Meet The Instructors

Marthese Attard

Marthese Attard started Jazzercise in 1986 when she attended a class in Stavanger, Norway.  Since then she continued attending classes and enjoying Jazzercise for four years until she had to move back to England.  She settled in Buckinghamshire which she found so beautiful but there was only one thing missing in her life, Jazzercise!  She solved that problem immediately by becoming a Jazzercise instructor herself!  

Marthese has been teaching since 1990 and her classes have been successful and popular from the start, now more so than ever.  She aims to continue to set up more classes to cope with the demand from the local communities.

Over the past 20 years Marthese has kept herself extremely busy.  During this time she has: 

• Been awarded Masters Certificates of Fitness by Jazzercise Inc. 
• Awarded Platinum Rank for 2009 by Jazzercise Inc. (highest rank for Jazzercise instructors worldwide), and ranked 4th largest Jazzercise franchise worldwide. 
• Mentored/Trained Prospective New Jazzercise Instructors to lead them towards certification 
• Owner/Instructor of 32 classes in Buckinghamshire. 
• Been Certified by Jazzercise Inc. since 21st February 1990. 

Marthese is also a postgraduate in Business Administration from Brunel University. She has worked in business administration management and as an accountant in the past and recently she has decided to devote all her time to her Jazzercise career to develop it further in new areas. 

Now for the fun stuff!   Marthese loves to tell silly stories about herself and life in general, sing to music (which is not her forte), and encourages everyone to have a great time dancing while teaching her classes.  She makes her classes so much fun with her positive attitude, energy and motivation that her students always wonder how the hour long class was over before they even had time to think about it!  Marthese believes that if you love your workout it will never seem long enough! Way to go!
So come along, Marthese would love to meet you.

 Vicki Wheeler

Vicki Wheeler is, so far, the only Jazzercise instructor in the South Bucks area without a gorgeous accent from a far away country. Her life in a nut shell is that she’s educated to A’ level standard, she managed her own childcare business, is divorced with two children, but is now living happily with her partner Andy in Bourne End since Spring 2005.

When Vicki moved to Bourne End her friend Wendy persuaded her to go to a Jazzercise class, but being five stone heavier than she is now, and lacking confidence as she hadn’t been to an aerobics class in a long time, she needed some hand holding. So, on the first night Wendy collected Vicki and took her to Beaconsfield where she experienced the ‘wacky Italian’ Stefania and Jazzercise, her life was changed forever. What a great friend she’s got, thanks Wendy!

From the first night in September 2005 Vicki giggled and laughed due to the hip wiggling, glute squeezing, pelvic pushing sexy moves, so much so that she next attended class on her own, meeting Marthese and she was hooked. Vicki then decided to make some further changes and included healthy eating with the increased attendance of Jazzercise classes and her weight dropped. Below are two photos of Vicki before she started Jazzercise.

Vicki’s claim to fame is that she was spotted by three different instructors and encouraged to become a Jazzercise instructor, and all she was doing was having fun and enjoying the moves. She says ‘Jazzercise is great, you don’t ever feel that exercise is a chore because you’re having so much fun’, and that, she says, is why she became an instructor, so that she can let you experience this too, when you see her on stage you’ll see she’s still having lots of fun.

Just to warn you the picture of Vicki may not be accurate, she tends to change her hair colour, so when you meet her it might be brown, blonde, black, red, purple or pink and believe it or not it’s even been blue.

Sue Perrin

Susana (or Sue as she is mostly known) qualified as a jazzercise instructor in February 2007, after having attended her first class in the October. From the very first class she was hooked and after attending for a couple of months decided that it was something she felt she would like to do a bit more seriously. As a jazzercise student, having 3 small children meant there was always an excuse to miss a class. But when you’re on stage – there really is no getting out of it! Sue has a Spanish father and an English mother, so she kind of fits in with this cosmopolitan team, and grew up in the picturesque town of North Harrow! After attending sixth form in Harrow on the Hill, she took a year out and spent most of it as one of those annoying ticket touts in Gran Canaria and some of it in a secretarial college in London.  She then went on to study languages at the University of Salford, where she met her husband, Andy, during their year abroad.
 

After leaving University, Sue fell into the shady world of teleshopping, starting as a temporary admin assistant and working her way up to become the Creative Director, helping to design and source gadgets and products for which they would produce half hour long infomercials to sell on the Company’s two television channels.  She left in 2002 to have her son, Luca and then started up as a freelancer in 2003, which she still does, although with the births of her daughters Beth in 2004 and Abby in 2006, there really isn’t much time left for work.
 

Sue says “Jazzercise has definitely become an important part of my life – it has been a great way to get back in shape after babies and I’m probably fitter now than I have ever been. It’s also a great stress buster after a hectic day – especially during the school holidays!! The people are lovely and we all have the same goal – to work out and have fun in a relaxed environment. The fast results are an added bonus”

Keira Atkins

Keira started Jazzercise in September 2007 with a friend, they loved it and joined instantly. 8 weeks after joining she became a Class Manager and then in June 2008 started training to become an Instructor, Keira passed the workshop in February 2009 and become an Instructor.

