I grew up down the Docks in Cardiff, surrounded by negativity and drama. Life felt heavy, I was tired, bored, and just wanted to sleep all the time. But the moment music played, I came alive. My dad was my first inspiration, he’d come home from Camden Market with his mix tapes, hand them to me with a smile and say, “Have a go on them, Sheeky.” That’s where the spark began.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Crohn’s was quietly draining me. Music and dance became my medicine, the thing that lifted me and gave me energy when nothing else did. From training at Rubicon Dance School, to thinking I was Janet Jackson in my combats at 18, to studying street, contemporary, ballet and jazz, and later completing an Acting degree at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, I’ve always been in love with movement and performance. I went on to qualify in 22 different fitness programmes, but nothing lit me up quite like creating Turn’d Up and sharing it with others.
Turn’d Up was born from a childhood dream of being a backing dancer and movie star, and that’s exactly how a class feels. They’re high-energy, sassy, sexy dance parties where you can walk in as a stressed-out wallflower and leave as a happy, confident, glowing goddess… looking like you’ve been soaked with a hose, dripping in sweat! It’s lights down, disco lights on, and for an hour you get to forget the world and perform like the star you’ve always been.
