Dancing Background
I’ve danced off and on for most of my life really.
Ballet from about age 3, then tap, ballroom, jazz ballet as an adult, Ceroc, and most recently Line Dance.
Another favourite past time growing up was figure skating (roller skating) which I did competitively for a number of years.
Line Dancing and Me
I began Line Dancing in 2009.
Like a lot of people, I had a long held misconception about Line Dancing that had always prevented me from giving it a go.
However, I was completely hooked after my first class and all my pre held beliefs flew out the door. It really is true that we shouldn’t judge a thing until we’ve learnt the truth for ourselves.
I very quickly found that 1 class a week wasn’t enough to satisfy my passion for dance. It wasn’t long before I was attending 4 classes a week. Obsessed? Me? Definitely!!! Line dancing is very addictive!
In 2010 with encouragement from my friends, I started teaching with the first class being held in October at the Tawa Community Centre.
In 2017 and 2019 I organised Workshop Weekends attended by Line Dancers from all around NZ with overseas instructors.
The instructor in 2017 was Linda Burgess from Australia (photos here) and in 2019 Dee Musk from the UK (photos here).
I’m holding another Workshop Weekend in 2023 and this time the instructor will be Gordon Elliott from Australia.
I was invited to teach at an event in Hawaii in 2018….a huge honour to be asked to teach alongside top instructors from Australia.
I’ve also been the Guest Instructor at a number of events around NZ.
Line Dancing has also allowed me to feed my passion for dance in another way – through Choreography – which is a skill I never knew I possessed. In 2012 I choreographed my first dance. This is an Intermediate Level Line Dance to Christina Perri’s beautiful song “A Thousand Years”.
Since then I’ve choreographed a number of other dances….from time to time instructors will also ask me to choreograph a dance for them to a track they particularly like.
Why the name Silver Lining?
I learnt very quickly that Line Dancing isn’t just all about the dancing.
Just as important as the dancing are the friendships and support that develop through the love of an activity which is shared with others.
In addition to the joy of being able to dance, and the satisfaction of doing a physical activity, for many people coming to a Line Dance class provides social interactions and, when times are a bit tough, a group of people to provide support and encouragement.
This made me think about the saying “Every cloud has a silver lining”. A few hours of Line Dancing may well be the Silver Lining which brings happiness on an otherwise “cloudy day”. By the same token, on days when life is great, those few hours of Line Dancing become a Silver Lining in a different way, helping us to celebrate and share that happiness. It’s hard to explain but I hope you get the gist of where I’m coming from!
Dancing makes my Heart sing with joy!