Keira says she is an open easygoing, fun and adaptable person who loves people and music especially Latin or Funky dance music, she has a mad and beautiful Irish mother (great cook) and a laid back Greek father (builder). 
Keira left college with a City & Guilds in Sports & Leisure studies, before that in her previous jobs she has been a lifeguard in 3 leisure centre's, a Nanny for 3 different families, a Gym Instructor in a busy London gym and whilst there she qualified as a Spinning Instructor which she loved teaching.

From the age of 14, along with her father and sister, Keira did karate for a period of 10 years, they all became instructors. Keira enjoyed teaching karate especially to the kids. After that she qualified to teach Box-a-cise and her most amazing job experience was as a Fitness Instructor/Personal Trainer on cruise ships where she sailed New York to Bermuda and then San Diego to Puerto Rico.
After this she then came home and fell pregnant with her daughter in 2001, got married in 2002 and then in 2004 had a son. After all of this she worked as a bank cashier until November 2008.

Keira says.. "The most wonderful part of Jazzercise is being part of an AMAZING team, whether as a customer, class manager, trainee or instructor the interest and support you get is so rare these days. I have made many friends through Jazzercise and I love being part of the large group of instructors we have at Jazzercise Bucks."

Antoinette Baker

Antoinette was born in London where she grew up and lived until 6 years ago. She went to Greycoat Hospital School in Victoria and then continued her studies in South East London. Antoinette worked for Carlton Television for over eight years. She hugely enjoyed her role as assistant to the Sales Director in this fast-paced environment. While working at Carlton she was able to frequent a popular gym in Covent Garden at least four times a week and this is when her love of exercise and keeping fit was cemented.

Antoinette moved to Amersham in 2002 where she got married and settled down. She now has two daughters aged three and five. Although English born both her parents are Jamaican (which adds to the cosmopolitan blend of the hot Bucks team!).

Antoinette qualified as a Jazzercise Instructor in February 2009 after being a class manager for over two years. After some serious contemplation, a little arm twisting and a tiny bit of gentle persuasion, Antoinette eventually plucked up the courage to get on the stage and has never looked back. Antoinette has found Jazzercise her most demanding challenge to date, however, she absolutely loves the excitement and thrill of getting on stage to motivate a class which she never imagained having the confidence to do.

Antionette says .. "Jazzercise has become a significant part of my life and even my two little girls practice my routines with me!! I find the music always appropriate and of such variety, it's so much more enjoyable than going to the gym. You have much more fun as your group of friends grows and you work out together, always ready to help each other with a little encouragement when needed. I have made some great friends whilst getting fit and trim and Jazzercise has given my confidence a boost."

Michelle Swaby

Michelle became a qualified Jazzercise instructor in February 2009, after beginning Jazzercise as moral support to her friend and to lose a few pounds.

After taking her first class at Cressex with Marthese, Michelle was hooked. She loved the dance and fitness combination. It was great fun and was nothing like any other form of exercise she had tried before. Everyone was there with the same goal and there was nothing hostile at all about a Jazzercise class, unlike some other classes she had tried before.

Michelle is educated to A-level standard and as well as being a Jazzercise instructor, Michelle works full time in account management for a distribution company. With Michelle’s slightly exotic background, she fits in with Jazzercise Bucks cosmopolitan mix of instructors as her father is Jamaican and her mother is British.

After qualifying as a Jazzercise instructor, Michelle has managed to find something to fill the time that was once taken up by training and revising. Michelle was married to husband Roy on the 9th September 2009 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Michelle Says.. "I’m glad that I decided to become a Jazzercise instructor, it has definitely become an important part of my life and I don’t know what I would do without it. The people you meet at classes are so very warm and friendly; you really do feel part of something special. I just want to help motivate people into staying fit and to reach there fitness goals, whilst having a laugh and a lot of fun on the way"

Mia Pritchard 

Mia began Jazzercise in December 2008 with her mum to get fit for Christmas! After loving her first class and being approached about becoming an instructor, she contacted Marthese and began training shortly after. Mia became a qualified Jazzercise Instructor in September 2009.

Mia currently works as a Network Team Support Administrator in an IT Department. She has been there for 2 years and thoroughly enjoys it!

Mia began dancing at the age of 6 and continued to do so for 10 years. She studied a mix of ballet, point work, tap, modern jazz and street jazz. Whilst she was there Mia began training to become an instructor and had a great time teaching students from the ages of 3 – 13. Since leaving at the age of 16 to go to college she has been searching for something similar!

Mia says..."Jazzercise is so perfect for me, I love the mix of dance and aerobics! It never feels like exercise and I can’t ever wait until the next class!!!! 

Jazzercise has given me the opportunity to meet some amazingly supportive and caring people and I have made many life long friends! 

Since beginning my journey to become an instructor my confidence has soared both professionally and personally. I was once a shy girl and now I feel like a completely new person. Jazzercise is the most enjoyable thing I have ever done with the fastest results. I am so thankful for all the people I have met and all the goals I have achieved and I can’t wait to help others do the same!”