Throw off your inhibitions for national milestone

April 6, 2009

By Graeme Stilwell

Throw off your inhibitions for this national milestone:

In-home ballroom dance parties a new service for South Canterbury

Plastic-ware parties kicked it off. Intimate, in-home sales parties redefined shopping in New Zealand because of the comfort and convenience. Soon came lingerie parties, to be followed by bridal-ware and cosmetic parties.

But the trend that has endeared itself into the consumer psyche has just taken a huge step forward in South Canterbury with what is believed to be a national first – ballroom dance parties.

Private hall rooms are becoming private ball rooms as South Canterbury ballroom dance tutor Julie Neill launches her in-home introductory lessons – away from prying public eyes and free of the inhibitions she says often stop people from taking their first ballroom dance steps.

By arrangement Julie will visit private homes or halls in urban and some rural areas “with a reasonably large room and preferably with a wooden floor”, to introduce people of any age to ballroom dancing.

“No-one is too young or too old to learn.”

A neighbourhood ring-around is all it takes to give three or four couples introductory dance steps. From there, the reasonably-priced lessons can continue in-home or, once dancers have gained confidence, transfer to Julie’s dance classes.

“It’s a bit like the takeaway concept – I’ll have three fish, a scoop of chips and a couple of dance lessons please.

“I expect my new service will be popular with people who are preparing for a wedding or another special occasion such as a school ball and who might just want to brush up without a full-on studio commitment.”

For a tutor, who as a two and a half-year-old flower girl spent an entire wedding dance night swinging, stepping and outlasting the grown-ups, Julie is aware of the inhibitions that sometimes prevent people from taking their first lessons.

“They don’t want to be seen to be making mistakes,” she said.

Television programme Dancing With The Stars had inspired many local people, Julie said, and many say they would love to learn but not in such a public way.

She once taught someone to dance in the wide hallway of a family member’s home, but says she prefers a large room with a hard floor.

“All it would take is for someone who has such a room to ring around a few friends and a dance party could be under way.

“It’s fun, non-competitive and a friendly way to spend time with others.”

Julie lives in Geraldine and is an enthusiastic and dedicated dance teacher who specialises in many styles including ballroom, Latin American, new vogue, and other disciplines.

She has achieved to a high standard her medal exams, including her Oscars, issued by the New Zealand Federation of Dance Teachers. In 1996 Julie, together with her dance partner, won several events and cups at a two-day dancing event in Nelson resulting in a promotion up to the next level of competition.

But perhaps one of her most high-profile assignments was teaching Timaru Mayor Janie Annear to dance for Dancing With the Masters, an event run in conjunction with the South Canterbury Masters Games in 2006.

For Janie, Julie’s dance lessons were delightful, thorough and “gave me ability that I never would have thought I could have achieved”.

“She’s taught me everything I know about dancing,” Janie said.

Dancing is a new way of thinking, says the woman who established the Julie Neill Dance Academy in Geraldine in 2005.

“It’s basically story-telling in steps. It’s extremely therapeutic and a wonderful form of exercise.

“This is very important for the elderly who need a low-impact exercise regime – that’s huge fun.”

With studios at the Geraldine Bowling Club and in the Methodist Church Hall in Woodlands Road, Timaru, she holds regular Wednesday and Friday dance classes in Geraldine and on Monday and Thursday in Timaru for those who want to progress. Her classes are also age-group targeted.

ENDS

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