Biography

Alan Wake developed an interest in ballroom and Latin American dancing in his mid teens. He took lessons at the Majestic Ballroom, later to become the MC School of Dancing in his home town of King's Lynn, progressing to the point where, at the age of 17, he and his partner carried off first prize in a national jive competition in London.

In 1976, Alan became a teacher at The Arthur Murray School of Dancing whilst training with The Morgan School of Dancing - one of the oldest established schools in the UK. In the 80s, he achieved his professional qualifications in ballroom and Latin with the IDTA.

In 1985, Alan became a partner in the New Morgan School of Dancing and remained there until 1989 when he opened the ACW Dance Studio in Wimbledon. Alan has many pupils, 6 qualified teachers and 2 student teachers.

In addition to a busy teaching schedule, he was asked in 1992 by the Artistic Director of the Attic Theatre, London to be Ballroom Dance Adviser for 'The Ballroom' a Peter King play.
It involved working closely with the choreographer to teach members of the cast ballroom and Latin American dances.

Recently, Alan has worked on dance routines for Frank Skinner's TV show Fantasy Football. He and some of his teachers also featured in a pop video which has been shown on television. He is frequently invited to host dance events for private companies including B and Q, Dovercourt and Unilever. Last year, Alan was invited to commentate on the final rounds of 'Strictly Come Dancing' on LBC radio.

In his limited spare time, Alan carries his own dancing to a high level in competitions. With his first partner, Simon Bostic, he won a Silver medal at the World Games in Amsterdam in 1998

With his second partner, Andrew Lingard, he continued competing in same-sex dancing for several years, winning bronze for 10 dance (i.e. all 5 ballroom and all 5 Latin dances combined) at the Sydney Games in 2002 - ranking 3rd in the world.

Alan now competes with John Church at the top level in International Competition. He and John train with ballroom specialist Jennifer Hillier, wife of the former World Professional Ballroom Champion, Stephen Hillier. Vera Randall-Noyce, their Latin coach, was one of the world's leading professional Latin dancers.'