Poppy started dancing at just two years old and never looked back. From the very beginning, she knew dance was her thing. With a lifelong passion for teaching and choreographing, she feels incredibly lucky to be living out her dream every single day (and yes — baby Poppy would be so proud).
After growing up training at local dance schools, Poppy went on to pursue professional ballet training. She earned a place at a prestigious ballet school, where she was invited to join the company and tour Scotland and China, performing classics like Swan Lake and Romeo & Juliet. She later continued her training at Masters Performing Arts College, where she developed the strong foundations needed to become a confident, knowledgeable, and technically sound dance teacher.

After almost 10 years of freelance teaching, Poppy opened Freedom Dance Collective right in the middle of lockdown — proving that passion always finds a way.

Poppy loves sharing her knowledge with young dancers and will always go above and beyond to help every student grow, build confidence, and discover their own love for dance and performance. Her vision for FDC is to create a safe, welcoming space where students feel free to express themselves, form meaningful connections, and be part of a supportive dance family — all while making memories that last a lifetime.

Our wonderful Tanya began her dance journey as a competitor in the ballroom and latin dance world where she gained many titles. She then went on to further dance training and graduated from the Urdang Academy in 2017 with a First Class BA (Hons) degree, where she developed into a versatile performer across a wide range of styles. Soon after graduating Tanya was a feature dancer in the West End production of Rip It Up, which also led her to perform internationally with a tour of Dance The Night Away. Alongside her theatre career, Tanya has danced for high-end brands such as Mac Cosmetics and The Body Shop and reguarly performs as a showgirl.

Tanya is currently Head of Second Year at Clique College in Maidstone, where she specialises in teaching Latin, ballroom, and commercial heels and dedicates the majority of her time to training the next generation of performers. Outside of teaching and performing, Tanya is an open-format DJ and spends the weekends DJing events and parties. 

Emily has been with FDC since day one! She began dancing at the age of 2 and now trains full time at professional musical theatre college.

Teaching has always been such a passion of Emily's ever since she began assisting classes at FDC when she was 13. At the age of 14, Emily successfully completed her Acrotrix assistant teacher qualification. Most recently, Emily has completed the prestigious Jessica Jones Acro Teachers course. I love watching students shine through their passion and love for dance and seeing their progress and confidence grow. I look forward to continuing my assitant training, and eventually becoming a fully qualified dance teacher for Freedom Dance Collective.