The History

AURA Dance Studios are owned by Martin & Carol Cutler, former UK professional 10 dance champions, 3rd in Worlds Open 10 Dance Championships, with numerous other prestigious titles under their belts. They stopped competing when Carol was pregnant with their first child, Charlotte, and decided to concentrate their efforts on opening a studio to coach both social and competitive couples.

This first studio, named MCC Dance and Leisure centre, opened 1988 in a small church hall in Catherine-de-Barnes, Solihull. It is at this early point that Martin & Carol were joined by Elaine as an assistant teacher, whilst Claire, Marie & Sarah all walked through the doors to join their first ever children’s’ class.

 

Within 6months, it was already apparent that a larger studio would be needed as class sizes where far exceeding capacity. By the end of ’88 the bulldozers were in, and construction on a new studio, Encore began. It was at this point that Jaqui Davis joined the team with her partner Mark Paton as well as there being another addition to the Cutler family, Jamie. The Cutlers spent 15years at Encore, again reaching the point where class size began to exceed capactiy. This is when the ambitious venture of running both a competitive and social centre in two seperate studios on the same plot began. In October 2003 Martin and Carol’s school was again relocated, becoming The Dancewarehouse. This move was originally meant to be temporary, but finding the location for the improved studio proved more difficult than expected being plagued with misfortunes and planning disputes. Despite this, the dream for the Cutlers never wavered, and finally, in January 2013 planning permission was granted to develop a New Dance Centre, open to all, offering all types of dance from Ballroom & Latin to Hip-Hop. The new centre, AURA Dance Studios, will be made up of three dance floors, one larger than any other specialist practice facility in the UK, the others providing great spaces for other styles of dance.

During the 2019 Covid pandemic, we took the opportunity to renovate the entire AURA Dance Studios, and the beautiful AURA Dance Studios is now ready to welcome you for all your dancing needs! 

 

It is testament to Martin & Carol and the friendly atmosphere they create in their studios that over half the pupils of their very first class still regularly come to the studio for lessons, whilst 3 of the ‘toddlers’ from their first children’s class are now qualified teachers working with them.

Robert Mullet

Martin and Carol, 1986

Last day at Dancewarehouse, 01/09/13

The newly refurbished AURA ballroom