Last Updated on February 26, 2024 by Sarah Leeves

Keep Fit Association make a positive start to 2024 with the announcement of their new president.

Cathy Washbrooke announced as KFA President.

Statement from KFA:

Lynne Dowdican, Chair of the Keep Fit Association, notes that when setting out the criteria for the type of person the KFA wanted to seek out, we wanted to invite a person steeped in our passion for Laban dance, knew us (the Keep Fit Association) and was an inspiration to many through their work on dance and movement training. We are therefore delighted that Cathy Washbrooke a freelance dance artist, performer, choreographer, and educator of 30 years’ experience has taken the helm as our President.

Cathy trained at LABAN, has a PGCE in Dance, MA Dance Making and Performance and MA Dance in Education.  She has worked as a Dance and Drama teacher and lecturer in secondary, further education and in higher education at the University of Hertfordshire. Cathy continues to undertake research in Dance in Education, Laban, and choreography.

In accepting the position Cathy says….

“I am delighted and honoured to have been invited to take on the role as President of the KFA. Little did I know when I agreed to teach a workshop at the KFA summer School in 2011 that I would one day be invited to take on a much bigger role.

I have of course been in the privileged position of being a judge at the Keep Fit Association National championships, a role I have deeply enjoyed. It is my belief that the KFA is unique in its provision of this Laban-based dance event and is one that I hope will be developed in the future. The title Keep Fit Association belies the deeply inherent creative dance that evolves from having Laban at its core. In that respect, the KFA and I hold a passion for Laban’s work. In addition, it has been a pleasure to see the Advanced Laban syllabus develop at the KFA in recent years.

Thank you to all of you who have believed in my approach to Laban over the last 12 years and thank you also to those of you whom I have taught over the years for your wholehearted participation.

I hope to continue to be of service to the KFA, certainly in upholding the Laban approach and to see a reinvigoration of Youth Dance, as young people have been an important part of my background as a teacher and lecturer.

Finally, I have agreed to accept this post to be of service to the KFA, to its Laban history and to the future of its evolvement as an excellent organisation in all things fitness, dance, and Laban.

Here’s to a bright future for the KFA.”

Find more information about Keep Fit Association here.