We want to turn the clock back to 1983 when what we now know as Bodywise opened its doors for the first time, before which the building was occupied by a business called Sigma Electronics. It was a star studded event – one of the new partners knew somebody in the record business and Eric Clapton, Roger Daltry and Mark Knopfler all turned up to wish the new venture well.
One of the driving forces behind ‘Warnham Studios as it was then called, was 33 year-old dance teacher Sharon Poole who, amazingly, has been involved in some shape or form ever since.
ADDICTED TO DANCE
If she isn’t already, Sharon should be a Horsham legend. Certainly she should be a ‘local treasure’. She moved to Horsham when she was 7 and went to school at Millais. Always a keen ‘hoofer’ she then trained to teach ballet and modern jazz dance. Initially she combined running classes with a job as long-haul aircrew with British Caledonian, a role which frequently took her to South America where she learned Latin dancing. ‘In those days,’ she says, ‘we frequently had a week off down route so I would meet up with local dancers and compare notes – dance was really my entire world’.
COUNTLESS THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS
Having left ‘B. Cal’ Sharon focussed her teaching around the Horsham area, running classes at venues like The Station Hotel (now the Beefeater) and local halls around Billingshurst and Partridge Green. The establishment of her own studio in Warham was a major step, taken alongside a friend who was a beautician. Sharon had always been interested in ‘dance as exercise’ and a gym was added in 1986, along with a creche (really rather visionary in those days!) Over the years, between teaching in the studio and local schools, Sharon has lost count of the number of students who have learned the basics of Pliés and Jazz Hands under her tutelage. She has had one particularly notable student in Julie Walters.
YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO ZUMBA
Over the ensuing years the studio and gym had some up times and some downtimes and several changes of ownership. But Sharon has stayed involved, as have some of the people she taught years ago who still regularly attend her classes. Currently she teaches two Zumba Tone classes a week, on Mondays and Fridays.
IT’S BONKERS – RATHER LIKE WORKING OUT WITH THE DURACELL BUNNY
The first time you join one of Sharon’s Zumba classes be prepared to be surprised – there may be fitter, faster, movers at Bodywise than Sharon, but we wouldn’t be quite sure who they are. After a little bit of stretching the dancing kicks-off at pace – but don’t for a minute think this is the Zumba class, it’s the warm-up! Then the Duracell batteries really kick in and we’re off to the races and quite how Sharon could move her feet so fast I have no idea, I was always half-a-beat slow (although for all I know I could have been half-a-beat fast. As a newbie it was very much a case of ‘watch and try and keep up’. Actually it was amazing – as much a workout for the brain as for the legs and feet.
Then, with a swift chance to catch a drink and my breath we moved into the section with dumbbells. Naturally being a bloke, having seen all the ladies take 1Kg weighs, I went for 2Kgs. Big mistake! After about 2 minutes my arms and shoulders simply said ‘sod that’ and I tiptoed across and got something lighter to work with – note to self: next time get a space next to the dumbbell rail. To say the floorwork came as some relief is an understatement.
MY HEART IS MOST DEFINITELY IN IT
Those who have read my other blogs on this site will know I have a very specific reason for doing Bodywise classes, as part of rehab following quadruple heart bypass surgery a couple of years ago. Specifically, due to the removal of veins in my legs to replace the arteries in my heart, I found I had lost my agility, flexibility and balance. I started with Erica’s Dance-In-Joy class, which was, and still is, a huge delight – good cardio, flowing movements with just a faint whiff of ‘woo’.
Sharon’s Zumba tone class is on a different planet. Whilst Erica takes you quietly through the gears. Sharon goes from 0-60 and straight into hyperdrive in one jump. It’s a random bonkers mad thing to do but at my age you don’t get a lot of chances to do random bonkers mad things. I absolutely loved it and will defo be returning when I get my breath back.
By Al Campbell, The Bodywise Member and Author