Pals set up city dance school

Sep 16 2005 By Catherine Lillington, Evening Mail

TRACEY Buller and Nicola Philpot started tripping the light fantastic together when they were just four and three.

Now they are hot-footing their way at the new dancing school they have launched in Stirchley, Birmingham.

The pair have just left the Hazel Clever Stage School, in Moseley, Birmingham, and are hoping to pass on the dancing bug to a whole new generation at the new Funky Feet.

Tracey, aged 23, of Jervoise Drive, Northfield, said: "Running our own school together is something we've always dreamed of.

"We met at dancing classes and became inseparable from the age of eight or nine. We're best friends and are very rarely apart. Nicola was there, as my birthing partner, when my daughter Abigail was born.

"We used to choreograph our own little routines at home. We did a dance duet to a song somebody wrote for our teacher."

The mum-of-one has taken part in Scrooge, at the Alexandra Theatre, and Annie Get Your Gun, at the Hippodrome.

Nicola is currently taking a degree in social work at Wolverhampton University, but will lead Funky Feet dance school full-time with Tracey.

The 21-year-old, who has danced for the English Youth Ballet and lives in Hanging Lane, Northfield, said: "The school has been about a year in the planning. Hopefully we'll be running it together until we're old ladies!

"We want to get children hooked on dancing just like we were."

Parents can enrol boys and girls, aged from three, by calling Funky Feet on 0121 628 1467.