‘I always leave the class on a high’
MARGARET Goudie, 66, had not been to a dance class in nearly 50 years when she joined Still Dancing, an over-65s dance troupe.
She now says she loves the sessions and has seen immediate benefits.
“I wasn’t doing any exercise before – I was a bit of a couch potato,” said the retired pharmacist from Cumbernauld. “But this class makes you look forward to exercising.
“Sometimes you work up a bit of a sweat, but it’s not too sweaty. You’re jumping about, moving your arms and using every type of muscle.
“Before starting the classes, in the mornings my knees would be stiff, but I feel a lot better now. It also eases off wee twinges in your back.”
Still Dancing’s eldest participant, Peggy Campbell, is 88 and walks with a stick and many members have never had formal dance training.
Ms Goudie, pictured above on left, who also takes a body maintenance exercise class and does T’ai Chi, believes many people are put off exercising by images of people on treadmills at the gym. “Why do that?” she said. “Dancing is great fun. We’ve done disco dancing, the Charleston and modern dancing.”
Still Dancing, run by the Dance House dance agency in Glasgow, will stage an “artistically ambitious” programme at the World Congress on Active Ageing at the SECC in August.
Fellow dancer Renee Gillespie, pictured above on right, is a retired marketing manager from Glasgow. The 74-year-old said: “I always come away from the class on a high. I’m sure it does energise you physically, but in terms of your whole demeanour, it just makes you happy. I do miss it, physically and socially, when I’m not doing it.”