Kelta Fit is the brain child of Ceilidh Club founder Ed McCabe and Licence to Ceilidh’s Ali Barnes, but we needed a bit of help along the way! Here’s a bit more about the Kelta Fit team:

Kelta Fit Team

Ed McCabe – Kelta Fit Co-Founder:
Ed is also the founder of the hugely popular Ceilidh Club in London. It started in 1998 with a handful of friends and family and has now grown into something bigger with hundreds of people attending the (almost) weekly events. Ed has always been into fitness and it has been a long held dream of his to translate the fun and calorie burning aspects of a Ceilidh into something people can do at home or in a class.

Ali Barnes – Kelta Fit Co-founder / Choreographer:
Ali studied dance from a young age and has been attending ceilidhs regularly since childhood. She has been playing Fiddle in ceilidh and folk bands for almost 10 years and is also an experienced ceilidh dance caller. Ali joined Licence to Ceilidh around 5 years ago and very quickly went on to co-run the band alongside Philippe as well as continuing to play in it. Together they’ve transformed the band into what it is today, taking it to new levels never heard of before for a ceilidh band including numerous TV performances and industry awards.

Philippe Barnes – Kelta Fit Musical Director:
Philippe also co-runs Licence to Ceilidh and his extensive ceilidh and musical experience made him the perfect man in the Kelta Fit team to create the soundtrack! Philippe has a 1st class honors, MA in Irish Traditional Music Performance and has toured all over Europe, America & Australia with the David Munnelly Band and Celtic Jazz-fusion group All Jigged Out. He’s a three-time runner up in the BBC Young Folk Awards and his TV and recording credits include MTV, The Discovery Channel, ITV, TG4, BBC Scotland, BBC Radio 2, 3 & 4 and feature films including ‘The Imposter”, “Fraternity” and “Dark Horse”.

Francesca Leyland – Kelta Fit Instructor / Choreographer:
Francesca is a talented actress and dancer from Lerwick on the Shetland Isles. She has a background in highland dance and in her teens studied at the Dance School of Scotland in Glasgow where she gained an A.T.C.L diploma from Trinity College London, before later going on to gain a BA Hons Degree in Musical Theatre from Arts Educations School in London. Her past show credits include Les Misrables (West End) and The Bakers Wife. She is a popular dance teacher in Sussex and is also a caller with Licence to Ceilidh, performing with the band every week teaching ceilidh dances to crowds of willing punters!

Frances Crawford – Fitness Consultant:
Frances is an experienced nutritionist and personal trainer based in Florida, USA. She is a certified gym instructor in the UK with Future Fit and a certified personal trainer in the USA with the National Association of Sports Medicine. She also has qualifications in Sports Nutrition and Weight Management with the America Council of Exercise and is about to embark on her first NPC Fitness Competition!

Cat Perry – Instructor Trainer:
Cat is an Edinburgh-born and based Dance and Fitness Instructor with her own Teaching Company – Dance Division. Cat is a qualified Dance Teacher and Aerobics Instructor with lots of knowledge and expertise in the industy as well as experience in training and mentoring others. Cat has run her own Dance and Fitness teaching company since 2007. She holds dance and fitness qualifications and has a wealth of hands-on experience and knowledge. Cat has trained and mentored a wide range of people, developing many training courses, CPD training and delivers Sports and Dance qualifications.

Lisa – Backing Dancer:
Lisa is a Scottish lass originally from Dundee, she also Studied at the Dance School of Scotland before moving on to the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, graduating with a first class honors degree. Her past show credits include Jackie the Musical and Bugle Boy (UK tour). Lisa is also a ceilidh dance caller with Licence to Ceilidh!

Waylon – Backing Dancer
Hailing from the west of England, Waylon studied at the Arts Educational College in London and his past show credits include Riverdance (Dublin), The Lion King (West End) and We Will Rock You (World Area Tour & UK West End).

Ceilidh Club:
Ceilidh Club is a vastly popular evening of fun Scottish dancing, held regularly in Camden, London, UK. It attracts attendees from all over the globe and the evenings are regularly sold out! Playing host to some of the UK’s best ceilidh bands, it’s a great way to get a taste of Scotland in London!

Licence to Ceilidh:
Licence to Ceilidh are a world renowned ceilidh band with 14 years experience in playing all types of events, from weddings to birthdays parties, charity and corporate evenings… The band specialise in a modern style of Scottish ceilidh, incorporating traditional tunes and dances with a modern, funky rhythm section. Licence to Ceilidh have had numerous TV appearances including on E4’s Made in Chelsea, BBC’s Great British Menu and Channel 4’s Gok Wan’s Fashion Fix and were this years Regional Wedding Award winners ‘Best Live Act for a Wedding, in London & Sussex’.

We hope you enjoyed reading about the Kelta Fit team. If you want to contact them please feel free to do directly or drop us a note if you want.