With Strictly back on our screens, five women share the joys of a good shimmy
‘SALSA SAVED ME’
Life coach Tina Sibley, 63, from Devon, took up salsa dancing in 2009. Tina is single and now lives in Spain.
Fourteen years ago, I discovered salsa dancing, and I truly mean it when I say it saved me. I was in a very dark place: my 10-year marriage had ended in a painful divorce, and I also went through a period of bankruptcy. I would spend entire days in bed, unable to look after myself, not wanting to see anyone or go anywhere.
A psychotherapist helped me realise I needed to restart my social life. So I took up salsa dancing and fell in love with it, going to classes as well as weekend parties. It brought fun, happiness and new friendships. For the first time in so long, I felt alive.
I’ve been dancing ever since, attending weekend dance events all over the UK and in Spain, as well as dance holidays and even a dance cruise. I wear anything from sparkly dresses to jeans to dance, depending on where it is and the time of year. I have fabulous sparkly dance shoes in every colour of the rainbow.
Dancing even gave me the confidence to follow a dream to move from Plymouth to Spain in 2016, as well as to travel. In 2019, I hiked the Inca Trail, and last year, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Now, I don’t see anything as being beyond my reach – and that is thanks to dance.
‘DANCE SHOULD BE ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE’
Adrienne Armorer, 52, a retired software engineer, discovered she could still dance despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004. Adrienne is single and lives in south London.
Before my MS diagnosis, salsa dancing was my passion. I first discovered it in 1999, and it reminded me of the soca music I’d grown up with, having two parents from Trinidad and Tobago. However, just five years later, life changed forever when I began to experience dizziness and balance problems, and I went on to be diagnosed with MS.
Mostly, I was still able to dance following my diagnosis, but in 2008, I experienced an MS relapse that left me temporarily paralysed from the chest down. It was terrifying. I spent three weeks in hospital and another seven weeks in a neurological rehabilitation unit. Slowly, I regained most of the feeling in my body, but I had to use crutches to get around and I was given a wheelchair.
Sadly, I thought that was the end of the dancing road for me. But, through a local MS Society group, I heard about Step Change Studios, a dance company providing inclusive dance (stepchangestudios.com), with wheelchair classes. I was intrigued – and plucked up the courage to give it a go.
I’m so delighted I did. The class was a mix of those in wheelchai
