About Us
Rachel started dancing in 1974 also at the tender age of 4, but was originally strictly a Ballet girl. As a member of the lovely Miss Gillian Middleton’s Ballet School, she was banned from doing any ‘rogue’ activities which might put her ankles in danger, such as skating, skiing, horseriding, and other forms of dancing. So, on leaving Ballet School, Rachel, of course, went straight out and did all of the above! She came to Ballroom and Latin as a latecomer at 16, joining the equally lovely Ann Green’s Latin American and Ballroom School where she did 3 years as a teenager. She then went off to university in Birmingham and briefly danced on the university team. Her tenuous claim to fame is that she was part of the Ballroom Formation Team which took part in the first ever Children In Need, and danced round BBC Pebble Mill Studios doing the Viennese Waltz with 7 other couples in a studio the size of a postage stamp!
Rachel with her dance partner.
Travelling and living round the world for a living, she then didn’t dance for the best part of 15 years, and finally came back to join the lovely Zoe Elliott’s Dancz school in Bowdon in 2007 when she relocated back to the UK. She started with Salsa, got the bug, and within a year had qualified for IDTA Medallist of the Year at Blackpool. She went out in the first round, but loved it and decided she wanted to do it again. So she moved to Trujons in 2008.
Rachel now dances at the marvellous Swinton Palais, with the fabulous Liuber Gonzalez, competing in IDTA Medallist and UKA competitions, and decided to set up Ballroom Bling as she was fed up with having to hunt high and low to then pay a fortune for nice dancefloor-worthy jewellery .
Rachel heads up the Ready to Wear jewellery and Personal Shopper Service, so take a look and, if you can’t find what you are looking for, please give her a call so she can try and find something to meet your needs.
MORE ABOUT BALLROOM BLING'S CUSTOM COLLECTION
Our Custom Made Collection can cater for all budgets. We can customise a piece for you from ready made pieces (for example stoning a flower for the hair, or stoning a piece of flat metal (or fabric) jewellery), which provides a very cost effective way to make pieces in the right colour to match your dresses or outfits and the stoning colours on them.
Again, we will ask you to share with us, on a confidential basis, your dress/outfit styles, colours and stoning details, so we can design something for you which will work to maximise your outfit.
We also offer a range of custom made Swarovski jewellery, from earrings, bangles, and necklaces to cuffs, chokers and headbands. And the jewel in our crown, is definitely our fantastic bejewelled belts..
And for professional competitors, we will happily design you a one off piece, and sell you the unique design, so that the design cannot be replicated, giving you piece of mind that your piece is truly unique.
So far, we have designed pieces for Medallist, Supadance and Amateur Rising Star competitors as well as Supadance teams.
If you have a team or formation event, please give us a call and we will happily meet with you to take a design brief.
PLEASE NOTE, FOR ALL CUSTOM ITEMS NOT IN STOCK, IT WILL BE 2-3 WEEKS FROM DATE OF ORDER BEFORE YOUR ITEM CAN BE POSTED OUT.
For Custom Made enquiries, please call 0843 5235403, or email us on rachel@ballroom-bling.com.