Cheadle dance teacher, 77, says she has no plans to stop

Suzanne Brown said she would carry on dancing and teaching for as long as she is able to

A 77-year-old dance teacher has said she has no plans to put on her final show anytime soon.

Suzanne Brown, who has been dancing since she was eight years old, currently teaches a mature ladies' dance group in Cheadle, Stockport.

She said the classes had helped them through life.

"I've helped a lot of ladies over the years through bad divorces, sadness, loss. So, it's therapeutic and addictive," she said.

"The average age is 60 and we've got lovely Libby who's just turned 80.

"They've all got musicality, they've all got a passion to learn to dance and they've got the respect of dance."

Ms Brown has raised about £70,000 for charity, producing shows at Salford's Lowry theatre and The Royal Northern College of Music.

"I love teaching, I love choreographing and I love performing," she said.

"Friends in the past that went professional, they've got nothing now.

"I'm still here, I'm still dancing and I have these lovely ladies that I know I will retire with eventually."

The classes are held in Cheadle, Stockport

Becky Packer, 66, has been attending Ms Brown's classes for nearly 25 years.

"She's so passionate about the dancing and what she does that it rubs off on all of us ladies," she said.

For many of the women, like 65-year-old Angela Miskell, the classes provide an escape from the outside world.

"You become somebody else almost. You're transported away from whatever your everyday troubles and trials are," she said.

"You walk in the room, you hear the music and you just go somewhere else."

Judith Stavrinides, 71, said while she was no longer able to "do the things that some great dancers might be able to do", she said she could "do my moves and I can do my dance and I think that's why I'm here".

"I'll carry on dancing until…there's a knock on the coffin door, your know, and I'll just say, 'Just one more time'."