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
40 Count 2 Wall Intermediate NC Music: Evergreen - Will Young
32 Count 4 Wall Absolute Beginner Music: I Can Take It from There - Chris Young
32 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: Never Wanted To Be That Girl - Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde
32 Count 4 Wall Absolute Beginner Music: Blinding Lights - The Weeknd
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Freddie Said - Barry Manilow : (CD: Here At The Mayflower)
48 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: I Loved Her First - Heartland : (CD: I Loved Her First)
32 Count 4 Wall Beginner Music: Runaround Sue - The Overtones
32 Count 4 Wall High Beginner Music: Fuego en el Fuego - Eros Ramazzotti
64 Count 2 Wall Improver Music: Baby Don't Go - Dwight Yoakam & Sheryl Crow
62 Count 4 Wall Intermediate Music: Se Me Sube (Merengue Version) - Manny Manuel
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Till A Tear Becomes A Rose - Lorrie Morgan & Keith Whitley
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Mambo (Radio Edit) - Helena Paparizou
32 Count 2 Wall Intermediate NC2 Style Music: Catch - Brett Young : (Album: Ticket To L.A.)
32 Count 4 Wall Beginner Music: On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: That Love - Shaggy
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Highway On The Water - Brian Kelley
32 Count 2 Wall Intermediate / Advanced Music: Falling Into You - Céline Dion
48 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: I Loved Her First - Heartland : (CD: I Loved Her First)
64 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Go Down Swingin' - Wild Rose
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Freddie Said - Barry Manilow : (CD: Here At The Mayflower)
