About Us
Hello, I am Miss Lou Lou the Principal and founder of the Glittery Tapping Wonderland!
Welcome to our fabulous website!
I started our lovely dance school in 2003, teaching from a local church hall in Parkdale. As my classes grew, my husband Mr. Steve and I decided to set up a studio in Mordialloc. We soon set up two other studios in Glen Huntly (which had moved from St Kilda) and our Northcote studio. Prior to that, I had founded Miss Lou Lou’s Tap Dancing Academy situated in Richmond, which I had started way, way back in the mid 1980’s. I sold the school when I moved to Los Angeles to marry my husband-to-be Steve Kearney.
So I have been doing this for over 30 years!
What I have founded all of my dance schools on is positivity, creativity and to have a good laugh whilst learning to dance. I went through many dance schools and after finishing a class, I left feeling worthless and hopeless. I always just wanted to dance, laugh and enjoy what I was learning, the elation of dancing with music whether I was good or bad. I never felt that. Stifled by boring music, uninspiring teachers left me feeling disillusioned.
So I decided to start my own dancing school so that I could do it my way.
Everyone should be able to dance and move to music, it doesn’t matter your age, size, ability, or disability. Dancing should be for everyone who wants to do it, be encouraged and made to feel completely welcome, all of the time.
I feel it is important that each student, young or old, is encouraged to dance to the best that they can be… not at the standard of the person dancing next to them, and dance and strive and learn for themselves for their own self worth, confidence and enjoyment.
I also feel very strongly about the sexualization of dance and what effects it has on our gorgeous little girls and boys. Our children should be able to dance their age. Seven year olds should be able to dance like a seven year old, not like a twenty seven year old. There is plenty of time ahead for that.
When living in Los Angeles I was teaching at various schools around the city. I was asked to teach a tap dancing class for a class of seven to ten year olds. I worked out my class, organised the music, and arrived at the studio to view them dancing in a Jazz class prior to mine. As I watched through the viewing window, the blood drained out of my whole body and into the floor. These little girls were writhing on the floor, doing body rolls to a Madonna song… I had worked out a tap routine to the Pink Panther! I clip-clopped into the studio in my glittery tap shoes, a ponytail and flowers in my hair and gulped as I was introduced. Tentatively I smiled at the class of faux twenty seven year olds in their Lycra midriff skintight dance wear, I saw them miraculously transform back into seven year olds. They all fussed over my glittery tap shoes and swarmed around me. We danced and laughed. It was lovely, needless to say I wasn’t invited back…
Back here in Melbourne, what is important to me and all my gorgeous teachers is that we genuinely care about our students and we want them to do their best in an outfit that doesn’t have to show their tummies. To dance to fun, cute, interesting and eclectic music, and have a ball whilst doing it and blossom into relaxed, happy and confident dancers, young or old.
I have added this to our website to help you to understand what we are about and hope that by joining our gorgeous school, you or your child will reap the benefits from our beliefs.
Please spread the word to like-minded people as we feel what we are doing is amazing and we hope that you do as well.
Peace, love and glamour,
Miss Lou Lou xx
