Dance therapy: Ceroc and roll

By Sue Crabtree Published: 8:00AM GMT twenty-three February 2010

Social whirl: there"s no time for chatting as you barter partners after each dance. Ceroc is additionally good practice and an enterprising and beguiling approach to soothe highlight

The lights dim. Two hundred couples wait. A disco round sparks opposite the walls. The DJ flicks on Madonna, and the gymnasium erupts in an blast of dance.

Its a whisk of limbs, twisting, spinning, wiggling faster than I can follow them, so all I see is an blow up design of bodies relocating furiously to the rhythm.

Lesley Garner"s 10 tips for a life-changing summer Latin Fever, at the Peacock Theatre / Press, at Lilian Baylis Studio - examination

Im one of them, being led in to moves vaguely informed to fans of Strictly Come Dancing by a man Ive never met before. One of his hands spreads far-reaching on my spine, the alternative whips my palm high, someway Im sealed opposite him and prior to I know it Im impressively encircling half-backwards. As the lane fades, he whips me upright, I onslaught for the breath thats been forced from my lungs with the appetite of the song whilst my partner, who hasnt even damaged sweat, smiles and says casually: "And that is Ceroc".

Ceroc describes itself as pristine dance obsession and 55,000 people are bending on it in classes opposite the country. In the Second World War, American GIs took the jitterbug to France. The French combined their lack of simplicity to the dance, giving it a some-more slinky, Latin feel, and called it "Cest le Roc". It is still danced in the subterraneous bars in the Latin Quarter of Paris.

Im a novice, but at modernized customary the jaunty beauty rivals anything Arlene Phillips could choreograph.

"Ceroc has elements of dances similar to cha-cha, nonsense and salsa," says David Bradley of Ceroc London when I met him at a category in Fulham Town Hall. "But the one of the easiest dance forms to learn. Its man-led and arm-led and as prolonged as you keep stepping on each beat, you cant go wrong."

I proposed after my youngest daughter died. Shed been ill for a prolonged time and Id turn divorced from normal hold up whilst I forsaken all to caring for her. It was a distressing time. Afterwards, it was tantalizing to lay at home and mope. I knew I had to force myself behind in to the genuine world, to do something companionable but where no one would ask me about my family and have me weep.

Ceroc was preferred since theres roughly no time for chatting, solely when you mount on the sidelines removing your breath back, only dancing and some-more dancing. I wasnt alone in looking escape.

"People contend when they come here, they lose themselves in the dance," David says. "Its the feelgood factor. The adrenalin takes over and you dont think about your problems with the feeling of well-being of it all."

I was distrustful at first, but went each week. I shortly came to find it thrilling. The occasional speared toe is a hazard, but to be spun around the building by someone who knows what theyre you do is exhilarating. I succumbed to the addiction. I accepted since devotees dance at venues each night. And afterwards theres the exercise. Its exhausting, that is probably since the permitted by the British Heart Foundation. In each corner, someones towelling down.

Every Ceroc dusk follows the same pattern. A beginners category teaches 4 steady moves to take you by a track; an middle category teaches modernized moves; followed by an hour and a half of "freestyle". David says: "The target is for everybody to leave their initial category being means to dance, even if they have dual left feet."

The moves have bizarre names, octopus, catapult, windmill (see below) but the easy to get the cling to of them. There are additionally no wily situations with someone you might not instruct to partner, since you barter after each track. My father was working, so I dragged along a girlfriend. Some dancers are couples, but most go alone. "Id feel ungainly going to a motion picture on my own, but not here," pronounced Amy Barron, 35, a designer. "Theres no hassle, people only wish to dance."

Who attends? "People from twenty-five to 50, but we have dancers in their sixties, and most younger," David says. "Ceroc is as companionable as you wish to have it."

Ceroc was my therapy. While I was dancing, my distended heart stilled. I forgot my problems, something I thought impossible.

"This is the genuine Strictly," David says. "Dont watch it, get out and do it. Anyone can."

Amazingly, even me.

MAKE YOUR MOVE

There are over 500 Ceroc moves to learn. Listed next are only a few.

The Catapult: A beginners move. The man turns the lady underneath his arm, she passes around his behind and as she reaches his left side, he spins her 360 degrees to face him.

The Octopus: Another beginners move. The man and the lady hold hands and shift places 3 times, firstly with the lady flitting underneath the mans arms, second time with the man flitting underneath the ladys arms, and eventually with the lady flitting underneath the mans arms again.

The Windmill: An middle move. The man moves his arms, mirroring a windmill sail, transferring the ladys palm from his right to his left palm as they cranky behind to back.

The seducer: The man passes the womans palm over his head as if combing his hair so her arm covers around his neck, afterwards the man lunges, dropping on to his knee, whilst the lady keeps straight-backed and lays in his arms.

CEROC BASICS

Where can I dance? Classes opposite Britain, sum on ceroc.com.

How most does it cost? �6 to �8 per class.

What do I wear? Something cool and a soft-soled shoe.