Dance Along

About Jenny

Jenny Reye (B.Sc., Cert. Dance) created DanceAlong back in 2005, with the aim of getting little ones moving and socialising in the most fun and engaging way possible, through creative dance adventures!

“I was studying Dance Teaching at QUT Brisbane at the time, which helped me greatly with creating the curriculum. I’ve been a long-time fitness enthusiast, and I know that the best way to keep active is to do something you enjoy!

To me, there is no greater fitness joy than being emersed in the dance moment with the music. Children also naturally respond to music with movement, so over the years, many thousands of boys and girls have been engaged and excited to join in our story lined adventure approach to dancing.

I remember when my eldest of my own 3 children needed help with motor skilling through therapies. One therapy just listed the movements like jumping, hopping and how many repetitions, whilst another made a game out of it. The different approaches made a world of difference in getting my child up and moving, and I remembered that when creating DanceAlong. The key to motivating the young child is through imagery. Paint a picture, tell a story, make a game, make it pretend play – a world the child sits in naturally, which can stimulate learning greatly!

I love seeing their little faces light up with enthusiasm as the story combined with the energising music gets them excited to join in with their peers and come for the adventure!

I’ve been enjoying dance most of my life, being a Latin and Ballroom dancer, a Ballet student and later Tinies Ballet Teacher for Hawgood Dance Centre, Zumba instructor, and eager participant in any type of cultural dance lesson or event.

Establishing DanceAlong was a real Sea Change for me, as my earlier career was in Software Engineering Corporate and Government projects in Brisbane and London, where I travelled extensively and gained an appreciation and awe for the diverse world around us. I also was involved in tertiary education working for QUT’s School of Software Engineering for several years. Even though I greatly enjoyed my IT career, the needs of my 3 young children at the time, made me explore other more flexible options, and with DanceAlong now starting it’s 20^th year of classes, it continues to be one of my greatest joys, to be in the dance moment, to set the dance spark and witness  tiny faces light up with dance magic and keenness to be involved, curious, ‘give it a go’ little learners!”