We are delighted to Welcome Lindsey our new teacher in Winchester! Her classes start 5th Jan and you can read everything you need to know about Lindsey, what inspires her and new course.
“Beauty is something one feels rather than something one sees.” Mary Bagot-Stack
Mary’s innovation of group exercise to music was visionary in the 1920s when she founded the first classes available to people from all walks of life. The social change that happened as a result may be long forgotten as we now have access to a mind-boggling array of exercise classes, but this remains a favourite quote.
Lindsey - Our New Winchester Teacher
As a social dancer, I know that no photo or video can capture how I experience the dance, the atmosphere, the people, the music or the sheer joy of being in that moment where life is just movement and energy. Vivid, internal impressions are essential to lift us and sustain us in day-to-day living. What you looked like at the time is rarely representative because “Beauty is something one feels” and beauty is about being at your unfettered best.
Dance has always been a vehicle for transcending ordinary life and effecting change. For flappers in the 1920s the Charleston was an expression of rebellion; used to flout dress codes and re-write social rules, but dance brings about a shift in the life of each individual who experiments with it. Group exercise and dance classes allow anyone to step into a simple and happy state, and be around others who are energised.
Those who watch it will know the irresistible appeal of Strictly Come Dancing is that is shows us how amazing people can be given the right conditions, and our imagination goes along with them. The Charleston has become part of the show, not because it is familiar to the professional dancers, but because of the instantaneous recognition and delight that it brings to the audience. Very few dances are as much fun to watch as they are to do!
I love to teach adult dance classes and group exercise classes because there is an ageless part in every person that never changes and it is this part that responds. The inner dancer can only stagnate if it is not given an outlet, but it doesn’t alter from childhood to old age, and can be tapped into at any time with life-enhancing results.
It has been transformative for me to move into teaching group exercise and dance classes for adults, not only because of the physical benefits but because the effects are so much more than just movement when the mind and heart of everyone involved are alive.
I am genuinely delighted to be bringing Charleston classes to Winchester and it is my hope that the exuberance, humour and energy of this fabulous dance will provide some joy to both complete beginners and more experienced dancers in the local area.