BALLROOM dancing, once seen as a favourite pastime of pensioners, has now become something of a phenomenon among Islanders of all ages.

BBC 1′s Strictly Come Dancing has had such a positive effect on the image of ballroom dancing that a shortage of dance teachers has been reported in the UK.

Jean Jones, who runs the Imperial School of Dancing in Jersey with husband Ken, says that classes in Jersey are also much fuller and many teachers are adding new lessons to meet the demand.

She said: ‘There has definitely been an effect on our classes since the start of the first series of Strictly Come Dancing last year.

If everyone attended every class we would have about 35 people at each lesson.

In England they have a shortage of teachers because the work-load has increased so much.

We already do beginners classes and latina and salsa here but it is getting so popular that we are hoping after Christmas to start a new beginners’ class.’ Mrs Jones said the age range of those attending classes is wide.

‘We do get a real mix of people coming to the classes now, we’ve started to do a kids class and then girls of 15 will come to the adults classes and then it extends through the early 20s, 30s, 40s and right up to the 50s and 60s.

If there are enough teens attending we may well start a new class for them.

The only problem we have is getting the men interested, it’s still very hard.

We would love to have more men in the classes but they are very laid back and dancing still has a bit more of a female image.

Hopefully though with the popularity of the series this might start to change,’ she said.