| Biography | The origins of the Keep Fit Association go all the way back to Sunderland in 1929 when physiotherapist, Nora Reed, pioneered the activity generally known as 'Keep Fit' with a programme of uncomplicated exercises to music which she called The Keep Fit Adventure.
Later, as the Physical Education Adviser to Hampshire she enthused would-be leaders (often primary school teachers) to undertake appropriate training and so spread the gospel of keep fit. It wasnt long before classes were springing up all over the country.
By the mid-1930s, pioneers of the Lancashire Keep Fit Movement and the Rochdale Keep Fit Association had been appointed officers of the Central Council for Recreative Physical Training (now the Sport and Recreation Alliance) initiating the crucial links with educationalists and physical education specialists that remain strong today.
Throughout the war years, women were encouraged at their workplace to take part in keep fit health and efficiency classes, which, although demanding, were nevertheless required to be lady-like. In 1954, Eileen Fowler broadcast the first of 600 radio programmes aired by the BBC which had the nations women tuning in for their weekly work-out. At its peak, her radio show had half a million listeners.
With the guidance of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, keep fit classes flourished and on 22nd September 1956, The National Keep Fit Association was born with Norah Reed as President of the nine Regional Associations. Eileen Fowler continued to promote Keep Fit in her daily classes on television, surrounded by a gaggle of girls whose healthy, shining faces, proclaimed their devotion to the correct ideals of keeping fit for life!.
KFA classes, promoting the benefits of regular non-competitive exercise, continued to grow and in 1962, the KFA held its first National Festival of Movement, Exercise and Dance at Londons Royal Albert Hall. It attracted audiences of 6,000 and involved around 500 performers from Regions around the country.
The KFA teacher training programme had been founded on the principles of natural body activities promulgated by Rudolf Laban, dubbed the father of modern dance and widely recognised as the most important movement theorist of this century. In 1962, in conjunction with Lisa Ullmann, who had worked closely with Laban throughout his life, and the Adult Education Authority, The KFA drew up a national training policy offering a nationally recognised teaching qualification based on Labans analysis of movement.
Since then, the KFA teacher training policy has constantly developed and adapted to reflect advances in exercise physiology and current styles. KFA teachers are recognised at Level 3 Advanced Fitness Instructing on the Register of Exercise Professionals.
In 1995 the junior wing, Youth Moves, was established, - recognising that although it is never too late to start moving and dancing, the sooner the better to establish healthy habits for life.
A new logo was introduced along with the strapline - Fitness through Movement, Exercise and Dance.
In true KFA style, we never stand still, and in 2007 we joined with The Fitness League and the Medau Society to form the Exercise, Movement and Dance Partnership, which has been recognised by Sport England as the National Governing Body for Exercise, Movement and Dance. In addition to mainstream movement and dance classes, the KFA also offers specialist training to teach children aged 4 16; active older adults; the seated elderly; adults with visual impairment; the use of apparatus and exercise to music.
The Keep Fit Association comprises nine regional and 60 local Associations, with over 9,000 members and 650 teachers teaching some 15,000 participants each week |