Penny’s Story…

Ian met Penny in July 1993, Penny was just 18 years old and on holiday with her family in Majorca. Even though Ian was ten years older than Penny they enjoyed each other’s company and Ian wanted to contact Penny again. Back home Ian sent Penny a bouquet of flowers which were mistakenly delivered to the wrong house down the road. Luckily the mistake was realised when the lady recognised Penny’s name on the card and took them up the road to Penny. If the flowers had not been delivered, Ian & Penny would probably not have reconnected, started dating, and fell in love. After a suitable ‘trial period’ as Penny describes it, Ian & Penny were finally married on the 20th December 2003 in a beautiful Christmas Themed ceremony at their local church, and have been inseparable ever since…

Ian & Penny’s dancing career started in September 2005 when, stumped for a suitable birthday present for Penny, Ian found a beginners Salsa Dance Course at the local collage advertised in the newspaper. Not being at all interested in dance, Ian tried to enrol Penny on her own, but was told that it was for couples only, and was forced to go along as well. The classes were not the disaster Ian thought they would be, and by the end of the term they were both hooked and soon looking for something else to try after the Christmas break. Little did Ian know at the time, but this Birthday present was to prove a life changing choice. 

Soon the local newspaper was advertising a new beginner’s group due to start at the beginning of February 2006, and Ian & Penny decided to attend. It was there that they were first introduced to waltz, tango, cha cha, rumba etc. and started their love affair with Ballroom and Latin dances. After a few weeks of attending the lessons Ian & Penny heard about a social dancing practice night held at a local dance studio and went along to investigate. The practice night was almost exclusively for those who took lessons at the studio, so of course Ian & Penny were outsiders. They weren’t sure if the stares and whispers were because of their different routines (all the same figures, but not necessarily in the same order!). Or because they had sat in someone’s ‘reserved’ seating; and when they won the raffle the first week, well things just couldn’t get worse. Quick thinking Penny decided to pass the raffle prize of Quality Street around the hall, which broke the ice, and things got better after that.

After only a few practice nights, the studio’s professional dance teacher suggested Ian & Penny go to watch a local competition day to find out what competitive dancing was all about. They were both mesmerized by the outfits and the style of dancing, and their competitive nature was ignited. Their first private lesson as competitive dancers took place at the beginning of September 2006, and with Ian & Penny’s limited beginners Ballroom and Latin experience, it was like starting again and learning everything from scratch.  

Ian & Penny were determined to put all their efforts into succeeding and after just six weeks of private lessons they entered their first competition at Atherstone, Tamworth, on 21st October 2006. It was a cold Saturday night, and Ian & Penny’s fears of being the only Beginners entered were soon expelled when 12 couples took to a rather tight floor for a waltz and quickstep. More elbows, kicks, and collisions than the average rugby game meant the first round was a real baptism of fire. The Latin Beginners was not such a scrum, although the same number of couples competed. Making the final in both disciplines was a real bonus and spurred Ian & Penny to drive up north to Nantwich the very next day and try it all over again.

That was just the start of all the hard work and dedication that was required to be a competitor in DanceSport. Dance practice, fitness training, and private lessons took up most evenings. Travelling and competing around the country most weekends. Dancing became Ian & Penny ‘2nd Job’, but they loved it! Over the next few years Ian & Penny rose quickly through the Amateur Competition grades from Beginners to Championship Level. They won many local championships, made the semi-finals of the British National Championships in both Ballroom & Latin at Blackpool, just missed the final 6 at the European Ballroom Championships, and even represented their country at the World Senior (over 35’s) Ten Dance Championships (all the Ballroom & Latin dances).

Just as Ian & Penny were really hitting the top of their division, injury struck, and after two knee operations for Penny, it was time to make the difficult decision to retire from competitive dancing and move into teaching. Because Ian & Penny were still very busy running their travel agency business, they decided that opening a dance studio was not the way to go, instead they became Dance Instructors onboard P&O Cruises. Their first ‘trial’ contract was a 12-night cruise aboard Ventura starting on 27th September 2011, which proved to be a success, and many more contracts followed.

Ian & Penny have always adapted to change, so as technology within the travel industry became internet based, they were able to take their travel agency with them onboard and work remotely. This enabled them to take up ‘residency’ periods as Dance Instructors for up to 14 weeks onboard, starting in 2015 with P&O Cruises brand new ship – Britannia. It was during these residency periods that Ian & Penny were awarded the coveted ‘Outstanding Performance Award’ nominated by guests for onboard staff ‘going the extra mile’ to make their holiday memorable. Ian & Penny are the only Dance Instructors to have achieved this honour.

After being asked about dance breaks many times whilst onboard, in early 2018 Ian & Penny decided to organise their own UK Dance Break. When they sent out emails and Facebook messages about their first dance break, which took take place in June 2018 they were overwhelmed by the response. That break sold out so quickly that Ian & Penny arranged another for the end of August 2018, which also sold out, and so ‘Dance Breaks with Ian & Penny’ (Yes2DanceBreaks) was born.

After ensuring all of their travel agency clients were supported through the pandemic, and once everything was back to normal, Ian & Penny decided that after years of working two full time jobs, seven days a week, they were able to retire from the travel industry and finally closed Yes2Travel in March 2023. They now refer to themselves as ‘YARs’ – Young Aged Retirees – even though they are still teaching and hosting onboard, as well as running their own UK Dance Breaks. In 2024 Ian & Penny launched their first ‘Sequence Classes Dance Break’, which also proved very popular, and has now been repeated with other sequence dance combinations. These new lessons-based dance breaks, together with the teaching on cruise ships, have been combined to form ‘Dance Classes with Ian & Penny’ (Yes2DanceClasses).

Who knows how Ian & Penny’s story carries on……