I have been looking at beginners classes in my area. Just hope I dont have to take a partner though because I know Mr MsC would go. Heck he hates trying anything new.

I thought of asking whoever runs the classes whether it's acceptable to go as a single.

If you want, PM me your location - I'll probably be able to find some classes in your area.

Most / all teachers are happy with people turning up by themselves. Personally, sometimes I find it easier, as it's sometimes tricky to separate a couple out and get them to dance with others.

i just wanted to add something about the age barrier.

i teach pole dancing for fitness, not quite the same as ballroom and latin i know. but i have a lady participating on a course i'm teaching who is 74!

age should not be a barrier to any form of dance or exercise

I used to love to dance. I am not up to it at the moment but hope I will be able to again. It's the second best exercise and great fun.

I danced ballroom with my husband for many years, we went to a lot of comps and met lots of the stars of the day. A series of broken bones, cancer, and then my husband died 3 years ago, so I haven't danced for a long time. I love SCD and watch avidly, criticising and admiring all by myself!

Maybe you could think about returning to dancing?

Of course it will be very different without your husband, but I've always found dancing folk very friendly so having no regular dance partner need not be a hindrance. I go on my own to classes, evening dances and tea dances.

I know there's always a shortage of men but it sounds like you were a pretty accomplished dancer when you were dancing regularly, so I'm sure you'd get plenty of dances with the chaps who were there.

Just an idea. I hate the idea of people not dancing for any reason other than they don't want to!

As a child I really wanted to dance. I used to dance to music on the television - everybody else was out so nobody saw me.
I asked my mum one day about ballet lessons that were on offer - she wasn't keen. I think she thought "oh no big expense".

Well after school and uni etc I had time for things and went to salsa, jazz dancing and African - these being the lessons available in the area. I liked the salsa the most but there were no single male dancers there and too many extra females, so not ideal. The african dancing was fun because a partner not needed and the music was live. Jazz dance was ok.

I still go along to classes when I see them advertized and don't cost too much money. It would have been nice to have a male partner to do Latin and Ballroom though.

Just got back from a dance lesson. It was really fun and for those who think they are too old you really are not.

We started with the Paso, never done that before and learned the first group of steps along with the history of those steps which is really interesting. We continued with the Foxtrot and getting into some advanced timing. Then finished with the jive which is my favourite dance ever.

I have never done ballroom/latin, but at the moment I do mainly contemporary and ballet, with some jazz and then other random styles thrown in to exercises when my contemporary teacher feels like it!

Before the summer I did a term of carribean for a Change4Life project which was so much fun, I would recommend carribean to anyone, it's really great. I've also done quite a bit of classical indian, but I've stopped that now.

I would love to try ballroom/latin, but at the moment I'm concentrating on my contemporary, and also my dance school doesn't do it so I'd have to find somewhere else. Out of all the dances on Strictly, I think the one I'd most like to learn is salsa, because I've done bits thrown in in different classes and I've really enjoyed it but I've never had a proper lesson.

This thread is really interesting Thanks lila

I do dance. I do private lessons in ballroom and latin once a week (sometimes twice) and recently started private lessons in AT once a week. The ballroom and latin is for medal exams (favourite ballroom dance is foxtrot. favourite latin is rumba) and so is very much focussed on steps and routines. In the AT we go over some new steps each week but most of the lesson is continual improvised dancing, practicing following a lead and putting some of the steps into practice. It is nice to have two contrasting approaches.

I don't think age should be a barrier, although I can see that fitness might be. For example, a friend of mine is over 50 but does belly dancing. (Mind you she has never been exactly reserved). I've found that over time I've got less self conscious about the latin dances.

Have lost half a stone in weight since the beginning of the year (I was at the top of the ideal weight range, but in danger of going out of it), and so there have been some health benefits too.

I wish I could dance, but my sense of rhythm is sh*te. Me and my other half do a quickstep through our corridor when Strictly is on (well we call it a quickstep, Craig would call it an unrecognisable disarster, dahling). I did some Scottish dancing, but I honestly wish I could dance.

No excuse. So was mine before I started dancing. It's amazing how, what most people think is a purely natural gift, can actually be acquired, simply by learning how to listen to the music.

Maybe I will try again, I really would love how to move properly in time with the music.

Gosh, it's proven now, dance is a matter of life and death .

Your travelling a long distance shows how much you like what you are doing. Good thing o/h isn't jealous.

I have always loved to dance, but since I never seemed persistent enough my parents never took me to serious lessons even after encouragement from professionals.
My mum made me go to the local boleros mallorquines (majorcan traditional dances, very boring nothing special, more social than anything else) which I disliked profoundly.
Then I learnt sevillanas which is four short dances from Seville and surrounding area. As they are a light version of flamenco, I enjoyed that tremendously, but even after the teacher suggested that I should take formal flamenco dance lessons, my mother did not take me to them. She didn't really want to make the effort. I now realize that I should have been more insistent about the dance lessons as I know I could have been a half decent amateur dancer.
Because of my background (not ballroom nor Latin) I enjoy more (or more profoundly) so you think you can dance. Specially the American version as often I am in tears with their contemporary emotional routines. One of the things I have learnt through stricly is the term musicality. Thing is I don't have rhythm at all, but yet I seemed to dance well, then watching stricly realise that is musicality that I got, knowing how to move listening to the music even though the beat may not be spot perfect.
after that I pretty much dance on my own. One of my dreams is to learn AT with my husband as he could be a great dancer.

Is dance there to interpret music only, in particular strict tempo more than melodic phrasing? If that were true then the deaf have no place on the dance floor. If dance is body language expressing the soul then the deaf are just as colourful.

Those who play a musical instrument or sing will be familiar with the difference between artistic interpretation versus playing sheet music.

Say an orchestra plays Dvorak's New World Symphony. They all have sheet music in front of them replete with tempo and expressivo markings from the composer. However Dvorak himself did not compose starting from sheet music or sounds in his head. He spent time in the Apalachians, and crystalised genuine first-hand experience in music, but the beautiful sounds were a facet of the pictures and rich colours in his soul.

I sugggest the most conscientious conductor would visit the Appalachians and relive Dvorak's original experience. Similary I suggest true dance would go beyond strict tempo, as free-format language of the soul and the reason why some dancers are so heart-warming. Taking a few liberties with strict tempo would be fine by me.

Salsa is SO FUN! I'd definitely recommend tracking down a class and trying it.

I've done a bit of salsa.

No soulmate my OH isnt jealous. He has no sense of rhythm, cant recognise one dance rhythm from another and has no wish to even try to dance. Attempted to teach him the social foxtrot for son's wedding but I was on a losing streak.

We went to watch the strictly ballroom show a few years ago which was choreographed by Anton and Erin ( though they didnt appear in it) and afterwards his comment was 'there was an awful lot of dancing in it'

I did ballroom when I was little (very little) and jazz/modern/streetdance all through my teens! Can still do a mean salsa, jive and waltz in my living room, but don't dance at all now other than busting moves in clubs after a few glasses of wine. Keep meaning to go back to ballroom, but lacking anyone to go with and would feel a bit silly!