04/10/2026
It's time to announce another award that has a wonderful story behind it..
🏆 THE PETER KING AWARD FOR ENTHUSIASM 🏆
✨ Maureen Blake
✨ Sarah Ma
Huge congratulations!
This award celebrates something that makes such a difference in a dance class..
Enthusiasm.
The energy you bring, the joy you share, the willingness to get stuck in and, most importantly, the ability to make others smile along the way.
The story behind the award...
Peter was born in Eastham on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside and from an early age showed a great love and talent for dance. After leaving school he went on to full-time college attending MERSEYSIDE DANCE AND DRAMA CENTRE for three years. It was here that he not only trained to be a dancer but also a teacher and choreographer.
After graduating he travelled all over the world performing. He later returned to England to teach not only at his former college but at other full-time establishments as well as local dance schools.
Peter never really “retired” from dancing, like the rest of us he continued to perform appearing in the West End in musicals and pantomimes each year.
I met Peter at the MDDC when I was in my first year and he his final year. I had an instant admiration for his enthusiasm and energy (especially whilst being thrown around the Pas de Deux class as he was often my partner!).
Peter was a very thorough teacher who never expected unrealistic goals from his pupils. When teaching he never had favourites and he didn’t care if every student had two left feet! Peter wasn’t looking for the next Nureyev or Fontaine as long as you had energy and enthusiasm he was happy to teach you. Indeed, when Peter walked in to a room it would light up with smiles and soon would resound with laughter. That was the effect he had on everybody.
I opened my former school in the Village where Peter was born and I taught many pupils who were children of Peter’s old friends. In 2001 I was honoured to be presented with a shield in Peter’s name by his mother Mrs Mary King. The shield was donated by Mrs Tina Murray, a close friend of Peter’s family.
The very first presentation of the shield was to Miss Julia who had been a pupil of mine for 12 years before being asked to join the staff. Her dedication and hard work were one of the reasons the school was such a success.
When HAPA was born in 2006 it only seemed fitting that I bring the shield back into existence. I have been honoured to perform with, and teach alongside Peter over the years and even though the months would pass without contact, when we met again it was as if no time had passed at all. In the years to come I will ensure that the shield is awarded in the same manner as if Peter himself were to present it.
A GREAT FRIEND, TEACHER AND COLLEAGUE WHO IS SADLY MISSED, FONDLY REMEMBERED AND NEVER FORGOTTEN!
Congratulations! Keep dancing and keep bringing that amazing energy into the room.
