My dance teacher, Trevor Jackson, who has died aged 86, came to the UK from Jamaica when he was 20.
Inspired by the music of the big bands, he trained with Peggy Spencer in her dance studio in Penge, south-east London. Peggy told him he could become a professional dancer if he wanted to, but teaching was his choice. After passing his exams with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, he established his own Five Star School of Dancing. He was still teaching until March this year when the coronavirus pandemic caused classes to be closed.
Trevor was born in Kingston, the Jamaican capital. Before he reached the age of six his mother, Iris, had died due to breast cancer and his father, Percival, had been killed in a road accident. Then Trevor was taken into Stoney Hill reform school for poor, orphaned and troubled boys, on the outskirts of Kingston.
He travelled to London in the 1950s, and shortly after his arrival he had his portrait taken at a Brixton photographic studio. The picture already showed the signature style for which he became well known. He dressed very smartly – in white from head to toe in summer and on bright days, and in black in winter and on dull days.
Trevor taught dance classes all over London: at the Brixton recreation centre for 30 years; at the Greenwich West community and arts centre for 25 years; and also at the Fitzrovia Centre and Battersea Arts Centre.
On the occasion of a press interview at a party to celebrate his 80th birthday, he stated that his favourite dance was the jive, adding: “It’s the music – it makes me want to skip and jump.”
Trevor injected joy into the lives of his students. His wonderful class at the Brixton recreation centre with the brilliant choice of music he provided will never be forgotten, nor his mantra: “Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm.”
During his last years Trevor underwent kidney dialysis. When his health failed, his third wife, Felina (nee Bertis), whom he married in 1991, cared for him at home. She survives him, as do four children from his first marriage.
