Most people know the story of Billy Elliot, the boy who wanted to dance. So why is it there is still so much stigma attached to boys that want to dance?
The biggest issue I have with people wanting to join my dance fitness class is they say they don’t know how to dance. It slightly baffles me, why would you need to know how to dance? All you have to be able to do is follow what I tell you to do and try to do it to the same timing as I do. But worse case scenario you won’t and you’ll still be moving and you’ll still be sweating and still be working out as you wanted….and hopefully still having fun while doing it? So why would you care really.
When it comes to boys, my mind boggles even more so. A lot of them look at you, when you suggest they come to a dance class, as if you’ve just told them their an alien that was adopted from the planet Jupiter on the day they hatched from an egg. ‘Men don’t do dance classes’.
When drilling into that statement further, they say it’s more for women. Why? Well, I think actually that’s their way of saying they’re scared and intimidated to come.
The few guys who have come along to my class have loved it. I mean, regardless of your sexual orientation, you get to dance in a room full of women with everyone having fun, no stress or awkwardness that there is in a club and you don’t even have to think about your dance moves. All you have to do is be able to follow instruction and over the weeks you will easily pick up the moves, no matter how bad you think you are at dancing.
I’ve seen people in my class who can’t keep to the beat of a song. Yes, I show them the move, I move to the beat and they can be going a completely different direction. That might be what happens on week 1 but by about week 3 or 4 those same people are moving to the beat and almost knowing what moves are coming next. They learn to keep to the beat. Dancing is a skill that anyone can learn, to differing degrees but everyone has the potential to keep to a beat!
I think the biggest shock that the guys in my class have had was how tough the class is. They thought there would be lots of hip twirling and grinding, some body pumps and that’s it, not much sweating. HA! Proven wrong every time, working their butts off and hurting more in that one hour with me than they would pumping weights.
So to everyone out there, boy or girl, old or young, try out our class. We are an amazingly welcoming group who just love music and enjoy the idea of smiling the whole way through our workout. Yes, some of us (myself included) treat it like our very own concert, belting out tunes while ‘squatting like it’s hot’ but who cares. No one in our room judges each other, we’re all there for the same reason.
Look forward to seeing you all soon
Ciao for now x
