Cathy Hodgson

Yorkshire born and Yorkshire bred, I consider myself a late starter in the world of line dance, at the tender age of 25, to get a break from my young son, myself and a group of friends ventured to a carpeted function room of a local pub and together, we fluffed our way through the likes of One Step Forward, Cowboy Charlston and The Freeze. It didn't have the same appeal to the other members of this group of friends but I was hooked, and never in a month of Sundays would I ever have imagined that 21 years later, I would be where I am today, teaching classes, hosting events, DJing at events and being a radio DJ with a plethora of line dance friends across the globe.

My line dance instruction days started back in 2002 when I was asked to oversee the teaching of a class in Otley West Yorkshire as their instructor was heavily pregnant!! Later on in the same year, I undertook my British Western Dance Association 2000 teaching exams and passed with a distinction. I started teaching locally after a successful workshop at Knaresborough FEVA (festival of entertainment and visual arts) in July 2005 and in November 2005, Cath's Kickers was born. We are in our 13th year together and I run 2 classes each week and cater for absolute beginner through to intermediate level.

I have DJ'd at some awesome line dance events including Crystal Boot Awards, Eurodance and World Dance Masters.

I was one of the first ambassadors for the Line Dance Foundation, our line dance charity that was established back in 2007 and I am proud to be a part of it ever since I commenced my involvement back in 2009 and went on to receive a Crystal Boot Star for 'outstanding Contribution to Line Dance Foundation' in 2011. Watching the Foundation grow from strength to strength has been amazing.

I have always loved music and dance and can remember insisting on sitting with the DJ at my high school youth club helping him pick out tracks. I come from a dancing family, my grandma (who departed from us in May 2018) and my parents who have some trophies from their ballroom dancing days in the 60's. I introduced my parents to linedancing back in 1998, a year after I started and although they have not been on the scene as much since March 2017, due to health issues, they are still supportive of my efforts.

Losing my husband back in 2014, the line dance community provided so much love and support to me and my family, we were overwhelmed and together, they have helped us in more ways than anyone could possibly believe and for that, we are truly thankful.

I live in Ripon, North Yorkshire with my 22 year old son, Rhys, and my partner Don whom I met at Crystal Boot Awards in 2015 (apparently, it was the tutu I was wearing that did it for him!!), and we have 2 crazy miniature wirehaired daschunds called Missie and Eva.

See you on the dance floor xx