Why I love learning to dance
I have been going to Latin and ballroom dance lessons for a couple of months now. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time and having failed to convince my partner and various friends to accompany me, I had never managed to take the plunge. So, during the summer when I discovered a dance class literally down the road I decided I was going, partner or no.
Strangely, I was not nervous as I entered the venue which is a rather bleak community centre round the back of the supermarket. I was greeted by a glamorous young lady who was very welcoming and friendly from the off. She was of course the dance teacher and her name is Lizzy from DanseAcademy.
I was the only one there without a partner so she danced with me which was rather nice, although now I’ve been going a few weeks, I am left to practice on my own quite a bit whilst Lizzy sees how everyone else is doing.
So far, I have learnt basic steps to a few different dances including the waltz, the social rock n roll, the rumba and the cha cha cha. The social rock n roll is my best by far up to now; Lizzy said last time we practiced it that I had got the rhythm really good and even started teaching me accompanying moves seeing as I had got the basics. This gave me lots of confidence and I have even danced this on a night out (to Nik Turner playing In The Mood bizarrely enough!) and roped my partner into dancing it with me which was a good laugh.
What I didn’t factor in was the knock-on feel-good effects I get from dancing. Afterwards, I feel really good, not just in terms of direct physical activity and feeling like I’ve done something, but mentally too. It makes me feel so happy and stress-free, which given the crap I have to put up with at work sometimes, is no mean feat. On the physical side, I have not noticed a dramatic weight loss as yet but moderate results are emerging, and my arms are getting stronger which is a-maze-ing as I have always had weak arm muscles! (Must be those practice holds!)
I am now one of those annoying ambassador-types that goes around telling anyone that will listen how fantastic dancing is I and why everyone should do it.
I do however, get frustrated by it only being one hour once a week, and although I do practice at home, sometimes it’s difficult because if I don’t remember the steps correctly, I could be practicing all wrong! I decided to buy a book to help me and after an extensive internet search (sic) I settled on Craig Revel Horwood’s Ballroom Dancing.
Full of enthusiasm, I skipped the intro and went straight to the cha cha cha which we had practiced in class that week. Imagine my horror when I discovered that the basic steps were a bit different from what we had learnt so I got scared that this would be confusing. Whilst pondering what to do, I went back and read the intro and I have to say there are some uplifting words in there, along the lines of dancing is fun, free, sociable and helps you lose weight – how fantastic is that!
So off I go for another waltz round the community centre....
