Heads Up! at Dancebase

beer soaked stumbling about in a crowd is not the kind of dance that will give your body (and your mind) a boost

Feature by Sophie Kyle | 11 Jan 2007

Sitting at a desk all day, slouched over a computer? On your pins all day behind a bar? Working on a site from the crack of dawn in the wind and rain? Repetitive work is not good for your body, especially in the cold, dark winter. Just like our brains, our bodies need a time out and bit of variation every now and again. Stiff shoulders and curved backs would do well to get a bit of a stretch out after the alcohol-soaked restless nights of the festive period. So, just as your body begins to assume the shape of your office chair, a new course of drop-in dance sessions starts at the National Centre for Dance in Edinburgh, Dancebase.

Okay, so there's a cringe-inducing element to 'dance classes'. Memories of a cold, dusty school hall, country dancing lessons and a hated PE teacher shouting 'one-two-three-four! one-two-three-four!' at the top of their voice, resonate in the back of the mind - but Dancebase isn't like this. Well, at least the building isn't. Beautifully presented studios have been designed to bring more 'dimension' to dance sessions: glass ceilings invite more light inside, hidden balconies keep secrets from the Grassmarket, and symmetrical temple lines channel energy into Dancebase's classes.

Many Skinny readers will have been moshing it out with the most energetic of us down at some of the city's Christmas and Hogmanay bashes, but beer-soaked stumbling about in a crowd is not the kind of dance that will give your body (or your mind) a boost. At Dancebase there is a range of classes designed around the fact that people get up late, work all day and generally find it hard to break the routine. With new springtime classes to drop into, it's easier to catch a Pilates Morning before work. Bring to life parts of your body you are surprised to know you have, and make sitting at a desk all day a whole lot easier. An up-beat 'Vogueing' session early in the evening will let out the poser in you after a day of biting your tongue at the boss, and make you laugh at yourself in the mirror. There's also an array of street dance oriented classes to drop into, and you get to listen to some great music too.

From 8 January to 24 March Dancbase will be running sessions to improve the wellbeing of the average 20-something year-old, and you know the gym will be packed full of guilty turkey gobblers desperately trying to get rid of their extra inches after Christmas. Why not try a dance?

For a free brochure contact 0131 225 5525 Ð dance@dancebase.co.uk.

http://www.dancebase.co.uk.