Heroes and Villains was formed in November 1995 by Anne Harris and Steve Yoxall, simply because there was just about nowhere in the Gloucestershire area to linedance.

What started off as a ‘one night a week’ local church hall class, by the middle of 1997 had become one of the largest clubs (some said THE largest) in the UK, with 1,600 people each week dancing in our classes and social events.

In 1996, we formed a team to enter the first British Line Dance Championships to have heats run right across the UK. We initially had no interest in entering but as one of the heats was being held in our home town, we felt that we had to become involved. The team won it’s heat, then the semi-final in Leicester, taking us through to the Finals held at Wembley Arena in London in May ‘97.

At the Finals we danced a highly energetic routine choreographed by Steve Yoxall specifically to fit the brilliant Daron Norwood track ‘Bad Dog, No Biscuit’.

In front of 6000 dancers, and judged by Charlotte Skeeters, Hedy McAdams, Liz Carke, Max Perry, Rob Fowler, and Betty Drummond, we won the team event by a large margin, becoming the first British Line Dancing Team Champions.

The team and the club have gone on to many other successes, and even with the current downturn in linedancing in the UK (following the ‘craze’ period of 1997/early ‘98), the club still has around 800 dancers a week crossing it’s doorstep.

By the end of 1998 we had raised almost £10,000 ($16,000 US) for various charities, including £5000 ($8000 US) for ChildLine, and exceeded that figure for charity in 1999.

Booked to instruct around the UK at many major events, Heroes and Villains instructors are well known, and respected by both their UK peers and the top choreographers and dancers from the US and Canada.

Anne Harris was nominated by readers of the UK’s Linedancer Magazine as ‘UK Instructor Of The Year 1998’, reaching the 'Final Four' shortlist at the Awards Ceremony.
She was also selected by Jo Thompson to perform in the opening cabaret for the Gala Dinner alongside (amongst others), Jo, Max Perry, Kathy Hunyadi, Peter Metelnick, Rob & Michelle Fowler and Helen O'Malley, all dancing a routine around Scooter Lee whilst she sang live.

Anne was nominated a second time in the 1999 Linedancer Awards, and also had her dance 'SHINE ON' (co-written with Steve Yoxall) nominated in 'Dance of the Year' category.

Although it may not be fashionable to say so, we believe that a major contribution to the fact that most of our classes run with around 100+ dancers each week, is our using mainly Country music for both instruction and for social events.