Karen was born in Gorleston, Gt Yarmouth, but in 2005 moved from Norfolk to be with her husband Gary in his hometown, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, where she now lives. Karen trained in Ballet, Tap and Modern throughout her childhood, and also trained as a baton twirling coach going on to run her own baton twirling troupe for 18 years.
In 1996 Karen attended her first class in line, run by her previous dance teacher’s daughter, initially as an excuse to just meet up again, but ended up getting hooked. Because of her previous dance experience and knowledge of teaching through baton twirling, she was persuaded to have a go at teaching herself, and started her first class in Norwich, which was a huge success and led to other class opportunities, and being invited to teach at a new dance venue opening up in the city centre. She qualified as an instructor in 1998 with the BWDA. At the height of her teaching career Karen had over 200 people attending her classes throughout the week.?
In 2000 Karen had a go at choreography and her first big hit came with Evergreen which was written to the Will Young version of the song of the same name, not only making it to No.1 in the Top 20 Charts and nominated for the CBA awards, but the highlight came when it won Australia’s International Dance Of The Year. Karen then went on to have another hit with Badda Boom! Badda Bang! which became an official competition dance, a great honour. Karen has had a few successful dances since then, most recent being Father & Daughter. Karen has taught at many workshops, weekend events, and charity events, across the UK including the CBA, and even met her husband whilst teaching on a dance holiday in Madeira.
Since moving to Shropshire, after a short break, Karen is now concentrating on building up classes in her new area, there are so many benefits to learning Nuline, the social aspect, helping to get fit, getting to learn to dance so many different dance styles and using so many different music genres, means you'll never get bored. This is why Karen is so excited about joining Nuline, and bring such a great dance form to the people in her area.
Karen Hadley has choreographed 77 dances, of which 6 have been co-choreographed. Their first published stepsheet on CopperKnob is Learning As You Go from October 2007, with their most recent stepsheet of A Little Rain Check in October 2024.
Choreographer Stepsheets
36 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: A Thousand Miles From Nowhere - Dwight Yoakam
32 Count 4 Wall Absolute Beginner Music: I Can Take It from There - Chris Young
64 Count 2 Wall Improver line/contra dance Music: The Right Place - The Derailers
64 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: We're Not Here for a Long Time - Huey Lewis & The News
32 Count 2 Wall Beginner Music: Loco In Acapulco - Four Tops
48 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: After Hours at McGann's - Gaelic Storm
48 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: Being Nobody - Richard X & Liberty X
64 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: All My Loving - Brødrene Olsen
64 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: I'll Be Around - Joan Osbourne
64 Count 2 Wall Intermediate Music: Tell Her About It - Billy Joel
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Sing Me Back Home - Billy Ray Cyrus
36 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: Back Up Against the Wall - Travis Tritt
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Freddie Said - Barry Manilow : (CD: Here At The Mayflower)
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Freddie Said - Barry Manilow : (CD: Here At The Mayflower)
48 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: Beyond The Sea - Will Young
32 Count 4 Wall Absolute Beginner Music: Blinding Lights - The Weeknd
32 Count 4 Wall Ultra Débutant Music: Blinding Lights - The Weeknd
64 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: September - Earth, Wind & Fire
36 Count 2 Wall Improver Music: Eternal Flame (Radio Edit) - Atomic Kitten
64 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Go Down Swingin' - Wild Rose
