Bodywise member Al Campbell recalls aerobics and dance classes of the Eighties. And how the new discovery of the Dance In Joy class at Bodywise not only remined him of how good it can be to throw a few shapes under the tutelage of an expert teacher, but also contribute in a therapeutic way to his post quadruple heart-bypass recovery.
Back in the day, in London during the 1980’s, I used to trot down with my girlfriend every Sunday to Covent Garden for an aerobics work out at the legendary Pineapple Dance Studio. The class was run by Yvonne Wake – now a legend of the London wellbeing sector – and there would be 40 or 50 people in the room. My girlfriend and I then drifted apart, so I hung-up my multi-coloured leg-warmers and spent Sunday mornings reading the papers and going to the pub. I didn’t stop exercising – but I stopped doing it to music. Which actually, I greatly missed.
DANCE IN JOY AT BODYWISE
So, when it was suggested I tried the Dance In Joy class at Bodywise I approached it with mixed emotions, especially as I’d been working steadily to recover from open heart surgery two years previously. First thing in my mind was ‘could I do it and would I last the hour?’ Then there was the fact that I might well embarrass myself in front of a chorus line of rather capable and elegant ladies. But I wanted to try a ‘rewind and reset’ nostalgia fest so on a ‘go large or go home’ principle I turned up. I took my shoes and socks off and, with more apparent confidence than I felt, I strolled into the studio with as much nonchalance as I could muster.
What a wonderfully welcoming group – 8 regulars, me and another ‘newbie’. The teacher, Erica, is one of those people who moves like a gazelle, every muscle and limb coordinated with grace. Craig Revell-Horwood would adore her ‘armography’ – although he wouldn’t have thought much about mine.
From the get-go, as the opening bars of one of those songs you never know the name of, but which makes it easy to move your body to played-out, it was an absolute blast.
CARDIO AND THEN SOME
The time simply flew. Erica has curated a great soundtrack to which she has set a range of dance routines. The mirror which runs the full length of the wall is a huge asset as you can both follow her choreography and see the sort of shapes you’re making yourself. Every new tune started with me being untidy as my brain tried to work out which muscle groups to fire and coordinate in order to follow and keep up with the chorus line. By the end of the first number my heart rate was definitely raised and stayed steadily up there for the rest of the session. It was a great and well-paced cardio work out where I was on the cusp of getting out of breath but never quite got there.
THE ITY-BITTY BENEFITS OF DANCE IN JOY (AND DRINKS IN THE PUB)
The hour finished the entire group repaired to the local pub for coffee and cake or something stronger. It being my birthday, I had a cheeky prosecco! I talked to Erica about the fact that the whole session felt much more meaningful than just a bit of a bop and aerobics work out. She told me how she had developed the session around 5 words that end in ‘ity’, all of which particularly resonate for senior people as accomplishments that tend to diminish with age. This may sound ‘ity-bitty’ in some respects but, in combination, they add up to maintaining health and wellbeing well into our autumn years.
The first of these is stability. All of us of increasing years know the importance of avoiding falls, and staying secure on both feet is an essential part of staying healthy as you age. Dance, with its range of forward, backward and lateral movements, both slowly and at speed helps ensure that. Stability leads in turn to agility, which develops from moving our body weight from one foot to the other, often using the hands and arms to help maintain balance.
These together, along with the cardio aspects of dance, enable increased mobility and flexibility in daily life – walking to the shops, dodging puddles, going up and down steps. Finally repetition, coming to class week after week ensures the sustainability of these accomplishments.
DANCE IN JOY, AT THE HEART OF THE MATTER FOR ME, WAS THERAPY
The NHS and British Heart Foundation rehab for open heart surgery involves a lot of walking and marching. Been there, done that, joined Bodywise and got on the bike and the cross-trainer and the treadmill and the rowing machine. It’s played an important part of my recovery. The heart is in great shape.
The problems have been with the legs – where they take veins out of your legs there is a risk of neuropathy (tick), muscle wastage (tick) and loss of agility and flexibility (tick). And then it struck me that all the exercise I had been doing up until the Bodywise Dance In Joy class had been in one linear direction. One foot in front of the other. No cross-lateral movement. Nothing that moved the arms one way whilst the feet and legs went somewhere else. I had never rotated in a circle on the spot. This class changed that in a heartbeat. For me, the fact that it was a bare foot class made it even more effective – I felt really connected to the ground and my agility started to return amazingly quickly.
If you think it seems a bit weird for a 72 year-old bloke to take up a dance class over 40 years since the last one, fair enough. I can’t wait to get back to the ‘Dance In Joy’ class at Bodywise next week! Just need to get some snazzy leggings.
WHAT MAKES THIS CLASS DIFFERENT AND WHO IS IT FOR?
This class has enormous group energy. Your feet are constantly moving (as are your arms and body) as the music takes over from your brain – it’s old style disco mentalty where you lose yourself in the beat. As a newbie you still need to engage your brain a bit to learn the moves (but, as Erica will tell you the moment you walk through thes studio door, there’s no such thing as getting it wrong). All-in-all it’s about being on a team where you’re all winners and go and celebrate at the end. It would be a perfect class for anybody who wants to boogie on down for an hour and relive the lights and glitterball bright lights.
By Al Campbell, The Bodywise Member and Author