Back in June, our brilliant teacher Becca Greenwood and her family climbed the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales, all in the name of charity – by taking part in and completing the Three Peak Challenge.
Before she took on the challenge, I asked her about her preparation and how it differed from the training of dancer. Becca trained for 3 years at the Italia Conti Theatre Arts, and has since been working as professional dancer and dance teacher with us at Dance Stables. Here are her words of wisdom in the lead up to this strenuous but rewarding event.
“ We all know how easy it is to sign up for a crazy challenge when you are feeling particularly adventurous. Most of the time though the training required comes as an afterthought! To start our training we went to the gym everyday completing various types of exercise to prepare all our muscles. We also started doing 4 mile walks, on a route that has a few hills and gradually progressed. The following week we walked up and down Harrow on the Hill for 2 hours. This really tested our fitness levels. I noticed that walking down hill tends to be more difficult as you use more muscles when trying to stop yourself running down, and with the knees of a dancer!
We did our longest training walk on the Thames Path starting at Blackfriars Bridge along to Richmond which was around 18 miles. The 3 Peaks Challenge involves walking 24 miles so getting some distance in and building stamina is invaluable.”
Becca, her dad Robin and boyfriend Aaron raised an incredible £4256 for Rays of Sunshine charity, who help terminally ill children receive their dying wish. They were the top 1% of fundraisers for the charity this year! We are so proud of their achievements.
In October, we will be taking part in a charity Talent show in October, raising money and awareness for Hoffmann Foundation for Autism. More details to come soon, how your child can be involved and how you can support us.
It would be great to hear how our dancers are involved with charity events and challenges. Please do get in touch to gain our support, as well as for a mention on our blog and social media.