 Introduced to the world of competitive dance at the age of 13, by his brother Bruce Richardson (currently Dancesport Director of Coaching for Oxford University) Xavier was trained by Bill Phillips and has been qualified with the IDTA since 1976. He is a licensed adjudicator for Great Britain with the World Dance and Dancesport Council. He has taught and coached around the world running master-classes in Japan and the United States, where he lived and worked before family commitments forced him to return to the UK. He now lives in Swaffham, Norfolk.
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He has been involved in choreographing shows for London Fashion Week and The Royal Festival Hall Placing great emphasis upon dance as a route into personal and management development, Xavier has also undertaken professional qualifications in pyschological kinesiology and remedial massage therapy. He is currently an active member of The International Association for Dance Medicine & Science. He now specialises in teaching social dancers, being a great believer in the transformative power of dance. As he and his brother both say: "It's a great contact sport". He is partnered by his wife Joanna, who came to the dance disciplines of Ballroom and Latin a little later in life than most and is currently training with the IDTA . She is a teacher in her own right, with a background in somatics and performance theory. She is currently reading for a further MA in Dance Anthropology at Roehampton University. She says: "I fell in love with ballroom when I realised that I could dance a quickstep to The Lovecats by The Cure." |
