CAROLINE Chapman has a love of dance — and she is keen to share it with others.

A free-lance dancer and choreographer who teaches dance and works on dance projects, she is now starting dance classes in Yelverton — and hopes to open a studio there.

'It is a very sociable thing. It does bring out the best of people. You never come away from a class feeling miserable. It isn't just a physical thing — it combines the mind and body working together,' she says.

Caroline, 38, who trained at a full time dance school has worked in both theatre and circus — mostly abroad.

'I learnt circus skills — trapeze and web rope. Because I had a good dance training I could do other things linked to dance like acrobatics.'

Her classes start on the first Friday and Saturday in February at St Paul's Hall, Yelverton. Caroline will be embracing all forms of dance from ballet, modern and tap to singing and drama for children aged from three to 16.

'If you go to dance schools you see children that are often a lot more agile than children that don't. When I started full time training when I was 17 children were fitter than they are now.'

She says that now, when she is working with children in junior schools some of them cannot even sit on the floor and put their legs out straight.

'The thing that I find horrifying is that sometimes children go to dance lessons and they do not train because their parents say it does not matter because they are not going to be performers.

'But no one can say that when a child is six years old. If children are interested they may as well be trained well from the beginning,' says Caroline.

'Children get a lot out of dance. It gives them self-esteem and the self-confidence to have ideas and try them out and be listened to.'

Caroline did a fun day at Kelly College Junior School recently and had ten girls and four boys taking part which she felt was good as sometimes boys are reluctant to take part.

Her son Toby, 9, is an example of a boy who is as happy dancing as he is out on the football pitch. A pupil of Kelly College Junior School he has just finished taking part in Aladdin at the Theatre Royal, starring Gary Wilmot and John Inman.

Trained in dance by his mother since he was three he was one of only two boys chosen to be in the chorus. He worked alternative nights through out the production in singing and dance routines.

If you want to know more about Caroline's classes ring 01752 317845.