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I began dancing when I was 6 years old. As you can see me with my partner Oliver Bauduin on the left. Even that we started at such a young age we would dance together for 14 years.

The person that got me started in dancing and also immensely interested was my mother, who herself was once 4th in a European Latin Championship (which was a while ago, as you can see on the picture). My brother Dirk (picture on the left) did also compete till 1993 and was runner-up in the German Class-A Modern Championship and triple runner-up at the Modern Formation World Championships with the formation of the 1.TC Ludwigsburg.

I started to dance in Köln, Germany, in the Grün-Weiß-Klub Köln under the tuition of Herbert Schmitz in Latin and Karl Breuer in Modern. Karl Breuer was also our main coach and he is today the President of the German Professional Dancers' Federation (DPV) and the President of the World Dance & Dance Sport Council (WD&DSC).

We were very lucky as Oliver was almost like a nephew to Karl Breuer and so he supported us throughout our career.

In 1985 we won the German Youth Modern Championship and finished 8th at the Youth Modern European Championship. In 1986 we won the German Modern & Latin Championships and at the European Youth Latin Championships we came 3rd.

In the meanwhile we started to train with Oliver Wessel-Therhorn, Ralf Lepehne & Wolfgang Opitz besides our coaches Herbert Schmitz and Karl Breuer.

Karl Breuer also invited foreign trainers and we were very lucky to be the first couple to be trained by Donnie Burns & Gaynor Fairweather at the age of 14 !

Since that time Donnie & Gaynor have always been my favourite trainers in Latin and still are now. In 1988 my dance partner Oliver Bauduin, after 14 years of partnership decided to stop competing and concentrate on his career as a social dance teacher. (Naturally I was very upset, but wanted to continue competing,as dancing was always the only thing I was interested in).

I started to dance with Frank Baran from Germany with whom I also competed the first time at the Open British in Blackpool in 1989.

After returning from Blackpool I felt so inspired and motivated, that I decided in order to improve my dancing I needed to move to England as this is the best place to go if you want to get to the top. My dance partner was not prepared to give up everything in Germany and to move to England.

In June 1989, just a few weeks later, I had a try-out with Paul Dawson and in August I finally moved to England and started to train with him. Our first major competition was the International in October 1989 where we finished 8th, which meant that we were the next couple into the final as there was a 7 couple final.For me the best time in my life so far - from the 96 in Blackpool to 8th at the International 5 months later.

At the next major competition in January 1990, the UK Championships in Bournemouth, we broke into the final of the Amateur Latin and finished 6th after only 5 1/2 months of partnership. Unfortunately Paul Dawson decided to stop in September 1990 and I started to dance with Paul Killick.

In 1993 we won all major titles in the world, including the European & World Amateur Latin & Open British Championship. In 1994 we won the UK Championships in January and after completing the Grand Slam of Dancing, which means winning all major titles, we split up.For a full list of achievements go to the achievements section.

In 1997, after 3 years of enforced break I returned to the competitive scene as a professional and with Ian Waite as partner made the semifinal of the Open British Professional Latin Championships.

After Ian decided in the following summer to terminate the partnership (always those men), I decided to concentrate on my teaching, coaching and lecturing career, which has kept me immensely busy, but should the right partner come along, I am sure I would consider to start competing again.

I am teaching at the Semley Dance Studio in London, which is without doubt one of the best places to learn and practise Latin dancing. Under the director Peter Maxwell and with the practise nights run by Lydia Ungaretti with the famous music of Greg De Wet, this is a very popular place to learn and practise Latin.