Going back to dancing after a break
My current dancing attendance is shocking.
Yes I had all the freestyles in my diary for the year, including having paid for some tickets up front. But I’ve still not danced for a month. Yes, that meant I missed all the Christmas events, including the big one at Daventry. 2-3 weeks of it was a bad cold and then a cough I couldn’t shit, then Christmas and a husband who decided not to come back from a shoot day early enough for me to go out. I was not happy.
It’s now the new year and time to dance. I’d decided that this year I would go back to west coast swing classes. I did a year of them 6 years ago, but haven’t done any since being back dancing this time. I’ve got modern jive ad ceroc freestyles booked in the diary as well.
But I’m dragging my feet about actually going. The, sofa, the tv, the laptop are looking more inviting than making the effort to g dancing. Oh and I wouldn’t have to find suitable clothes that fit after the Christmas excesses. Unheard of for me.
This is where previously having friends I would go dancing with really helps motivate. It’s the same with any type of exercise where you’ve got out of the habit. Go with other people and it’s harder to back out. Although I never had this problem last year after 5 years off.
Despite having been dancing for years – as a child and then for 9-ish years as an adult, I’m still scared of starting back again. It’s that shy walking into a room
Even though I’ll probably see people there I know
Even though I don’t HAVE to start at the beginning of term because it’s not like school.
Even though everyone is there for the same reason – to learn to dance and improve.
Even though I won’t be a total beginner.
Even though I’ll love it once I’m there, and it’ll be like getting back into a cosy warm home.
It’s that first hurdle that’s always the hardest. Getting back on the saddle is hard. And I can’t use the ‘I need to lose weight first, I need to gll et fit first, I need to get back into the work routine first’ excuses. Or maybe I will use the excuses, and maybe I’ll start next week after having eased my way back in via a night of modern jive at the weekend first.
It just goes to show that beginners needn’t be worried about starting that first session. Because even if you’ve been dancing a while, you can still get a bit jittery about starting back again.
Do you find it hard to get back to dancing after a break? Or when starting a new class? How do you get over it?
