We have a winner!

Posted on March 28, 2015

Strictly Come Dancing‘s assistant Charleston choreographer Scott Cupit is our Dance Today Teacher of the Year 2015. 

Five dance teachers, including one husband and wife team, made the shortlist this year, but Scott Cupit, founder of Swing Patrol London, was announced our winner in a public ceremony on March 28 in the iconic Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

Scott moved to London in 2009 to open Swing Patrol London, which now runs classes and weekly social dances in venues all over the capital and last year received investment from Deborah Meaden on Dragons’ Den to spread the love for swing further afield. 

Scott said: “I belong to a special community of dancers and behind my back they nominated me for this award… I am very chuffed that so many would go to such an effort to put my name forward. Thank you to the many who did and to this massive secret Facebook group I am just now hearing about. Crazy wonderful community you are. I am really humbled.”

The shortlist for Dance Today Teacher of the Year 2015 included Warren and Jane Bullock, who run a large dance school, Zig Zag Dance, in the Midlands; Antony Holeksa, of Learn to Dance in Berkshire, and Michelle Moss, of the Michelle Moss Performing Arts in Stoke-on-Trent. 

The presentation took place at a gala evening at Blackpool Tower Ballroom on Saturday 28, which included music by Ross Mitchell, His Band and Singers, Young Champions in Cabaret and Learn and Improve sessions with hosts and teachers Warren and Jane Bullock, and Philip Wylie and Christine Parsons. 

Nicola Rayner

Nicola Rayner was editor of Dance Today from 2010 to 2015. She has written for a number of publications including The Guardian, The Independent and Time Out Buenos Aires, where she cut her teeth as a dance journalist working on the tango section. Today she continues to dance everything from ballroom to breakdance, with varying degrees of success. Her debut novel, The Girl Before You, is out now as an ebook and available on Amazon, with the paperback following on August 22.