GIRL POWER
Power to Empower When our Editor caught up with two empowered women, IIlana and Lorna, who empower other women to just feel better about, well, just LIFE, it was only right to share this and spread the empowerment with the rest of the world.
The first time I met Illana was actually at one of her classes at DanceBox. I’d been messaging her over Instagram for ages saying “I want to come!” and she just kept replying with “COME!” So, one sunny Friday morning I woke up and just decided to take the day off from mum/work life and go dance my life away. Was it the best thing I’ve ever done? Hell to the YES!
How’s your 2020 been so far? It’s actually been amazing. I left 2019 asking for 20-20 vision in 2020 and I have definitely had a lot more clarity already. Massive amount of fire in my belly and I am seriously ready to rule the world! What does a typical day involve? Depending on what day it is, I usually start my day teaching a class. It’s the best best BEST way to start the day, I’m left feeling so high and empowered and I feel like I can literally attack anything the day has in store for me – then I usually have a list of private classes or events or get buried in 30 | Cherubs Magazine
admin, figuring out ways in which I can spread the joy of DanceBox around the world. Literally! What made you start Dancebox? Dance is my biggest passion in the world. I danced professionally from the age of 18 – dancing for artists in music videos, tours and tv programmes such as X Factor and BGT. To get some extra cash while working as a dancer I started teaching women in West London. These ladies were non-dancers and I saw how much they loved it – and I LOVED it right back. I started to see how free these women were becoming and it was incredible. At 27 I decided to open DanceBox in Essex, near where I
lived. It was so so important to me that I created a space of acceptance, an allinclusive, judgement-free zone where every day humans could come and literally unleash all of their life onto the dance floor. I wanted to bring the fun, amazing, therapeutic side of dance back into people’s lives. It’s a serious game changer. How does it feel when you look around the room at everyone enjoying themselves, knowing you made this happen? I have been known to walk around the room when everyone is dancing their hearts out and whooping from the bottom of their lungs and just cry. It is
